Jason Momoa was an unlikely choice to play Aquaman in the DCEU. Beefy, dark-haired and of Polynesian descent, the former Game of Thrones star was not a perfect match for the blond Caucasian superhero from the pages of DC comics. What Momoa’s casting showed though was that Warner Bros. was trying to change the perception of Arthur Curry as the weakest member of the Justice League, whose powers mostly revolved around talking to fish.
Momoa himself was keen to get behind this notion to reinvent the King of Atlantis, too, which is why he was against one particular exchange in 2017’s Justice League. While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the actor revealed that he lobbied to get a certain section of the movie cut from the theatrical release. Specifically, he didn’t take to the bit of comedy which sees Ben Affleck’s Batman attempt to press his super-friend for info on how he can interact with aquatic life.
For Momoa, this served as a unnecessary reminder of Aquaman’s less-than-stellar reputation and went against what he was trying to do with the character.
“I’m like, don’t put this line in there, because that’s all people are going to talk about… Do you want me to make him cool or not?”
We’re sure many fans would agree with Momoa here. As with a lot of the extra jokes that replacement director Joss Whedon inserted into his cut of Justice League, the “Do you talk to fish?” scene didn’t gel with the tone previously established in the DCEU and felt like an awkward attempt to lighten things up. In any case, it was a reheat of an exchange from Zack Snyder’s initial version, which saw Bruce joke, “I hear you can talk to fish” when encountering Arthur for the first time.
Hopefully Momoa’s much happier with the presentation of his character in his upcoming Aquaman solo movie, as directed by James Wan and co-starring Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson and Nicole Kidman. That one’s set to swim into cinemas on December 21st, with the first trailer arriving next month.
