Could Aquaman Flip The King Nereus/Mera Relationship On Its Head?

Change is afoot for Warner Bros. and James Wan’s standalone Aquaman movie.

Still deep in production ahead of its theatrical release in December – hence the lack of marketing – we now have reason to believe that the Arthur Curry solo flick will upend the relationship between King Nereus and Mera, the regal duo to be played by Dolph Lundgren and Amber Heard, respectively.

According to the folks over at The Aquaman Shrine, they’ll be brought into the DCEU as father and daughter, not potential lovers. In the comics, Nereus hails from an exiled group of Atlanteans known as the Xebels, and reveals his desire to marry Mera upon laying claim to the Xebel throne. Once his plan unravels, and Mera falls for Aquaman, the unruly Nereus enlists the help of Orm the Ocean Master to dethrone the Atlantean King once and for all.

Now, it seems as though James Wan plans to split from Aquaman canon, as sources close to The Aquaman Shrine suggest the King Nereus/Mera relationship has since been reworked to father and daughter. It certainly makes sense from a logistics standpoint, as the age gap between Amber Heard (31) and Dolph Lundgren (60) may have led to some…uncomfortable scenes in what should be a palatable superhero origin story.

Here’s that alleged scoop, courtesy of Twitter:

Just In: Diverging from comics canon, the relationship between Dolph Lundgren's King Nereus and Amber Heard's Mera in AQUAMAN will be father and daughter! pic.twitter.com/HATdbjQFbs

— The Aquaverse 🔱 (@AquamanUniverse) February 18, 2018

Aquaman stakes a claim for box office glory on December 21st, and given Warner Bros. has Ready Player One set for release in March, we imagine it won’t be too much longer before James Wan and his team are ready to showcase their wares. There’s a new DC movie on the horizon, folks, and we can only hope that it performs markedly better than the ill-fated Justice League.