While 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was technically Arthur Curry’s introduction to the DCEU, it wasn’t until last year’s Justice League that Jason Momoa’s character really got a chance to make an impression, and even then, he was sharing the bill with several bigger names. With this in mind, James Wan’s Aquaman movie could be seen as the moment where the Atlantean ocean-dweller completes his initiation into the realm of live-action cinema.
And while the director won’t exactly have a blank canvas for the character, Wan certainly has a big opportunity to shape what kind of superhero Arthur’s going be in this particular version of the cinematic universe. In fact, according to Momoa, Wan’s vision for Aquaman could bring the hero into very different territory from what we saw in the last film.
“When we originally signed on to play Aquaman, I knew a great deal of what Zack [Snyder] had built the character like. So, I built a lot of it off of using backstory. Little things like, parents were alive, parent’s weren’t alive? All that kind of stuff, we could shift when I got to James [Wan]. The bare bones of where he came from and what he was about, we’d already established from the very beginning and really what Zack was like, ‘This is what I want to bring to the team.’ So, coming over here it’s just like trying to balance and match that, but also James has a really, really different vision and it’s a very spectacular, different view of what, originally, when I was with Zack.”
Given the mixed response that Snyder’s Justice League got, there are no doubt some viewers who’d be happy to see the new film diverge from what came before. And going by recent statements from Wan, the director’s excited to take the reins on this property and make it his own.
“I feel like the good thing about having something that isn’t really established is I get the opportunity to kind of set the world, set the tone, and set the flavor for who this guy is, and the world that he lives in. That’s what we love about superheroes, right? We love that they represent the best part of who we want to be, right? What we strive for, and what we aspire to be. And I think what I liked most about this character, and actually what Jason Momoa brings to it, is the idea that this is a guy who’s kind of trapped between two worlds. He doesn’t feel like he belonged in the surface world, but he doesn’t feel like he belongs in the world of Atlantis as well, the underwater world.”
While the DCEU is having an identity crisis of its own in the wake of the commercially underwhelming Justice League, here’s hoping that Aquaman can set things right when the film arrives in theaters on December 21st, 2018.
