10 Awesome Easter Eggs That You Need To See In Aquaman

After a whole 13 months without a new DC movie, Aquaman has finally arrived to end the drought. Though reviews haven't exactly been glowing, the film is booming in the overseas box office, where it's been released prior to its US debut on December 21st. In tone, it's much closer to Wonder Woman than say, Suicide Squad or Man of Steel and aims to tell a fun, epic adventure story for as wide an audience as possible. But, of course, there are still a ton of special easter eggs and references in the film for fans to pick up on. The story of Aquaman is pulled from a few different comics, particularly those from The New 52, but there are a few nods to the character's long and varied history in there as well. Interestingly, James Wan put a lot of himself in the movie, too, and his legion of fans who've followed his career from Saw to the Fast & Furious films will love the winks to his past works. So, on that note, here are 10 must-see easter eggs that we noticed in Aquaman. We've kept things mostly spoiler-free, but if you want to go into the movie knowing nothing at all, then feel free to bookmark this page and come back later once you've seen it. Stingray In the film's opening scene, Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) is rescued and taken home by lighthouse keeper Thomas Curry (Temeura Morrison). Unused to human society, Atlanna's startled by the television playing in the corner and throws her trident at it, destroying it on impact. Presumably, not understanding the concept of television, Atlanna saw the submarine on screen and thought it was the attack from the world of man that her people have come to fear. In actual fact, though, it was a scene from classic 1960s puppet TV adventure series Stingray, from the creator of Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet Gerry Anderson. Stingray followed the adventures of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (WASP) who do battle against the evil King Titan, who rules over an underwater kingdom and wishes to wage war on the surface world. Something about that scenario sounds familiar somehow... H.P. Lovecraft There's another easter egg hidden in this flashback scene that explains Arthur Curry's (Jason Momoa) origins. On Thomas Curry's coffee table, if you look under the snow globe that contains a little lighthouse, you can see a copy of H.P. Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror. Obviously, Lovecraft's an appropriate literary name to drop in Aquaman as his tales of horrific giant creatures that dwell in the depths of the ocean have definitely fed into the mythology surrounding the character over the years. Specifically, the Karathen - the fearsome monster that guards the Trident of Atlan - is a very Lovecraftian creation. However, The Dunwich Horror, in particular, has specific relevance to the Aquaman story. It's about Wilbur Whateley, a half-human and half-underwater creature. Although, in Wilbur's case, he's freakishly disfigured as he's the son of the terrible entity Yog-Sothoth. Still, its presence in the scene where Atlanna and Thomas fall in love and create their own "half-breed" - as Arthur is derogatorily called throughout the movie - must be deliberate. Watch Out For Annabelle James Wan is a filmmaker with a lot of popular movies on his resume and he definitely decided to pay homage to his past work in Aquaman. First off, one easter egg that we were told to expect is a cameo from the creepy doll Annabelle from The Conjuring franchise. During the scene where Mera (Amber Heard) takes Arthur to speak with Vulko (Willem Dafoe) in their sunken submarine hideaway, you can briefly glimpse Annabelle on the ocean floor. When asked about this easter egg by CinemaBlend, Wan at first played coy but then came up with a wild fan theory that somehow links The Conjuring and DC universe together, through the presence of Patrick Wilson in both of them. "I don't know what you are referring to. I have no idea what Easter Egg you are referencing here, if it's an Easter egg... Maybe Patrick Wilson is really Ed Warren pretending to be King Orm? What can I say? I'd like to see that film, how about that?" Maybe all those encounters with the supernatural fractured Warren's mind and he wound up in Atlantis, declaring war on the world above? You heard it here first. Fast & Furious As well as his horror background, Wan has also worked on the Fast & Furious franchise. Specifically, he directed 2015's Furious 7. There's not a visual easter egg to the action movie series in Aquaman, as such, but there is an audible one. You can't have failed to miss the Pitbull song that plays in the sequence where Arthur and Mera emerge from the water in slow-motion as they arrive in the Sahara. It was an original song for the film, though it samples Toto's "Africa." And as Wan explained, he wanted to get the frequent Fast & Furious musician on board so that he could get a bit of the sensibility from those movies in this scene. "Having made a Fast & Furious movie, it was kind of fun to see the characters come out of the water in slow motion with this hip-hop music in the background." Wan admitted that the move might not be to everyone's tastes and comes across as a bit out of place in the film, but he wanted to pay homage to his last major blockbuster outing. "It's almost like, I know it seems to some a little bit weird, but it's almost like my little tribute to my Fast & Furious background." "I Hear You Can Talk To Fish" When you mention the name Aquaman to people, there's pretty much one thing they'll say in response: "oh, he's the one that can talk to fish." Despite the character possessing a fine array of powers, ol' Arthur has become the butt of the joke for decades now, probably because of his campy Super Friends incarnation from the 1970s. Aquaman is mostly interested in breaking down the stereotype though by presenting a hero who's badass and cool and is treated as a mythical king. However, it can't resist a nod to the old joke earlier on. In a flashback scene to young Arthur's childhood visit to the Boston Aquarium, one bully says to the boy: "I hear you can talk to fish." As well as a reference to the joke, it's also a direct lift of the line Bruce Wayne says to Arthur when he meets him for the first time in Justice League - no wonder he looked so pissed off in that movie, as it probably reminded him of his childhood bullies. Not cool, Bruce. A Familiar Face From Saw As Wan was so keen to tie Aquaman back to his previous work, he had to find a place for his long-time collaborator Leigh Whannell in the movie. The duo are the co-creators of the Saw franchise, with Whannell often writing the scripts for Wan's directorial features. For instance, the pair also co-created the Insidious series. Whannell's an actor, too, though and Wan fans will know him as Adam, from the first Saw movie. In Aquaman, he puts in another appearance in front of the camera as the pilot of the plane that takes Arthur and Mera over the Sahara. He's understandably shocked when the pair decide to dive into the middle of the desert without any parachutes. The role allows Whannell to use his natural Australian accent for once and it's worth noting that Wan's also Australian and made sure to populate Aquaman with folks from his neck of the woods. For instance, Kidman's Australian as well while Morrison (Thomas Curry) is from New Zealand. Remember Steppenwolf? Though none of Aquaman's Super Friends get a name-check in the movie, the main villain of Justice League does. Yup, just when we'd managed to forget about the awful CGI lump that was Steppenwolf, he winds up with a mention in the film. When Mera arrives in Amnesty Bay to get Arthur to help her stop Orm from starting a war with the human world, she tries to encourage him by mentioning his recent act of heroism, reminding him that he helped defeat Steppenwolf and saved Atlantis. It's true. In Justice League, Steppenwolf came to Atlantis to collect one of the Mother Boxes which would allow him to create The Unity, a process to terraform Earth into a copy of his homeworld of Apokolips. Though he got away with the box, Arthur gave him a good fight and eventually bested him in Russia alongside Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Superman - it was mostly Superman, though. The Jaws Callback After Orm hires Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) to hunt down Aquaman for him, we get a montage of the fearsome pirate David Hyde personalizing the Atlantean weaponry and armor that Ocean Master gave him. While creating his helmet, the laser eyes go off and blast a hole in his ceiling, also cracking the helmet in two. "I'm gonna need a bigger helmet," David says to himself. Obviously, this sets up the full reveal of the iconic Black Manta get-up later on in the film, complete with an enlarged helmet plucked right from the comics. However, it's surely also a neat nod to another iconic sea-based movie: Steven Spielberg's Jaws. Famously, Chief Brody says "you're gonna need a bigger boat" - often misquoted as "we're gonna need a bigger boat." Sticking on the topic of Black Manta though, David's father Jesse appears earlier on in the film, with his death kicking off his hatred of Aquaman. He's played by Michael Beach - a brilliant bit of casting as Beach previously voiced Devil Ray on the Justice League: Unlimited animated series. For those who don't know, Devil Ray was Black Manta in all but name (as the rights to the character were tied up at the time with an Aquaman live-action show that never materialized). Dr. Stephen Shin At one point, we catch up with a bit of TV and witness a talkshow in which the hosts are speaking about all the chatter of an Aquaman. The guest on the show is a crackpot raving about his belief in the existence of Atlantis and that Aquaman must be an Atlantean. Though the audience know him to be correct, the guy's naturally mocked by the TV presenters. The banner on the screen reveals that this is Dr. Stephen Shin, an important character in The New 52 reboot of Aquaman's mythos, a period of the comics which is hugely influential on the movie (probably because Geoff Johns co-wrote both). On the page, he's also the human with the most expert knowledge of Atlantis, but that's because he's a friend of both Arthur and his father. However, one key element of the character has been carried over for the movie. The post-credits scene reveals that he's going to be roped into helping Black Manta get revenge on Aquaman - if a sequel's made, that is. A similar thing happened in the comics as well, though Shin ended up remorseful of his actions. It's also worth mentioning that Shin is played by Randall Park, who already starred in a superhero movie this year as agent Jimmy Woo in Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp. It's possible that he could end up being a recurring face in both franchises, too. Topo The Musical Octopus Speaking of Ant-Man and the Wasp, one of the weirdest moments of Aquaman occurs during the Combat of the Kings match between Arthur and his power-hungry brother Orm. The crowd are whipped up into a frenzy by the ceremony and helping drum up some atmosphere is... a giant octopus playing the drums. This is a scene that's coincidentally similar to the recurring joke in Ant-Man and the Wasp of the giant ant doing the same thing. In Aquaman's case, though, the joke has a relevance to the comics. Back in the 1950s, Topo the octopus was Arthur's pet sidekick, much like Batman had Ace the Bat-hound and Superman had Krypto. The creature seemed to have a much higher intelligence than is regular for its kind, which was often shown by its musical talent. Wan revealed a few months back that Topo's appearance is there for the real hardcore Aqua-fans, saying: "That's for the hardcore fans out there, because in the comic book Topo would play all kinds of instruments. Literally, one tentacle would be playing the harp, and then another one would be playing the violin, and the other tentacle would be playing the piano... I joke that the octo-drummer should hook up with the guitar flame guy from Mad Max: Fury Road." Aquaman hits theaters on December 21st and if you manage to spot any other easter eggs, be sure to let us know by commenting down below.