New Aquaman Rumors Point To Karl Urban And 300: Rise Of An Empire Director

Zack Snyder built the foundation for the DC Cinematic Universe with 2013’s Man of Steel, and will be at the helm of another three big installments as well: Next year’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League Part 1 in 2017, and Justice League Part 2 in 2019. As if that weren’t enough to suggest that the director holds a lot of the power about how the DCCU shapes up, we’re now hearing that he may have been responsible for getting another filmmaker’s foot in the door as well.

According to Latino-Review, 300: Rise of an Empire helmer Noam Murro is “on the list” of contenders to helm the upcoming Aquaman film – a list that also includes the previously-rumored Mud director Jeff Nichols. Murro closely emulated the trademark style that Snyder utilized in the first 300 film, so one has to wonder if he’d do the same for Aquaman if given the chance. In any case, the fact that he’s already worked with Snyder (who produced Rise of an Empire and helped write the script) is an important detail that could very well land him the gig.

On top of this development, Latino-Review also claims that the studio is “waiting patiently for Star Trek 3″ to wrap production so that they can nab Karl Urban for an unspecified supporting role. Urban already has a history with Warner Bros., thanks to parts in Red and Almost Human, which were co-produced by the studio. He was also in the running to play Batman before Ben Affleck nabbed the coveted role, so it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that he’s on some WB wishlist somewhere.

Urban was my personal choice for the role of Batman, so I’d be more than happy to see him get a DC movie role. It’s still unclear which one he’s supposedly up for, though it’s likely a villain. Previous rumors have pointed toward characters like Ocean Master (Aquaman’s half-brother) and Black Manta – both of which Urban would be great for.

As far as Murro goes, I wasn’t the biggest fan of 300: Rise of an Empire, but that had more to do with the script than with Murro’s direction. I could easily see him tackling a film like Aquaman, though he certainly wouldn’t be my first choice.

Aquaman stars Jason Momoa and is scheduled to hit theaters on July 27th, 2018. Tell us, what do you think of these new rumors? Would you like to see Noam Murro direct Aquaman? And, what role would you like to see Karl Urban in? Sound off in the comments below.