Aquaman‘s weighed down with some heavy expectations. As the first post-Justice League DCEU film, the future of the whole cinematic universe could live or die with it. If director James Wan gets things right, then audiences might just write off the last few movies as an aberration and treat this as a fresh start. If it’s mediocre (or just plain bad), then fans might finally decide en mass that the DCEU is synonymous with crappy superhero pics.
All that’s why we’re desperate to see the first trailer for Aquaman, which might give us a hint as to how the film’s going to go. Unfortunately, there’s still no word on when it may arrive, but Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who plays the villainous Black Manta, has responded to the frequent question from fans asking why he can’t at least tell them when the preview will drop.
Taking to Twitter, here’s what he said:
If I did that it would RUIN EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING! It’d kill the entire publicity plan. You’ll be excited for maybe 30 minutes, then you’d have nothing to look forward to. You’d just be waiting again. So… No. I won’t tell you.
Now, we’re still about six months away from release, but you’d think we’d have seen at least something concrete from the project by this point – even if it was just a teaser poster. It’s also notable that Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League and Wonder Woman all released teaser trailers well before this stage on their journey to theaters.
What’s also important to note here is that the radio silence only makes the reports of extensive reshoots and rumors of studio interference feel that much more ominous. After all, execs meddling in the movie and mandating changes was what torpedoed Justice League, and though I’m sure that they’ll be making every effort to set this apart from the previous project, you can’t help but draw parallels.
Despite all that, I have a sneaking suspicion that Aquaman will be in the upper tier of DCEU films. Jason Momoa’s already proved that he’s great in the role, the film has an excellent supporting cast (including Dolph Lundgren) and James Wan is one of the finest directors currently working. I could be wrong, of course, but for now, how about we remain cautiously optimistic?
