During the roughly eight-month-long lull between the release of Justice League and San Diego Comic-Con, WB went back to the drawing board and boy howdy, did the Big Six studio benefit from the time off. What with the unveiling of the first Shazam! teaser, some unpolished Wonder Woman 1984 footage and the first Aquaman trailer, the newly minted Worlds of DC was unrecognizable. Thankfully, though, WB hasn’t entirely disposed of the old guard.
Earlier today, the credit listing and MPAA rating – much like you’d see on the bottom of a movie poster – for Aquaman was affixed to the film’s official website, and it was discovered that Zack Snyder is amongst those ascribed as executive producers.
While it’s undeniably a bit of a jolt, the inclusion of Zack as an executive producer shouldn’t be all that shocking. After all, the filmmaker was an imperative piece of the DCEU for nearly a decade and was integral to the casting of Jason Momoa as the Aquatic Ace.
“Zack is someone who kind of saved my life,” said the actor. “This opportunity to be where I am is all because of him. So if you like Aquaman, you can pretty much thank Zack Snyder instantly, because none of it would’ve come true if it weren’t for him.”
Snyder also had a hand in landing Amber Head, who was quick to credit Zack’s vision for Mera as the reason she took the role.
“I’m allergic to being the damsel, the two-dimensional archetype of what women are often limited to in this industry, especially in the superhero world. Zack got me at ‘warrior queen.’ He said, ‘You get a sword and a crown,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay.’”
Unfortunately, we’ll likely never know the extent of the director’s influence on Aquaman – unless his stylishness and originality are overly apparent throughout the film’s one hundred and forty minute runtime – or if he’ll be included in the operation going forward. But for the time being, I suppose we should all just shut up and chalk the embracement of Snyder up as a definite win.
