Apparently the days of superhero movies being origin stories are not completely over, especially over in the DCEU. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. ‘Wonder Woman’ was basically an origin story, and it ended up being a massive hit with critics and fans and took in great numbers at the box office. Of course, one could make the argument that since it was not her first appearance in the DCEU they still were doing things different. After all, they let her be full on “Wonder Woman” first (bad-ass and amazing) in ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ and then went back in her solo film to tell how she got there, which is a recipe it seems they intend to duplicate for other heroes in the DCEU.
Case in point, after appearing in ‘Justice League’ next month alongside his wife Mara, Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) will be getting his own standalone film which, according to star Jason Momoa, will be an origin story. While speaking to Total Film, Momoa opened up about the story of ‘Aquaman’ and shared his excitement about what his character experiences over the course of the film:
“It’s the whole origin story, for sure. You’ll see young Arthur and everything. It goes from before he was born…it’s the whole mythology of it…It’s unbelievable where we start in this movie, and where we end up. Right now, I’m [filming] all the end stuff and it’s pretty insane. I hate comparing things, but when I watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, you see all these amazing worlds and the places they go, and you watch Star Wars and they do battles in space. Well, what do you think is going to happen underwater? There are so many cool worlds we’re going to, and my character definitely goes on a big adventure and you travel the world with him.”
At the end of the day, origin stories are not a bad thing, especially for heroes that we have yet to see on screen. For heroes like Batman, Superman, and Spider-man who have had countless cinema versions, yeah, we do not need to see that origin again, we know what happens. Thomas and Martha were shot in crime alley. Krypton blew up and Clark was raised by the Kents. Uncle Ben was shot because Peter didn’t stop a crook. For Aquaman? I have no idea where he came from, so I am just fine going into a theater and letting them tell me that story. In fact, I look forward to it, as long as it is well done.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you feel you know enough about Aquaman and wish they would skip the origins and jump straight into his more well-known stories? Or do you think telling his backstory is necessary? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments below!
