In building the DC Extended Universe for the big screen, Warner Bros has been almost laser focused on getting to ‘Justice League’. This, perhaps, has been the biggest difference between their approach and the one that Marvel has been following ever since the buildup to their first ‘Avengers’ film. Whereas Marvel has preferred to introduce and develop characters in solo films and let them cut loose in team-up features, Warner has instead tended to introduce new characters in team-up films before expanding their stories in solo films. This is the model they followed with Wonder Woman’s scene stealing introduction in ‘Batman v Superman’, which was then followed up with this summer’s ‘Wonder Woman’, and it’s one they clearly intend to stick with for the foreseeable future.
Despite all the talk of Flash being a breakout character in ‘Justice League’, the next iteration of this cycle is currently set to focus on Jason Momoa’s Aquaman (who the studio is similarly expecting to make a splash – pun very much intended). After his debut in ‘Justice League’, fans will be able to follow him directly into DC’s next film, the James Wan-helmed ‘Aquaman’. But based on some recent comments, audiences may be in for a bit of a curve ball on that front.
As Momoa explained during a London press junket, the Aquaman we meet in ‘Justice League’ won’t quite be the same man we see in his solo film:
“It all kind of came from Zack (Snyder)’s mind. The one thing that was really concerning when I did my homework, I knew this was basically a weekend in his life. I just wanted to make sure the fans knew, we needed to know where he came from and why he’s this grumpy. You’re gonna understand where he came from. What happened to his mother, what happened to his father. Sometimes he saved people and sometimes he lost people. His human side didn’t understand how to handle that. When we do go to the solo film, you’re gonna see the man who learned how to accept responsibility and becomes King. The Aquaman in this film isn’t quite Aquaman yet.”
Momoa further confirmed that ‘Aquaman’ would cover his character’s origin story before teasing a bit about what fans can expect to see in the film:
“It’s the 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’ll see all these amazing worlds and the places they go, and when 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.”
Directed by James Wan, ‘Aquaman’ stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren, and Nicole Kidman. The film is scheduled for release on December 21, 2018.
