After being (briefly) introduced in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and becoming a fully-fledged team member in Justice League, Aquaman is finally getting a standalone solo movie that’ll introduce us to his world, and fill us in on his backstory.
Aquaman – aka Arthur Curry – became something of a figure of fun in the comics community before he was wholesale reinvented for the DCEU and Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa was cast. In his earlier film appearances he’s been something of a grizzled outsider, but his upcoming solo story will show where the half-human, half-Atlantean came from, as well as looking into what the future might hold for him.
You can take a look at Momoa on-set in these exclusive images, courtesy of our sister publication Total Film magazine, as he takes a break between shots with director James Wan and explores a location with co-star Amber Heard. Take a look at the exclusive images below…
In the film, Aquaman will be drawn back to the sea to face the rising threat of his half-brother, Orm, aka Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson). Heard’s Mera will be Aquaman’s guide to the world below. Heard was initially reluctant to take on a superhero role until she learned a bit more about the character. “I was interested because I heard it was a warrior queen,” she tells Total Film. “To play an action superhero, not a damsel, not a love interest who needs to be saved, but to truly play a superhero in her own right, was appealing.”
“I think our chemistry shows and we get to dig at each other,” says Momoa of Heard. “Not that you could ever compare it to Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, but I was raised by my mother, so we definitely watched Romancing the Stone, and I loved that bickering between the two. We just strived for that… It was just really easy and effortless.”
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And while Aquaman is set to offer viewers a whole new undersea world to explore, introducing a far-reaching mythology, it is very much a standalone. “It’s literally a standalone movie,” Wan tells Total Film. “Not because I wasn’t open to the idea of potentially another character from the bigger universe, but it just so happens that the roads that these characters go on are not associated with any of the other superhero characters. I keep saying it would be weird to see Batman in Atlantis, or even Superman for that matter… This way I can tell my own story and not be affected by what they’re doing over there, and they’re not affected by what I’m doing over here. But we all live in the same space.”
For more on Aquaman from Wan, Momoa, and Heard, pick up this month’s Total Film magazine, which hits shelves this Friday, October 19. Better yet, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue?
Doing so will net you a fancy (not to mention exclusive) subscriber cover that can’t be bought in stores, and you’ll also save money on the cover price while getting every issue sent directly to your doors. What are you waiting for? Take a look at Total Film’s Aquaman covers below, as revealed by James Wan and Amber Heard:
