Now that Jason Momoa has been confirmed as Aquaman in Warner Bros.’ developing Justice League universe, the Game of Thrones star finally has the greenlight to unleash all sorts of details about the role, his audition process, and the future of this aquatic superhero. And he did just that while speaking at Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta over the weekend.
"I was just trying to respect Warner Bros. and everyone’s wishes," Jason Momoa told the gathered crowds (according to ComicBook.com) about all of his previous denials when asked about playing Aquaman on screen. "I’m really, really happy that I don’t have to be quiet anymore, because that’s really hard for me." Momoa confirmed that he would show up in Zack Snyder’s Justice League film, but stopped short of saying if he’d be in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Yet, when asked to elaborate on the planned solo Aquaman movie, Momoa was very candid – revealing the following information:
I don’t know the director. I know about as much as you guys know. I know the Justice League will come first. That’s really what we’re going to focus on. I’m not sure if it will be [set] prior to Justice League, or post. I don’t know too much about it. It will probably be where he came from. It will probably be his whole origin story I would think…I mean I don’t even want to get quoted on this shit. So I know we’re going to do Justice League first."
Welp, we quoted Momoa on it (against his wishes). Sorry!
His comments are so interesting, though. Not knowing the time frame of the Aquaman solo movie raises extremely fascinating questions about how Warner and DC are attempting to build their universe. As you know, across town, Marvel rolled out solo movies for Iron Man, Captain America and Thor before bringing them together for the Avengers movie. And yet, according to DC’s massive announcement, the Flash and Aquaman movies will be arriving in theaters in 2018 – one year after the first Justice League film. Momoa is saying that Aquaman will be part of the Justice League story. We all thought that the solo film which followed would build on that. Could this mean that the solo movies will flash back to start explaining who these heroes are, and where they came from, after the fact?
Jason Momoa hedges his comments, and it’s probable that all of this stuff just hasn’t been worked out yet. "I don’t even know when we’re shooting yet," Momoa admits, "but it will be like 2016 or 2017, so there’s plenty of time."
His comments just suggest an interesting wrinkle in the possible timeline of the DC movies. Because if Aquaman is an origin story, then Flash, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Cyborg and Green Lantern might be getting similar treatment in their own announced movies – and after two Justice League movies, I’m not so sure we are going to need (or want) that.
