Now that Justice League has taken care of fully introducing Aquaman to audiences, we have a year to go until he snags the spotlight for himself in the Aquaman movie. Justice League did a satisfiable job of laying out Aquaman's core characterization, including the notable differences from his comic book counterpart. With Aquaman, however, not only will the movie be following up on his life after helping his fellow superheroes defeat Steppenwolf, but it will also peel back the layers of his past. Here's how Jason Momoa described Aquaman's handling of the character:
Justice League was only a weekend in Arthur Curry's life. This is a totally different beast. In Aquaman, you see when his parents met and what happened to hem. Then the little boy being raised and finding his powers and going through that and never being accepted on either side. And then becoming this man who puts up all these walls. You just slowly see this man harden up and be completely reluctant wanting to be king and not knowing what to do with these powers he has. I think James Wan just killed it.
Justice League only partially touched on Aquaman's earlier life, namely when we learned how his mother, Queen Atlanna, was forced to leave him in the care of his human father, Thomas Curry. We were already aware that the Aquaman movie would explore aspects of Arthur Curry's origin when it was announced that Nicole Kidman would play Atlanna, Temuera Morrison would play Thomas, and Kaan Guldur and Otis Dhanji had been cast as nine-year-old Arthur and 13-year-old Arthur, respectively. But as Jason Momoa laid out to EW, Aquaman will spend plenty of time showing Arthur's upbringing, discovering his special abilities and how he grew to feel like an outsider in both of his "worlds." Origin stories can be tiresome when they're about heroes who've had their background explored in multiple movies and TV shows. However, in Aquaman's case, while the general public may be vaguely aware of him, few are intimately familiar with his origin, so it's worth the Aquaman movie touching on those early years.
Along with Aquaman exploring Arthur Curry's origin story, the movie will also show him taking the next step forward on his heroic path as an adult. At the end of Justice League, Aquaman was seen swimming back to Atlantis, finally ready to embrace his underwater heritage. But while he's preparing to take the throne, Aquaman will have to face threats both close to him and from the surface world; more specifically his half-brother Orm, a.k.a. Ocean Master, and the mysterious mercenary known as Black Manta.
Directed by James Wan, Aquaman swims into theaters on December 21, 2018. To find out what other DC Extended Universe projects are on the way, scan through our DC movies guide.
