While Aquaman as a comic book character has frequently been the butt of jokes, the early word regarding the new Aquaman movie has been overwhelmingly positive. It looks like DC may have another big hit on their hands, and as we wait the remaining three weeks to see just how good the movie is, a bunch of new images have been released that show off several of the film's characters, including Dolph Lundgren's King Nereus and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta. Check out the DC villain in the image below.
Black Manta is one of several villains who will be making an appearance in the new film. While we've seen the character in trailers, it's not entirely clear exactly how Black Manta will fit into the overall story. The trailers have focused on the conflict between Arthur Curry and his half-brother over the throne of Atlantis as the primary conflict of the plot.
Being one of the more popular Aquaman villains, Black Manta could potentially have been the primary antagonist of his own movie. However, it at least seems that the plan is for him to be a secondary issue for Aquaman, though we'll have to wait and see exactly how it all plays out.
Another character that could very well be a villain of the film, but apparently is not is Dolph Lundgren's character of King Nereus. Check him out below.
In the comics, King Nereus is portrayed as a villain, and so many assumed that would be the case when it was reported Dolph Lundgren would be taking on the role in the film. However, director James Wan has said that's "not quite" the case. If Nereus isn't quite a villain, then he probably isn't exactly an ally either or at least not a willing one.
These are only a couple of the images that have been released by Warner Bros. ahead of the Aquaman release. The rest (via Collider) include, of course, various shots of Aquaman himself, Jason Momoa, as well as Amber Heard as Mera. We also see several images of Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko.
Of course, in the end, a bunch of still images really aren't going to give us the best idea of just what we're in for when it comes to Aquaman. We do have something of an idea of what we're getting when it comes to Jason Momoa as we met Aquaman in Justice League. We also briefly met Amber Heard as Mera but now Aquaman has to carry his own movie.
However, the early word of mouth is that Aquaman actually works out really well. The critics that have seen the movie so far seem to have an overwhelmingly positive reaction, although official reviews have yet to be published, so we'll have to wait and see what the detailed word is. Aquaman hits theaters December 21.
