Back in March, Aquaman finally made his cinematic debut cameoing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and after returning for Justice League: Part One last next year, Jason Momoa will reprise the character in his own movie. Few details have been released about what to expect in Aquaman, but given how dark Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was, some have wondered in the Atlantean hero’s solo movie will strike a similar tone. According to director James Wan, fans shouldn’t see it go as dark as the second DCEU entry.
During a chat with Empire, Wan pointed to his previous movies as examples of what kind of movie fans can expect tonally from Aquaman. He said:
Look at the sensibility of my movies, from Furious 7 to the horror films. You can extract the kind of movie I might make of Aquaman.
Judging from that comment, it sounds like James Wan wants to stay in the middle ground when it comes to Aquaman’s tone. It won’t be completely shrouded in darkness, but it’s also not going to be completely lighthearted. Wan has said before how even with his horror movies, there were elements of fun in them, and Aquaman will get the same kind of treatment. Plus, as explosive and busy as Furious 7 was last year, its critical and commercial proved that audiences has a fun time watching it. So even though Jason Momoa’s Aquaman looks like a major badass, don’t expect his underwater adventure to be a broody affair. That said, it’s also important to Wan that the hero is taken seriously.
It’s no secret that for years, Aquaman has been kind of joke to folks not familiar with his abilities or history. The New 52 relaunch improved his reputation among comic book readers, but Jason Momoa’s Aquaman will be the first opportunity for the hero to make a good impression among folks whose only knowledge of Aquaman comes from Family Guy gags and The Big Bang Theory references. Wan’s previously mentioned how one of the biggest challenges will be making Aquaman not look wimpy to non-comic book fans, but the director is clearly up to the task.
Over the weekend, it was rumored that James Wan was feeling trepidatious about helming Aquaman and may be looking for a way out, but the director quickly put the kibosh on that talk by tweeting out a photo of him standing underneath a large mural of the aquatic hero. Rather than go the origin story route, Aquaman will take place after Justice League: Part One, but it hasn’t been officially revealed what predicament and which villain he’ll face on his own. At minimum, what fans can look forward to is plenty of underwater action, including some crazy sea monsters and other kinds of cool creatures.
Aquaman swims into theaters on July 27, 2018, and will also star Amber Heard as Mera.
