Everything you need to know about Aquaman before the release of the film

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The story of the character, alternate versions in the comics, and the reasons many are ironic about him.

When Aquaman appeared

Aquaman is one of the classic heroes of DC comics. He appeared on the pages of More Fun Comics back in 1941, only a couple of years behind Superman and Batman. In the original version, this superhero was the son of a sea explorer who found the sunken Atlantis and, using the books of this civilization, managed to teach his son to breathe under water, to be strong and fast.

In addition, Aquaman could control fish and other underwater creatures for a minute, and also knew how to speak with representatives of the sea world in their language, if they were within a radius of 18 meters from him. The first comics were published during the war, and therefore Aquaman often fought with fascist ships in them. And then he switched to modern sea pirates.

Who is Aquaman

Aquaman received his official biography, which most fans now know (it will also be partially retold in the film), already in the fifties, when the hero moved to Adventure Comics. In this version, his name was Arthur Curry, he was the son of the lighthouse keeper Tom Curry and the Queen of Atlantis named Atlanna. The boy himself did not know about his high origin, but already in childhood he discovered unusual abilities in himself. He could breathe underwater, swim at great speed, lift weights, and communicate telepathically with marine life. But far from the water, he was weakening, and he needed to periodically recover his strength. Before her death, Atlanna revealed to Arthur his real origin and said that he was destined to become the ruler of the seven seas.

Arthur grew up under the supervision of his father, who helped him understand people, taught compassion and nobility. And then he decided to become the protector of all the oceans of the planet. After the death of the regent of Atlantis, Aquaman was elected king as the rightful heir. Soon after, he married Mera, and later they even had children. Subsequent adventures of the hero are mainly associated either with some kind of external threat to sea inhabitants, or with the internal intrigues of Atlantis, where other contenders for the throne constantly appeared. Among the sworn enemies, it is worth mentioning the treasure hunter nicknamed Black Manta and Orma Marius - Aquaman's half-brother, who was always jealous of him.

What Aquaman Can Do

As we have already said, the lord of the seas is able to breathe under water, swim with great speed, telepathically communicate with fish and other marine animals. He also lifts weights up to 100 tons, and his body quickly recovers from injuries.

Aquaman wears almost impenetrable protective armor made of scales, fights well, and uses Poseidon's trident to summon lightning. In classic comics, other powers, sometimes even funny ones, periodically appeared and disappeared from him. For example, he could swell like a balloon and fly up.

How the Justice League came to be

When DC Comics took all the characters under its wing and changed their stories a little, it was decided to launch a joint comic, where the most powerful heroes will fight global threats that none of them can cope with alone. This approach made it possible to introduce readers to less popular characters and attract new comics to reading.

Initially, the League consisted of seven superheroes: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Hunter, and Aquaman. Then the line-up changed periodically. Later, Arthur Curry even temporarily became the leader of the team. He wanted the heroes included in it to devote all their time to the struggle for justice, but soon he himself faced a problem. Measure put him before a choice: either the League, or she. Aquaman chose a family and left the team for a while.

By the way, it was the Justice League that inspired Stan Lee to create the Fantastic Four, which then led to the emergence of the Avengers and many other superhero teams.

How Aquaman's biography changed

Over the years, DC comics have accumulated a lot of controversy in the biographies of the heroes. At first, the authors came up with the idea of a multiverse, where different versions of the characters could live in different worlds. And then they decided to periodically arrange global events and completely rewrite history. Aquaman did not pass this fate either. Therefore, we can briefly highlight several more versions of the appearance of the hero.

After the global "Crisis on Infinite Earths", when it was decided to destroy all alternative universes and leave one, Aquaman was called Orin. He was the illegitimate son of the Queen of Atlanna and the wizard Travis. When King Atlan found out about this, he announced that his son was born dead, and abandoned him. The child was picked up and raised by Arthur Curry, and whose honor the hero later took this name.

The next restart happened in the Flashpoint series, where Flash went back in time and saved his mother, which changed the fate of all heroes (for example, Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father, became Batman, and the boy himself was killed in childhood). In this version, Aquaman grew up in Atlantis from infancy and was not attached to the human world. Therefore, becoming the ruler of the seven seas, he decided to flood Western Europe, and then got involved in a bloody war with the Amazons, led by Wonder Woman. But then this story was canceled, and he again became the son of Atlanna and Tom Curry, as he was known before all the restarts.

How and why the phrase "Aquaman sucks" appeared

For this we need to thank the television series "The Big Bang Theory". In one of the episodes, the guys were going to a New Year's costume party. They decided to dress up as members of the Justice League, and Raju got the costume of Aquaman, which he did not like.

But in fact, this is not just a joke from the show, but a really old problem of the hero. Many comic book fans consider Aquaman to be one of the most unfortunate characters. His affection for water and his unusual abilities often become a reason for jokes. In addition, many comic book plots are associated exclusively with the underwater world, and, trying to somehow diversify them, the authors often invented completely ridiculous plots. This was especially true of the classic stories of the 50-60s.

For example, once Aquaman ran into sharks who refused to obey him, and sent a whole flock of huge shrimps on them, beating their enemies. And another time, a villain nicknamed Rybak caught him with a special fishing rod. In addition, in the fifties, Aquaman had an assistant - a clown named Melvin. Later he had a best friend - a walrus. But all this pales before the fact that the first love of a superhero is the dolphin Nera.

If you add to this not the most modern image of a blonde in a yellow-green suit with a trident, then the result is a mediocre character who loses to such public favorites as Superman and Batman, both in charisma and in interesting stories. It seems that the filmmakers set themselves the task of breaking this stereotype.

Why the new movie will be great

Aquaman hasn't been on screens yet

Ben Affleck's Batman found himself in an unenviable situation, because more recently Christian Bale shone on the screens in the Christopher Nolan trilogy. Superman is remembered by everyone from classic films, and in 2006 Brian Singer tried to restart him. The Flash series on The CW is now in its fifth season. Wonder Woman only had a classic television series in the seventies, and so she was better received.

And the new Aquaman simply has no one to compare with. No feature films have ever been made about him. The character has only appeared in animation and several episodes of the Smallville series. Then they planned to make their own spin-off about him, but production stopped at the very first episode.

This is the solo story of a familiar hero

Viewers have already been introduced to Aquaman in the DC cinematic universe, and the authors will not have to talk about him from scratch. In the movie "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" the character played by Jason Momoa appeared for just a couple of minutes, but in the "Justice League" he has already played an important, albeit in many ways comic role. Now DC has the opportunity to create the first full-fledged image of Aquaman on screens.

"Batman v Superman" and "Justice League" are most scolded for too many new characters, which simply do not have time to reveal in 2-3 hours. And therefore, the "Man of Steel" and "Wonder Woman" were much more in spirit. Aquaman will have one central character, and viewers will be able to fully immerse themselves in his story.

Filmed by James Wang

This director knows how and, which is no less important, loves to make good films. Once, with minimal investment, he shot the first "Saw", launching the famous franchise, and stuffed with excellent screamers "Astral". In addition, it was he who created one of the best horror films of the XXI century "The Conjuring". And then he proved that he can work not only on horror films, having removed the seventh part of the Fast and the Furious franchise, which critics praised above all others.

Wang approaches the production of films with all his attention, studies primary sources and often even participates in writing the script himself. And Aquaman is no exception. In addition, the director promised to add a horror atmosphere to the picture. So a tense plot is ensured, and in combination with the large budgets of modern cinema comics, this can give an excellent result.

Played by Jason Momoa and many cool actors

To destroy the outdated image of the too correct and boring hero, DC chose the most suitable actor. Jason Momoa is already familiar to viewers for his role as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones. He is very brutal and charming at the same time. This actor has not yet been dragged into blockbusters, and the public is not tired of him. But, most importantly, he was born in Hawaii, enjoys surfing and feels completely free in the water.

And in support of him they took a whole collection of wonderful famous actors. Amber Heard will play the beloved of the protagonist Meru. Nicole Kidman will play Atlanna, while Willem Dafoe will portray Aquaman's mentor. Of course, the director's favorite Patrick Wilson will also appear - he will play Orm.

What will the new film be about

The film retells the classic story of Aquaman's rise as ruler of Atlantis, with some modifications and taking into account previous DC films. Arthur Curry will once again be introduced as the son of the lighthouse keeper and Queen of Atlanna, raised by his father and mentor, Vulko. After the events of the film "Justice League" the hero tries to prevent the confrontation between underwater inhabitants and people from the surface. And for this he must get the trident of Poseidon and become the king of Atlantis.