“Aquaman” Director Discusses Villain, Setting

A recent Entertainment Weekly interview with James Wan, director of the upcoming DC Extended Universe film Aquaman, discussed the movie’s main villain and how the undersea setting does (or does not) affect the DCEU as a whole.

The movie will focus on Arthur Curry/Aquaman (played by Jason Momoa), the half-human son of an Atlantean queen. In order to prevent a war with the surface world, Aquaman will have to journey to Atlantis to challenge his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) for the throne, while also fighting off the villainous Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).

Pictures of the characters were revealed in the article, but Wan was reluctant to reveal too much about them. He did reveal that it would be Orm who is the main villain of the film, though.

“Black Manta is a really interesting character who is somehow factored into this story, but our main story is about Jason and Patrick,” he explained.

As Aqua-fans know, these two are easily the hero’s most iconic foes; however, if forced to choose, most people would place Black Manta as his greatest enemy. That said, Orm works best in an origin story, as he and his brother have their initial fight over the throne of Atlantis; assuming that there are plans for sequels, Black Manta may well have his turn as big bad in a future installment.

Focusing on Atlantis will also help this movie to stand out, Wan says, as it will be largely separate from the other installments of the DCEU so far. It will also be quite impressive visually, we’ve been told.

“The water world my movie takes place in is so separate and so far apart from previous DC movies it’s like I’m making my own sci-fi fantasy film,” said Wan. “This is a whole new underwater world nobody has seen before in live action.”

So far, the DCEU franchise has been struggling a bit; most of its entries are divisive among fans, with the notable exception of Wonder Woman. That film, too, was quite removed from the other entries (due to being set during World War I). Current word says that Warner Bros. wants to de-emphasize the shared universe model moving forward, focusing on a series of solo films rather than trying to build too many connections.

Aquaman is set for release on December 21, 2018.