Update: The Hollywood Reporter confirm the news.
As was revealed a few days ago, Warner Bros have big plans for their DC Comics superhero films. Last year’s “Man Of Steel” kicked off their current iteration of the DC-verse, but it’s 2016’s “Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice” that will really kick off the studio’s answer to Marvel’s wildly successful pictures. The movie looks to be the first in a run of as many as three movies a year, and aside from Henry Cavill‘s Superman, will also introduce Ben Affleck‘s Batman, Gal Gadot‘s Wonder Woman, and Cyborg, played by Ray Fisher.
But it’s long been thought that other characters would also crop up here in cameos, and it seems that we’ve just found out one of them. “Game Of Thrones” actor Jason Momoa was announced as being involved in the project a while back, and rumors had it that he might be playing villain Doomsday, or “Justice League” member Martian Manhunter (but the latter is, given writer David Goyer’s feelings on him, unlikely to feature in the new films, though a trade reporter says otherwise, see below). But Drew McWeeny at Hitfix insists that Momoa, who’s remained tight-lipped over his role in interviews, will in fact be on the side of the angels in the film, as DC hero Aquaman.
As with most of these characters, there’s a somewhat tortured and convoluted history: DC’s Aquaman is either Arthur Curry, the son of a lighthouse keeper and a woman from the lost city of Atlantis who has the ability to survive underwater and communicate with sea creatures, or Orin, a native Atlantan who was abandoned because he was said to be a curse. The character perhaps is most famous as having been played by Vincent Chase in a long-running plotline on HBO’s “Entourage,” in a movie directed by James Cameron. There’s no word as to what kind of backstory the character will have here, but reportedly Snyder has already finalized the design of the character so he can appear in a cameo in ‘Batman V. Superman.’ And given Momoa’s size, it seems clear they’re adopting the more modern version of Aquaman (see the photo), who’s a buff king from Atlantis skeptical of humans moreso than traditional orange-suit wearing super hero.
And that seems to match with the intel reported: McWeeny says that he comes into the story due to the events of “Man Of Steel,” and most specifically due to the damage that Zod’s World Engine did to the Indian Ocean. Momoa’s certainly a commanding physical presence (enough so that he’ll probably look like he could kick Superman’s ass, which may not be the point…), and with no “Aquaman” movie yet announced, he should do fine with the supporting material here. You’ll be able to see how he does when the film hits theaters on May 6th, 2016.
No Martian Manhunter in JUSTICE LEAGUE? Not according to this agency grid, which lists DARKSEID as the villain… pic.twitter.com/lLwFwkXLkv
— Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) June 12, 2014