With Wonder Woman getting incredible early reviews–the best yet for a DCEU film–the future of the DC Comics brand on film is finally starting to look bright. One of the other potential bright spots in the DCEU canon is next year’s Aquaman film from The Conjuring director James Wan, starring Jason Momoa as King Arthur of Atlantis. (Warner Brothers is probably hoping that this King Arthur performs better at the box office than the last King Arthur did).
One thing fans are wondering about is whether or not Aquaman will be an origin story, after recent comments by producer Charles Roven suggested that the film will be set after the events of this fall’s Justice League movie.
Producer Charles Roven reconfirmed to Cinema Blend that Aquaman will not be a prequel to the events of Justice League, but will instead be set after it, saying that “Aquaman will make reference [to Justice League]. There will be some reference of something that preceded Aquaman that will be in Aquaman. I believe that is the intention.”
Having said that, it seems that while Aquaman’s main plot will take place after the events of Justice League, we will be getting an origin story for the character, but probably told via flashbacks. Both of Aquaman’s parents, lighthouse keeper Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison) and his mother Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), are featured in the movie, and both characters are long dead when Aquaman is an adult, which is clue #1 that we are getting flashbacks to Arthur’s childhood. Clue #2 is that a young actor named Otis Dhanji will play a teenage Arthur Curry in the movie. Like Man of Steel before it, it seems Aquaman will use a contemporary story with flashbacks to fill in the blanks of the hero’s origin.
Although many superhero movie fans bemoan the endless stream of origin stories on the big screen, the truth is, unlike Superman or Batman, most average folks don’t know Arthur Curry’s backstory at all. To most casual fans, he’s just that guy from the old Super Friends cartoon who rides around on a seahorse and talks to fish. Like Wonder Woman, he’s a character that truly needs his complex and mythological backstory explained in detail for the non comic book reading audience.
It seems the DCEU is trying to break free from the traditional origin story shackles, by using the cross cutting of flashbacks. Man of Steel showed Clark Kent at ages 9 and 13 using his Kryptonian powers, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice showed a 9-year-old Bruce Wayne watching his parents being murdered, and at least one of the Wonder Woman trailers showed a little Diana learning about the gods from her mother, Hippolyta. This seems to be the way that DC is differentiating itself from Marvel’s more traditionally told origin story frameworks.
Aquaman starring Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry and Amber Heard as Queen Mera, hits theaters on December 21, 2018.
What are your thoughts on the DC films using a different tack when it comes to presenting the origin stories of their iconic heroes? Do you like the flashback formula, or  do you prefer more traditional, linear methods? Let us know down below in the comments.
Images: Warner Brothers
