While the news this week that Ben Affleck won’t be directing The Batman bummed us all out, we do have some good news on the DCEU front today. The upcoming Aquaman movie from director James Wan has just added two notable potential names to the cast of the film. According to the folks at The Tracking Board, Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and The Get Down‘s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are in early talks to join the film as Aquaman’s mother, the exiled Queen Atlanna. and the undersea terrorist Black Manta, respectively
Jason Momoa is set to star as Aquaman alongside Amber Heard as his love interest, Queen Mera and Patrick Wilson as his villainous half-brother Orm. Former Green Goblin Willem Dafoe will co-star as Aquaman’s chief adviser, the scientist Dr. Nuidis Vulko. With news that Black Manta will be the main villain in the film, it’s likely that Orm Marius won’t be the bad guy in the movie, with this film possibly setting up his role in a potential sequel as the Ocean Master.
In the DC Comics lore, (which, to be fair, has changed a few times over the decades), Queen Atlanna was exiled from Atlantis and fell in love with a human lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry. Arthur Curry was their son, who grew up to be Aquaman and would eventually return to Atlantis to claim his throne. In other versions, she was already pregnant with Arthur when she left Atlantis, and Aquaman’s father was the ancient Atlantean wizard Atlan. Atlanna would then die when baby Arthur was young, and the Atlanteans left their child to die on Mercy Reef. The lighthouse keeper then raised the exiled child as his own, but never met or married Atlanna. It’s unsure which version they are going with for the movie, but considering writer Geoff Johns went classic with his well-received version of Aquaman in the New 52, I expect that version to make it into the film. Atlanna has turned up alive in recent Aquaman comics from DC.
Black Manta has long been Aquaman‘s #1 nemesis, mostly due to his recurring role on the Aquaman animated show in the ’60s, as well as his presence on the classic Super Friends TV show, where he had a very cool voice modulator. A regular human from the surface world, Black Manta nevertheless has a high tech wetsuit that is equipped with all sorts of gadgets and weapons, including one very iconic helmet that fires laser beams from the eyes. Black Manta’s most infamous moment in comics history was when he murdered Aquaman and Mera’s infant son, Arthur Jr., showing just how cold blooded he could really be.
Aquaman will be the next DCEU movie to start filming, with production expected to start in April in Kidman and Wan’s home country of Australia. It’s currently scheduled to hit theaters on October 5, 2018.
What do you think of these potential casting additions for Aquaman? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.
Images: DC Comics / Warner Brothers
