DC and Zack Snyder would love for us to get excited about Justice League, but we haven’t been given a single strong reason to go past obligatory interest. Henry Cavill is decent as Supes, but not good enough to make Man of Steel bearable. Ben Affleck’s Batman is a gigantic question mark. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman could be a plus; we’re still waiting to see.
Enter Khal Drogo, known outside Westeros as 34-year-old eyebrow hero Jason Momoa. The Game of Thrones fan fave (I’m a fan; he was one of my faves; moving on) is reportedly joining Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice as the one and only Aquaman, a.k.a. the Monarch of Atlantis, King of the Seven Seas, and probably one of the last characters you’d tap to bring cool points to DC’s budding movieverse. But Momoa oozes both cool and depth, even in middling projects like SundanceTV’s The Red Road and Stallone’s ridiculous Bullet to the Head. This is a man who can make tridents and orange scale-mail dramatically interesting. (And he’s definitely got what it takes to succeed fake cinema’s last Aquaman, Entourage’s Vinnie Chase. Dude debuted to $116 million at the imaginary box office!)
Hitfix writes that Warner Bros. hasn’t made an official announcement but that it’s a sure bet. “Zack Snyder has already finalized his designs for the character so shooting can take place soon,” reads the report. “What we’re hearing is that [Aquaman] is not pleased about the World Engine and what it did to the Indian Ocean [in Man of Steel].” Aquaman’s role in Batman v. Superman supposedly isn’t very big, but he’ll get to step up in Justice League, rumored to hit theaters in May 2017.
Momoa actually got frustrated about Aquaman rumors as recently as May. “Stop asking me. It’s so annoying,” he told a reporter at Motor City Comic Con. “I think it started when people said ‘What superhero would you play?’ And I’d say Batman and Superman, they’d be awesome together. Then people were like, ‘He’s in Batman vs. Superman!’ I’m like, I really like Lobo. ‘HE’S LOBO!!’ And then some asshole was like ‘He’s Aquaman!’ And I’m like — what did you just call me? Where the fuck do you pull out Aquaman? Seriously … And then it shows up on the Internet. Not that it’s a bad rumor.”
Are rumors that turn into superhero-size paychecks ever bad?