I know…I know. I promised you guys that I was done with fan fictions and editorials. But with the spate of rumors that has recently resurfaced coupled with my absolute boredom right now, I thought I churn out one last editorial/fanfiction. This last editorial/fanfiction will be in regards to the King under the Sea, scion of the lost city of Atlantis, Aquaman. So…without further ado…
A quick recap of the DC Cinematic Universe that I have currently built—keeping in mind that I have decided to keep the Arrowverse separate from DC’s big screen adaptations of their properties. Henry Cavill’s Superman receives four solo films (the currently in development Batman vs Superman serving as solo film number#2 and potentially as a Trinity film and lead-in to the Justice League film). Ben Affleck’s Batman receives only one solo film (though I might have contradicted myself previously to which I apologize). Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Barry Allen/the Flash played by Garrett Hedlund each receive a trilogy in their name. Wonder Woman’s debut solo film would be the one other pre-Justice League DC film besides Batman vs Superman. Flash’s debut solo film would be released after the Justice League film. Meanwhile, I have decided to retain Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan for an additional Green Lantern solo film before a solo film is then allotted to John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Guy Gardner (though the latter is questionable). Idris Elba would play John Stewart, Drew Roy would play Kyle Rayner, and Bradley Cooper would play Guy Gardner.
In terms of the Justice League film, the first film would feature its five core member (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash) with Aquaman joining the roster in the second film against a combination/mash-up of Brother Eye, OMACs/Amazo, and Maxwell Lord. In the third film, Ashley Greene would portray rookie hero Hawkgirl who joins the League’s roster against Darkseid and eventually lead the next generation of heroes (more on that later). Hal Jordan would be the primary Green Lantern for the first two Justice League film before Idris Elba/John Stewart takes over for the third film. That combination is flexible.
One of the more radical ideas that I proposed in my Justice League editorial was a shake-up in the roster after a trilogy of Justice League films end in 2022 (or something like that…I laid out a timeline). This would coincide with the end of these heroes’ solo film series as well. Instead of rebooting the DCCU, Warner Bros. should (in my opinion) continue the universe but give other lesser-known heroes an opportunity to shine on the big screen. Once these heroes, whoever they are (I would personally advocate Martin Manhunter and Captain Marvel) are introduced in their solo films to the general audience, then they will be added to a new Justice League roster lead by Hawkgirl, the lone holdover from its “Golden Days”.
And that’s my DCCU in a nut shell.
Now, back to Aquaman. As you will have noticed, the character is slated to appear in Justice League 2. Due to the late entrance of the character into the DCCU and the age of the actor I’ve casted in the role, I envision only one solo film for the character to take place between the first and second Justice League film. This film will be filmed and released after the second Justice League and acts as a lead-up to the character’s crowd-pleasing debut on the silver screen in Justice League 2; a midquel of sorts.
Before I continue, I want to take a moment to warn my viewers that what you’re about to read may be very controversial. I’ve taken liberties with characters and established what I felt was a unique personality and backstory to each characters that is not necessarily in line with how they are portrayed in the comics. Many characters may not be portrayed in the most positive light. My reasoning will be explained so just bear with me. In any case, moving on.
I’ve already casted the character in my Justice League editorial so there’s no need to withhold the suspense any longer (keep in mind this was casted long before the recent rumors popped up).
Josh Holloway as Arthur Curry/Aquaman: [First paragraph copied and pasted from my Justice League editorial] I was pretty open with the casting of Aquaman in terms of age. However, I found that Josh Holloway, as a season veteran of the entertainment industry, had the best built and look to bring the King of Atlantis to the big screen. [Because his introduction was as a supporting character in the Justice League] I was not particularly worry about having the best actor or the biggest name star in the role; just someone who can bring a presence and gravitas to the role. I think Holloway definitely fits the bill. Other considerations include Phillip Winchester, Jason Lewis, and [Joel Kinnaman].
Aquaman, at this point in the DCCU, had his own adventures but has thus far not revealed himself or the existence of Atlantis to the human world. He is, however, King of Atlantis already and bares scars of previous battles and heroics. However, as a Game of Thrones fan I wasn’t interested in creating a character that was the perfect gentleman, perfect hero, or the perfect king. As such, one of his most outstanding “flaw” will be that he is unfaithful to his wife (Mera)—more on this later. By this point in his career (let’s say he’s been king for over a decade now), he is also beginning to shirk his duties as King of Atlantis and his yearning to return to the surface world grows stronger with each passing day. He has, however, been a great king and very caring ruler who hold his people’s welfare very close to his own heart.
One of the biggest divergent of Aquaman’s backstory from the (current) comic continuity that I have settled upon, is the character’s birth. In my version of the character, Orin is still the son of Atlanna—however, not of Tom Curry. Rather, Atlanna is a rather unimportant Atlantean who has been taken as of consort to a prince of Atlantis and gave birth Orin as a result. However, due to his illegitimacy and various political threats, Atlanna is forced to flee. Injured and tired, she surfaces and is rescued by Tom Curry, a coast guard/lighthouse keeper. Though the latter falls in love with Atlanna, she dies soon after surfacing. The reason why I changed up the birth story of Orin was because I didn’t think Atlanteans and humans, 10,000+ years remove from a common ancestor, would be able to reproduce. They’re like…different species…right?
Named Arthur Curry by his foster father, Orin grows up to be an extremely gifted swimmer and free diver. Though kind-hearted, he is somewhat of a cocky, promiscuous showman (If you were one of the most gifted swimmers in the world, would you not find yourself at the center of attention in high school and college?). Arthur does not discover his true heritage until Tom is forced to tell him to prevent his attendance at the Olympics (1988 South Korea?). Arthur agrees to not attend the Olympics but goes on to college with a swimming scholarship (studying marine biology?). Despite his continuous success and popularity amongst his peers, he feels more isolated than ever and eventually, after college, leaves home to travel the ocean and find Atlantis.
Now, because Tom Curry and Atlanna have just been mentioned, the casting for the rest of the characters will start with the two of them.
Sam Shepard/Liam Neeson as Tom Curry: Due to the nature of Aquaman’s age in the film, I looked for actors who were older than the typical casting for the character. I wanted an actor that I felt could very much be the word of wisdom that Pa Kent was for Clark. Both Sam Shepard and Liam Neeson are both well established and respected actors that I could definitely bring credibility to such an important supporting character. I don’t think their merits needs much explanation…do you?
I envision the character of Tom Curry as a loner, even when he was younger. He’s a compassionate character with a love for the sea, spending his days alone in the light house or sailing on his boat. Because of this, it is fitting he would fall in love with a beautiful creature of the sea and spend his life guarding its secret. He is very protective of his son which often times brings him in conflict with a son who wants to fit in and be popular (similar to the dynamic between Pa and Clark Kent in Smallville). When Aquaman goes into the sea and eventually become the King of Atlantis, Tom remains one of his few contacts to the surface world. He is visited sporadically by his son (though more frequently of late) like any child returning to visit their parents for the holidays.
A young Tom Curry may be seen in flashback but I didn’t feel it warranted anyone specifically worth mentioning.
Melanie Laurent as Atlanna: The role that Atlanna plays in Aquaman’s life is small but extremely important as she is the key to his heritage. As such, I looked for an actress that already has moderate exposure and could portray essentially a doomed character. Atlanna is perhaps forced into a relationship with a prince she didn’t love and scared for a life when she bears an illegitimate child to the throne. I personally think Melanie Laurent is an underrated actress who deserves more then she gets. There’s something very mysterious and sad about the way she looks that only adds to the allure she can bring to the role. Other considerations include Diane Kruger and Rosamund Pike.
Milla Jovovich as Mera: I’m just going to call it right now and say there’s going to be a huge uproar about this casting; probably the most controversial, at least in this editorial. The reason why I chose Milla Jovovich was because I really wanted someone who can take the character of a queen and make her the most kick-ass female superheroine possible. The character of Mera needs to be subservient to no one and someone you can believe saved Aquaman’s life more than he saved hers. In my opinion, you can’t get any more badass than Milla Jovovich. If anything, the Resident Evil franchise made her the deadliest modern action heroine out there. For the Christina Hendricks and Emily Blunt fans out there, sorry…they weren’t working for me. Other consideration includes Maggie Q and Kate Beckinsale.
Like for the previous characters, I’ve come up with a little backstory for Mera. A shield-maiden Atlantean of sorts (not some princess from some other-dimensional Atlantean city), she, like many of her fellow ocean-dweller, have become disillusioned with Orm’s rule as King. When Arthur Curry finds Atlantis and his (albeit illegitimate) royal ancestry is revealed, Mera, along with others, side with him in a bloody rebellion/revolution/coup that ultimately sees them as successful and Orin on the throne of Atlantis. Orin, who has slowly fallen in love with Mera during the course of their revolution, marry and name her his queen (much to the chagrin of Atlantean conservatives). At the start of the movie, Mera and Orin’s relationship is severely strained by the death of their infant son. She is also well aware of Orin’s extramarital relationship but does nothing to stop it, believing it to be a passing fancy. As her husband spends more time on the surface (to which she has never been) she finds herself handling more and more of the rule of the city even while knowing her position as queen becomes more tenuous due to those dissatisfied with her less-than-noble birth.
She is a powerful and head-strong warrior-queen who is extremely proud of herself and the hardship she had gone through to work her way up the ranks. Like almost all Atlantean, she harbors a deep distrust of surface dwellers, amplified by the fact that her husband has fallen in love with an earth-dweller.
Sam Chaflin as Garth: I’ll admit that there’s no particular reason why I chose Sam Chaflin to play Garth besides the fact that he’s a rising star with a good build (or at least showed capability to build muscle). I haven’t seen Catching Fire but in the posters, he looks good in a skintight suit. He also happens to be the proper age as protégé to an older Aquaman. He ends up, by happy coincidence, to be the same age as my Nightwing actors.
Garth is the foster son of King Orin and the Crown Prince of Atlantis. Headstrong and brash, though he has proven himself a very capable fighter, many remain skeptical in his abilities to rule a kingdom including his father. For whatever reason, maybe to accentuate his haughty nature, I’ve decided he calls Orin ‘father’ but does not call Mera ‘mother’. He possibly sees her as the manipulative stepmother? Or maybe just a threat to his throne?
Olivia Thirlby as Tula: Tula is a young captain of the Royal Guard, both confidante and friend to the King and Queen. She is an extremely fierce fighter, loyal and dedicated to her job. So much so that she has little time for anything else especially the romantic advances of Garth. She is especially proud of the relationship she has built with her king and queen. She ultimately ends up as the love interest to Jackson Hyde as well. Olivia Thirlby is another actress that I really like and think is underrated. After Dredd I expected her to get bigger roles but alas, that is not to be (at least in the near future). In any case, both young and pretty, she has proven herself capable of handling action and playing a heroic figure.
Stanley Tucci as Vulko: This is probably a very unoriginal casting choice but I simply thought Stanley Tucci would be perfect for the role. A talented actor, Tucci has the ability to bring quirkiness and levity to what is turning out to be a very dark film. The character of Vulko will be that of King Orin’s closest advisor. A remnant from past regimes (imprisoned by Orm?), he is both wise and kind-hearted, both politician and scientist. He has only Atlantis’ best interest at heart.
Djimon Hounsou as Black Manta: I personally wanted someone who still had hair to portray the character of Black Manta but the more I thought about, the more Djimon Hounsou made perfect sense. Not only is he an Academy Award nominated actor with the established ability to portray morally ambiguous (or straight out immoral) characters with depth. I also think it was high time an international star (U.K. doesn’t count) made a splash in the comic book movie world. As you will see later, a portion of the movie will take place in Portugal and Africa. In this film, the character will not be called Black Manta. Rather, the name of Black Manta will make a cameo as the name of the character’s ship. He will be the primary antagonist in the film. Because I will divulge the plot in a little fanfiction [in the next article], I will withhold my adaptation of the character until then.
Michael B. Jordan as Jackson Hyde: I personally don’t like this casting, preferring someone who was actually African to match up better with Djimon. But alas, I don’t really know of any young African actors so I went with the next best thing. Michael B. Jordan as we all know now, is an up and coming actor. Fruitvale Station proved that he definitely has the talent to pull off a relatively easy role in Jackson Hyde. While I will divulge the role of the character later, I will simply say right now that Jackson Hyde will be fully aware of his heritage and will not have some innate ability to breathe underwater.
Wes Bentley as Orm/Ocean Master: Another very unoriginal casting for Ocean Master, I find that Wes Bentley simply looks the part. But of course, besides that, I think that he will be perfect in portraying the soft-spoken, manipulative, disgraced king. He’s definitely no stranger to playing the bad guy.
I envisioned Orm as the legitimate heir to the throne of Atlantis (whereas Orin is illegitmate). Born of the same father as Orin but a different mother, his father killed his own family to inherit the throne of Atlantis. Orm eventually paid him in kind, killing his own parents to usurp the throne. Though the legitimate ruler of Atlantis, Orm was a tyrant and treated his subject harshly believing fear and power would save him from suffering the same fate as his forefather. This was not to be, however, when Orin arrives. Though Orm has the stronger claim to the throne, the public backed Orin and eventually overthrew him. As of the start of the movie, Orm is in something akin to house arrest, living rather comfortably within the castle under constant watch. Both Orin and Orm know the latter still have some supporters, poised to strike.
Ahna O’Reilly as Dolphin: Okay…so the character isn’t really Dolphin. Rather, if Dolphin had a civilian identity and was a surface dwelling human, this would be her. The character is the woman with whom Arthur Curry is cheating on Mera with. This is a small role. I imagine Arthur Curry to be a one-time idol of Dolphin, a former Boston University swimming champion. In the aftermath of the death of Arthur’s son, he bonded with Dolphin and “fell in love”. She reminds him of the regular surface life he could’ve had. She is one of the few surface dwellers Arthur keeps in contacts with and visits. She is fully aware of Arthur’s less than human origins.
I really like Ahna O’Reilly in The Help and thought she would do well in another small yet important role. I think she definitely a very girl-next-door type figure that everyone falls in love with once in their life time. She’s young and pretty, very capable of unintentionally earning the ire of older women.
Tony Leung as Stephen Shin: For the role of Stephen Shin, whose character in this film differs than in the comics, I was adamant about casting an international actor to play the role. To that end, I have casted Tony Leung who is a very well respected veteran star of the Asian film scene. I think he can definitely bring gravitas and credibility to the role. Other considerations include Tzi Ma and Andy Lau.
Now, before I continue on to plotline of the story I have concocted for my solo Aquaman film, I would like to take a moment to discuss the history and physiology of Atlanteans. Was this necessary? Probably not but it’s how my mind works and I felt like sharing. In any case, let’s continue.
I draw my imagination of Atlantis based mostly off the various theories and myths laid out throughout the past few centuries. I most notably take inspiration from Ignatius Donnelly’s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. No, I did not actually read it but rather, I took snippets of what I could find online. I am particularly enamored with the idea that the known ancient human civilizations spanning from the Mayans to the Egyptians descended from Atlantis (or at least influenced by). In my mind, Atlantis was the first great human civilization. The citizens of Atlantis were the forefathers of technology and were directly responsible through trade and travel in ushering in the Bronze Age. Their reach was expansive and their society was as close to a utopia as realistically possible. That is, of course, until its sundering. I haven’t settled on an exact reason why the city sank under the sea but I am incline to lean towards either some sort of hostile invasion or natural disaster. I want to be very clear here by stating that there is no extraterrestrial involvement or influence whatsoever in Atlantis. Of course, then we beg the question, how did they survive underwater long enough to adapt—because it is exactly that, adaptation and mutation, that separated Atlanteans from humans. Divergent evolution and all that. With Atlantis seemingly destroyed, the world moved on without them and has not heard from them since.
At the start of my film, there figures to be only a little more than two million Atlanteans living in Atlantis. Atlantis is the one and only city under the sea. Most of it still, in facts, lay in waste. At its height, the city of Atlantis was larger than New York City and Los Angeles combine. Now, the city isn’t even as big as one of those. There are, however, small pockets of outposts scattered throughout the Atlantic, emanating from Atlantis location. For me, Atlantis location is in the Atlantic Ocean (not the Mediterranean where some theorize it could be). This serves to differentiate them from Themyscira somewhat. In any case, Atlantis is located somewhat off the coast of northern Africa and Portugal.
Now, the physiology of Atlanteans: due to adapting and living in the depths of the ocean under tremendous pressure, I imagine all Atlanteans to possess a level of superstrength, speed, agility etc. when on land. The fact that no Atlanteans except Orin has ever been on land before makes this moot…at least until the events of the film. The Atlanteans, however, are not bulletproof including Aquaman. Rather, I much prefer the armor they wear (i.e. Aquaman’s orange/green suit) to substitute for that. I imagine if Atlanteans were the forefront of metallurgy over 12,000+ years ago and continued to develop their craft independent of human method, perhaps they came up with a way for crafting stronger metal. This will also account for Aquaman’s near indestructible trident. I also justify Atlantean respiratory methods as similar to amphibians. They have porous skins that draw oxygen from the water (albeit, their skin are of equivalent thickness and durability to that of human skin) but also have lungs. As such, they can survive on land but grow relatively weaker when not exposed to a large quantity of water for a prolong period of time. I’d imagine we don’t want to see Aquaman with gills…do we? Due to thousands of years of adaptation, Atlanteans are also probably partially webbed and hairless (the last part is debatable). I’ve also considered having Atlanteans possess sharp, fish-like teeths but I didn’t want to turn them into horrific monsters. I do imagine, though, that their diet consists mainly of raw sealife.
[Due to the length of the existing article, I've split my editorial into two separate parts. Part 2, the companion article, contains a fanfiction of what I think the solo Aquaman film (in the DCCU I have created) should/could be like and the reason behind why I made the decisions that I did. See you soon]