Your First Look at Jason Momoa as Aquaman
The first look at the new Aquaman has finally surfaced.
Zack Snyder, the filmmaker in charge of the latest effort to put DC Comics characters on the big screen, tweeted on Thursday night a photo of Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis and co-founder of the Justice League. “There is only one true King. #unitetheseven,” Snyder’s tweet reads. Momoa’s superhero will appear alongside Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Snyder’s upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as a future Aquaman movie.
Following in the tradition of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Snyder’s 2013 Superman reboot Man of Steel, the character’s big screen iteration is much darker than the Aquaman found in the comics since his debut in 1941. As you can see in the photo below, Aquaman has traditionally sported a green and gold bodysuit, while Momoa’s dreadlocked version of the hero seems to be closer in spirit to his character Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones and his gritty Conan the Barbarian. At least he still has Aquaman’s familiar five-pointed spear.
Aquaman has, at times, been more wild-looking, hair-wise, than the clean-cut example above, which is taken from the recent run of “New 52” comic books, launched in 2011. Still, this is the first Aquaman we’ve seen with tattoos: Momoa already has some ink of his own, but many of the new ones look to be Polynesian-inspired additions for the movie.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters in March 2016.
UPDATE: As many commenters have pointed out, Snyder’s conception of Aquaman appears to be a cross between the grungier 1990s comic version of the sea king and the armored warrior of the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game and comic.
Image credit: Zack Snyder/Twitter, DC Comics, Warner Bros. Interactive