Why Twitter's Aquaman photo has 'Batman V Superman' fans freaking out

"Batman V Superman" director Zack Snyder leaked a photo of Jason Momoa as a redesigned Aquaman. How will the new look affect the plot?

|
PRNewsFoto/DC Entertainment
DC Comics characters from the Justice League will be seen on screen in the new "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" movie set to release on March 25, 2016.

Aquaman may be poised to surface among America's most preeminent superheroes with the first release of his new look.

Zack Snyder, the director of the upcoming movie “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice,” tweeted a photo of the Justice League hero Thursday night. Played by former “Game of Thrones” star Jason Momoa, the aquatic character has fans speculating his role in the movie, which will be released on March 25, 2016.

The photo features the phrase “Unite the Seven,” which refers to the seven members of the Justice League: Aquaman; Batman, to be played by Ben Affleck; Superman (Henry Cavill); The Flash (Ezra Miller); Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot); Cyborg (Ray Fisher); and Green Lantern, who has not yet been cast.

With the release of the Aquaman’s look, why are fans so excited?

“Superman V Batman” has had fans guessing about its plot and characters since they caught wind of its filming. Originally to be a sequel to Superman’s “Man of Steel,” it continues to introduce new, well-known characters, leaving fans wondering if it is truly a sequel or a set up for an upcoming Justice League movie.

Snyder, who has leaked multiple photos on Twitter of  the upcoming movie, appears to be taking some creative liberties with DC's stable of heroes. When photos of Ben Affleck as Batman were released, DC Comic fans noticed his look as “being more like Frank Miller’s drawings of Batman as an older, heavy-set, gritty, grizzled, battle-tested hero,” as opposed to Christian Bale’s most recent interpretation.

Amy Adams, who will return as Lois Lane, discussed the potential of appearing alongside “Fast and Furious” star Gal Gadot, who will play Wonder Woman. When Screen Rant asked her about the possibility of a love-triangle plotline between the two women and Superman, she expressed her hope that the characters can move beyond such a relationship in the upcoming movie.

“I hope that I can be involved with a woman on screen where we’re not in a love triangle. That would be fun. Maybe where we team up together and we work as teammates instead of adversaries,” Ms. Adams said.

Now, with the release of Momoa’s Aquaman look, it appears that Snyder is continuing to play with characters’ roles and how they are perceived. Losing the traditional green and yellow armor featured in the comic books, Momoa sports Aquaman’s “new, quite dashing, black and gold armor,” reported Movie Pilot.

Scott Mendelson of Forbes believes that if anything, the Aquaman's new portrayal takes advantage of a generational disconnect. New movie-goers are not familiar with Aquaman's "foppish figure of mockery and incompetence" role in "Super Friends," therefore they expect Aquaman to be an intense figure alongside other members of the Justice League. Mr. Mendelson writes:

"What is interesting is how much I’ve read about how relatively, for lack of a better word, 'bad ass' this new Aquaman is. And of course, they didn’t hire Mr. Momoa so he could look sweet and wholesome. Moreover, the notion that we should be surprised by how intimidating the character looks shows something of a generational disconnect. And that disconnect is actually Warner Bros.’ secret weapon in terms of the character standing on his own two sea legs for a stand-alone film."

Will fans embrace this new, and perhaps more intense, role? Snyder—and Warner Brothers—seems confident they will.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Why Twitter's Aquaman photo has 'Batman V Superman' fans freaking out
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2015/0220/Why-Twitter-s-Aquaman-photo-has-Batman-V-Superman-fans-freaking-out
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe