There was a time only a few years ago when many people were speculating that the big screen debut of Aquaman was destined for box office failure, and that the character would suffer the same fate that frequently befell his comic book counterpart and become a laughing stock. Instead, James Wan’s first crack at the DCEU stormed the box office and became the highest-grossing movie based on a DC character, leaving both Batman, Superman and the combined might of the Justice League trailing in its wake.
Aquaman was a big, loud, stupid blockbuster and willingly embraced this fact to deliver a hugely entertaining superhero movie, one that went a long way to establishing the new, lighter tone of the DCEU in a post-Zack Snyder era. A sequel was quickly greenlit, and despite the fact that we won’t see Aquaman 2 until December 2022, star Jason Momoa has revealed that the story for the follow-up came largely from ideas that he had pitched to the studio himself.
In a recent interview, Momoa was asked about the status of the project, and while he didn’t divulge any concrete details, he was quick to announce that he pitched Warner Bros. directly with his ideas, and they seemed to be on board with what he had in mind.
“I came in with a big pitch. I came in with the whole thing mapped out, and they loved it.”
In an era where big budget blockbusters are generally mapped out years in advance by studio executives, it marks a change of pace to hear that the star of a high-profile movie has so much input on the direction of a sequel. Momoa’s charm and charisma went a long way to carrying the more outlandish aspects of Aquaman, and with the 40 year-old set to play an even bigger role in shaping the story for the sequel, Aquaman 2 could legitimately establish Arthur Curry as the DCEU’s point man going forward.