Zack Snyder just revealed a surprising early version of Aquaman that may have changed this DCEU hero!
By now, any fan of DC movies knows how Zack Snyder had a long-range plan for the franchise that differed from what happened on screen. While there are debates about the quality of the projects, many will agree that Aquaman was one movie that worked. It wasn’t just a box office hit but earned favor from critics and audiences alike. That’s mostly thanks to the casting of Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, fighting to save the world from his evil half-brother Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson).
Momoa would reprise the role in the 2023 sequel The Lost Kingdom which sadly ended up being the final entry in the DCEU. Responding to a fan video on Instagram, (which mocked Momoa's tattooed look) Snyder revealed that his original plans for Aquaman would have included more of an origin story and that Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) would have been the primary antagonist.
Snyder then tossed in his intriguing concept for how Arthur’s tattoos wouldn’t be just decorative but serve a narrative purpose.
"Right, so this concept was developed by me and Jason Momoa before the films were made, to honor his Pacific Islander roots. When Arthur's father is killed by Black Manta's father at the end of the first act, Arthur takes his ashes back to his people in the Pacific islands for a ritual cremation. During that grieving ceremony, he receives the tattoos to honor his father's memory."
Snyder added that this would have played into the plotline in which Vulko (Willem Dafoe) acts as Arthur’s mentor, linking the tattoos to his true heritage.
“Vulko, tasked by his mother to watch over him, provides the Samoan tattoo artist with a special Atlantean needle that can pierce Arthur's dense skin. The tattoos become a permanent inscription of that loss and identity, bridging his Pacific Islander heritage with his Atlantean lineage - and this loss also creates the blood feud between Arthur and Black Manta that drives the larger conflict.”
Snyder touched a bit on this in his original version of Justice League, but much of his plan was altered for the Aquaman film. Given Momoa’s actual Hawaiian heritage, it’s little wonder he’d want to pay homage to the island culture, and it makes sense Arthur would be tied to an island civilization.
While Aquaman may be over, Momoa will be returning to DC, as he’ll finally get the chance to play his dream role of alien bounty hunter Lobo in Supergirl. Still, this is an intriguing idea that showed Snyder did have some fantastic plans for the DCEU, and it’s a bit sad that fans never got to see them come true.
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