FILM · 2018 · USA
Aquaman
- Directed by
- James Wan
- Runtime
- 143 min
- Studio
- The Safran Company, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films
135 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry is taken on the journey of his lifetime to discover if he is worth of being a king.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (135)
- #001
Jason Momoa specifically wanted Temuera Morrison, one of his acting idols, for the role of Arthur's father, Tom Curry.
- #002
The film shows numerous underwater waterfalls, a real phenomenon. The ocean consists of two distinct layers of water: warm, light water and cold, dense water. The difference in density keeps the layers separate and causes the heavier cold water to sink, forming a waterfall.
- #003
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) and his father Tom Curry (Temuera Morrison) are portrayed as being of Polynesian descent; Momoa is Hawaiian and Morrison is Maori. Momoa said he was proud to make Aquaman Polynesian because Polynesians have a strong heritage connected to water.
- #004
(At about 1 hour) During the duel between Arthur (Jason Momoa) and Orm (Patrick Wilson), an octopus plays a drum solo. According to writer-director James Wan, this octopus is Topo, Aquaman's octopus sidekick from the 1950s and 1960s who could play musical instruments. Wan was initially hesitant about including Topo in the film, but after watching Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) he was inspired and said: "If that film could have a guy playing a flaming guitar, I'm going to have an octopus drummer in mine."
- #005
Nicole Kidman accepted the role of Atlanna immediately after writer-director James Wan told her she could "wear Mother-of-Pearl and be a Mermaid Warrior."
- #006
(At about 19 minutes) Inside the submarine, just before attacking Manta's father with a pipe, Aquaman says "Ono Takai," which means "you deserve it" in Maori.
- #007
In the 2019 "Aquaman" comics, Arthur receives a tattoo from the sea god that resembles Jason Momoa's own tattoos.
- #008
James Wan wanted the Atlanteans to wear capes, but costume designer Kym Barrett pointed out that capes would drag underwater. They decided that only members of the Atlantis royal family would wear capes.
- #009
Jason Momoa admitted that during filming he played pranks on all of his co-stars except Nicole Kidman.
- #010
James Wan explained that he was given the choice of directing The Flash (2023) or this film, but chose this one because Aquaman was the underdog.
- #011
Filming was uncomfortable for Dolph Lundgren because the King Nereus costume (wig, beard, helmet, three-layered armor) made him feel claustrophobic, and he also had to wear a harness for the underwater scenes that cut into his groin. Despite this, Lundgren enjoyed making the film and would have appeared in it for free, seeing it as a new experience.
- #012
(At about 2 minutes) When Atlanna throws her trident at the television, the British children's television puppet underwater adventure series Stingray (1964), created by Gerry Anderson, is playing; the series features an enemy of the Aquaphibians who similarly rules an underwater realm in conflict with the surface world.
- #013
Writer-director James Wan confirmed that the Atlanteans would not speak inside protective speech bubbles as executive producer Zack Snyder depicted in Justice League (2017). When asked about the issue, he said: "People are overthinking it. They're just gonna talk!"
- #014
James Wan stated that the sea monster film Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) was an influence on the depiction of the Trench creatures in this film.
- #015
(At about 40 minutes) When Arthur and Mera find the sea vehicles, the Annabelle doll from James Wan's "Conjuring" film series can be seen on the ground.
- #016
The male members of the Atlantis royal family display Aquaman designs from the character's history: Arthur Curry has the bare-chested, bearded look of Aquaman in the 1990s; his half-brother King Orm is clean-shaven and blond, Aquaman's classic look; and their ancestor King Atlan wears Aquaman's green and gold costume with a crown and green cape. This was Aquaman's royal outfit in Alex Ross's comic "Kingdom Come." Arthur acquires this suit, but toward the end of the film he wears the classic design without the crown and cape.
- #017
None of the underwater scenes were actually filmed underwater. Instead, methods of strapping the actors and actresses into harnesses and extensive CG work (sometimes including their hair) were used to make them appear to float and be underwater.
- #018
King Ricou is named after Ricou Browning, a well-known diver and underwater stuntman best known for playing the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
- #019
(At about 1 minute) At the beginning of the film, Arthur Curry quotes the writer Jules Verne. Toward the end of the film, Curry and Mera travel to the supposed center of the Earth (at about 1 hour 45 minutes) and discover that it is a world of dinosaurs and mountains. This was described as the center of the Earth in Verne's novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth."
- #020
According to Amber Heard, the underwater scenes required the cast to be hosed down and then filmed in a cold sound stage.
- #021
Nicole Kidman was writer-director James Wan's first choice for the role of Atlanna. The two had previously been set to work together on a remake of Al final del espectro (2006), but the film was cancelled. Kidman had long been a supporter of Wan's career and had publicly praised Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013), calling him "The New Master of Horror." She was also willing to join because filming took place in her home country, Australia.
- #022
(At about 4 minutes) James Wan was influenced by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's novels about man-eating fish people and tentacled creatures in the depths of the ocean. A Lovecraft novel titled "The Dunwich Horror" can also be seen in Tom Curry's house, and when David Kane appears in the Black Manta suit (at about 1 hour 27 minutes), he quotes a line from Lovecraft's "The Call of Cthulhu."
- #023
In the film, tridents are used only by those of Atlantis's royal bloodline: King Atlan, Atlanna, Orm, Arthur, Nereus, King Ricou and the Brine King. The trident is the traditional weapon of the Greek sea god Poseidon.
- #024
Nicole Kidman attended her first Comic-Con in 2018 specifically to promote this film.
- #025
James Wan believes the Atlantis heritage is what makes Aquaman unique, saying: "We're used to superhero movies where the threat comes from another dimension or there are aliens who come here from another universe and try to destroy our world. But we haven't seen a movie where the main threat comes from a massive, enormous civilization that's right under our noses, in the ocean. The idea that there could be a huge civilization right beneath us that we don't know about is a little scary and exciting."
- #026
Jason Momoa was surprised to take on the role of Aquaman because the character in the comics was a blond white man who closely resembled his co-star Patrick Wilson. Executive producer Zack Snyder wanted to overcome the barrier against having mixed-race heroes and knew that Momoa was the only choice to play Aquaman.
- #027
(At about 1 hour) James Wan initially wanted Aquaman's pet octopus Topo to play a significant role in the film, but as the story developed Topo's role was reduced, until Wan finally decided to give him a brief cameo.
- #028
This film was based on Geoff Johns's 2011 "Aquaman" comic book.
- #029
Patrick Wilson gained twenty kilos of muscle (from 190 lbs to 210) to be convincing as Jason Momoa's brother/rival.
- #030
Atlantean script is engraved on King Atlan's trident. According to James Wan, it reads "Paul and Mort," a reference to Aquaman creators Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger.
- #031
Nicole Kidman (Queen Atlanna) had previously turned down the role of Queen Hippolyta in Wonder Woman (2017).
- #032
The closing title sequence was inspired by the titles of Game of Thrones (2011) (a model of various kingdoms) and by Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable (2017) (a video displaying modern jewels and artifacts made to look as if they were recovered from a sunken Greek ship).
- #033
Arthur Curry's story shares several elements with that of his namesake King Arthur Pendragon: both must find and wield legendary weapons (Atlan's Trident and Excalibur), both must defeat evil brothers (Orm and Morgana le Fay) to save their kingdoms, and both have wise mentors who serve as advisers (Vulko and Merlin). In the comics, Aquaman actually encountered the Lady of the Lake from the Arthur legend, who healed her maimed body with a hand made of magic water and also granted water-related powers.
- #034
Before this film opened in the United States for the first time, just seven days after its release it had surpassed every Marvel Cinematic Universe film in Chinese box office revenue.
- #035
David Kane's first Manta helmet was based on the Silver Age Black Manta helmet, a traditional helmet with a breathing apparatus attached.
- #036
(At about 36 minutes) Mera has a single name in the comics, but here she is given the full name Y'Mera Xebella Challa. The two names are a nod to places in Atlantis in the comics, the kingdom of Xebel and the city of Challa-Bel-Nalla.
- #037
(At about 2 hours) Arthur briefly rides a giant seahorse in the final battle. This comes from the Aquaman (1967) title series.
- #038
Writer-director James Wan cited Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Romancing the Stone (1984) as inspirations for this film.
- #039
At around the 3-minute mark, when Tom (Temuera Morrison) sees Atlanna eating a goldfish from his aquarium, Morrison says "I was going to cook you some eggs," a line from his film Once Were Warriors (1994).
- #040
Thomas Curry has a pet dog, a Golden Retriever. In the comics, Aquaman and Mera adopted a Golden Retriever they named "Aquadog."
- #041
Arthur was originally going to confront his ancestor Atlan for his trident, and Atlan was to appear as a zombie as a nod to the Dead King role in the DC comics. This was rejected and the sea monster Karathen was brought in instead.
- #042
In this film Aquaman has dark hair while Orm is blond; in the DC comics it is the exact opposite.
- #043
At around 1 hour 19 minutes, the Atlantis device in the Sahara bears the symbols of the Zodiac and its accompanying astronomical constellations.
- #044
DNEG also worked on digitally de-aging Willem Dafoe for the scene in which his character Nudris Vulko trains the young Arthur Curry.
- #045
Peter Safran and James Wan prepared a concept video showing Aquaman and Mera fighting in the Trench and showed it to Warner Brothers. The studio was impressed by the video, and Safran believes he got this film made.
- #046
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II did not know how to swim before he was cast and learned to swim before production began.
- #047
According to Jason Momoa and James Wan, the film takes place after Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), not the theatrical cut of Justice League (2017). However, there are some inconsistencies between the two films. In the 2021 Justice League, Atlanteans appear to communicate underwater by making sounds and forming an air bubble in order to speak normally. In Aquaman, however, they appear to speak normally underwater without any difficulty. In the director's cut, Mera (Amber Heard) also reveals that her parents died in the war; in Aquaman her father appears to be alive, and while she has a British accent in Justice League, in Aquaman actress Amber Heard spoke with her original American accent. In Aquaman, Mera mentions that she had never been to the surface world before the events of the film, which directly contradicts her being on land in a village at the end of Zack Snyder's Justice League.
- #048
David Kane (Black Manta) has a manta-shaped submarine. This is taken from the comics.
- #049
Patrick Wilson describes Ocean Master Orm as an ecological terrorist: "He has a very clear gripe with the surface world, which has been polluting his oceans for centuries."
- #050
The Fisherman tribe was created through a combination of makeup (upper half, upper body) and computer-generated imagery (lower half, tails).
- #051
It is the only DCEU film to date that makes no reference to Batman.
- #052
Although King Nereus and Mera are not related in the New 52 comics and are engaged to be married, they appear as father and daughter in this film.
- #053
This film was the fifth collaboration between writer and director James Wan and Patrick Wilson, after Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013), Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016).
- #054
The working title of this film was "Ahab," the name of the antihero sea captain in Herman Melville's "Moby Dick."
- #055
In an interview with Good Morning America (1975), Amber Heard said she would read books between takes and would deliberately tear pages out of the books so that Jason Momoa would pay attention to her. Eventually her reading materials were kept in a special book bag made of "greenscreen" fabric, which allowed her to keep her books near her even while shooting visual effects scenes.
- #056
Jason Momoa grew up with the world of superheroes and always admired Aquaman because he loves the underwater world and all the mysteries that might be found there.
- #057
This is the first DC Extended Universe film shot entirely with digital cameras. Almost all of the previous films were shot only on 35 mm (and partly on 70 mm IMAX film for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)).
- #058
The underwater set was built on a platform above a water tank. To create flooding, the set was lowered into the water tank.
- #059
Contains a major spoiler — show
Karathen is based on Karaqan, an ancient guardian monster that appeared in the "New 52" Aquaman comics. It also incorporates features of Topo, who in the "New 52" is presented as an octopus-crab monster that befriends and supports Aquaman.
- #060
(Around 1 hour 12 minutes) Leigh Whannell, a frequent collaborator of director James Wan, appears as a cargo pilot.
- #061
In this film, Atlantis's origin stems from a catastrophe caused by an experiment that left it underwater and gave its inhabitants underwater breathing and a developed culture. This is based on Sub Diego, an underwater town that Arthur rules for a short time. The town was originally part of the California coastal city of San Diego, until a failed experiment caused the town to sink and its inhabitants to transform into underwater life. The Atlantis underwater bridge that marks its entrance is based on California's landmark Golden Gate Bridge, as a tribute to Sub Diego.
- #062
Contains a major spoiler — show
One long-standing objection to Aquaman's perceived weakness was that he could command Cthulhu if the two were in the same setting. This film features a tentacled Kaiju living in a lost underwater city, and it ultimately helps Arthur greatly because he is the only one able to communicate with it.
- #063
(Around 1 hour 28 minutes) Captain Murk's (Ludi Lin) hand is cut off in the battle in Sicily. In the comics, Murk was depicted as a one-armed soldier.
- #064
Thomas Curry's house was a combination of practical and digital visual effects: the house and the base of the lighthouse tower were built as sets, while additional sets (the dock, the house interiors, the lamp room) were built on sound stages, and the entire lighthouse was created with computer-generated imagery.
- #065
Sir Peter Jackson was approached twice to direct this film but turned down the offer because he was not interested in superhero films.
- #066
This was James Wan's third film without horror and his first superhero film.
- #067
The Fishermen were based on the kingdom of Tritonis, an underwater kingdom of sea people, and take elements from Aquaman (1967) (a race of sea people who use whale-shaped ships).
- #068
Dolph Lundgren is the first actor to appear in both the Arrowverse and the DC Extended Universe.
- #069
Arthur Curry is played by five actors of different ages (two of them twins aged three), while young Atlanna, Thomas Curry and Vulko were played by the relevant actors with age-reducing VFX.
- #070
Michael Beach (Jesse Kane, Black Manta's father) voiced Devil Ray (another name for Black Manta) in Justice League Unlimited (2004).
- #071
(Around 1 hour 50 minutes) The zoomed-in shot of Arthur looking from behind Atlan's trident is a tribute to the cover of the Aquaman comic "Aquaman Underworld." A specially designed 700 fps shot was used to film this scene.
- #072
Orm's full name is Orm Marius. The name has various meanings that point to Orm's actions in this film: * "Orm" means "snake" in Swedish and "worm" in Danish and Norwegian. A fitting name for an enemy who does no more than deceive. * "Marius" derives from the Latin words "maris" ("male") and "mare" ("sea") and from Mars, the Roman god of war. A fitting name for a warmonger from Atlantis.
- #073
Principal photography began on 2 May 2017 in Australia. A large part of this film was shot at Village Roadshow Studios in Gold Coast, Queensland; production also took place in Canada, Italy and Morocco and was completed on 21 October 2017.
- #074
(Around 1 hour 9 minutes) According to writer and director James Wan, the scene in which Arthur and Mera emerge from the ocean in slow motion to Pitbull's song "Ocean to Ocean" is a homage to Wan's previous film Furious 7 (2015).
- #075
Contains a major spoiler — show
This film draws primarily on Geoff Johns's Aquaman comics, most importantly the "Throne of Atlantis" story: King Orm declares war on the surface world, and Arthur must stand against him with a powerful royal harpoon as the key to stopping the war. However, there are some differences between the comics and the film: * In the comics, the war was a worldwide event that also involved the Justice League, whereas in the film Aquaman's only ally was Mera. * The comics revealed that Vulko manipulated Orm to bring the war about, to undermine Orm's reputation and to ensure Arthur took the throne. In the film, Orm starts the war on his own, and Vulko only manipulates events to help Arthur and Mera as much as possible.
- #076
As seen in both versions of Justice League (2017), Mera's (Amber Heard) hair is not bright red but a somewhat pale red. In Aquaman (2018), however, it has a distinguishable crimson hair color.
- #077
This is Willem Dafoe's second comic book film. He played Green Goblin/Norman Osborn in Spider-Man (2002) and returned to play the Green Goblin again in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
- #078
Writer-director James Wan considered having Arthur imprisoned in a cell with shark guards, with Arthur escaping by killing one of them violently and bloodily, the blood then sending the other sharks into a feeding frenzy that would distract them. He abandoned the idea because it was too violent.
- #079
The producers tried several concepts for the closing titles: shapes formed from water (Mera's power) or from the bioluminescence of sea life, and an ancient sea map. They ultimately settled on an underwater scene that drew on all of the concepts.
- #080
It is the first DC Extended Universe film to gross over 1 billion dollars worldwide and the first DC comic book film to pass 1 billion dollars since The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
- #081
With this film's release, the DC Extended Universe's worldwide box office passed 4 billion dollars, making it the first franchise to reach that milestone with the fewest films (six films as of 2018).
- #082
It is Nicole Kidman's second DC film after Batman Forever (1995). She was also considered to play Catwoman in Catwoman (2004) and Hippolyta in Wonder Woman (2017).
- #083
Contains a major spoiler — show
The Hidden Sea is home to an underground world where prehistoric life thrives. This world was based on Skartaris (a region of Atlantis that is home to the DC hero Warlord) and Pacifica (an island where Atlanna lived in exile in the New 52 DC Comics).
- #084
With a worldwide box office gross of 1.148 billion dollars, the film surpassed The Dark Knight Rises (2012) at 1.081 billion dollars to become the highest-grossing film based on a DC Comics character.
- #085
In an early scene (at about the 9-minute mark), young Arthur Curry visits an aquarium housing a great white shark. In reality, no great white shark has ever survived more than a day in captivity.
- #086
(At about 1 hour 22 minutes) Mera eating a rose makes sense given that people living underwater cannot cook beneath the surface, so their diet must consist of raw meat or plants. This had been shown earlier with Atlanna (at about the 3-minute mark): she was eating raw fish from a bowl, and when Tom brings her a hot drink, she has to follow Tom's movements and blow on her own drink so it cools enough.
- #087
Method Studios handled the Sicily fight scene between Arthur, Mera and Black Manta, as well as Arthur's encounter with the Karathen in the Well of the Souls and his taking of Atlan's Trident. For the Sicily fight, the team built the Italian village's main square and sections of terracotta-tiled rooftops supported by blue screen. A fully CG village was created based on scans and documentation of the real village. For the Well of the Souls sequence, Jason Momoa was shot dry-for-wet and captured on set with rigs that simulated underwater movement, but these ultimately felt restrictive, so artists replaced much of his performance with a digital stand-in and added the CG environment and the free-flowing locks of Arthur and the Karathen. A specially designed shot at seven hundred frames per second was used for the moment the camera passes through Arthur's eyes.
- #088
Leonardo DiCaprio was going to make this film in 2009 through his own production company.
- #089
Industrial Light & Magic was the lead visual effects vendor and worked on creating Atlantis and all of its CG animals, the Karathen, and the film's final battle. Jeff White served as visual effects supervisor. For the underwater scenes, the cast and the actors were shot dry-for-wet with special tuning-fork rigs designed by the effects team, and in post-production the actors' bodies were later replaced with digital doubles. The team relied on designs provided by the art department to create Atlantis. Industrial Light & Magic's environment team created more than 200 buildings, including jellyfish buildings, and populated areas covering roughly 600 square miles with more than 7,000 buildings so the action could move through them. Underwater vessels were modeled on organic creatures and designed to move like them. For the entrance to the Atlantis sequence, the team built more than 150,000 ships to fill the traffic lanes leading to Atlantis. All of the animals, including the Karathen, were built by Industrial Light & Magic and animated using keyframe animation. About 700 shots in the film required highly detailed hair simulations. Because of the unique properties of hair flowing underwater, Industrial Light & Magic had to significantly improve its hair simulation software. Normally hair simulations use guide strands to define or influence the movement of groups of hair strands. This did not give a satisfactory look for the underwater simulation, so Industrial Light & Magic ultimately simulated the strands individually, which resulted in heavy computation. James Wan also wanted to be able to direct the hair in case a physically accurate simulation produced unwanted results. Industrial Light & Magic completed 670 shots for this film.
- #090
According to Variety, Warner Bros. and James Wan wanted to remove Amber Heard from the role of Mera after this film's release due to a lack of chemistry with Jason Momoa, but ultimately did not do so because Heard's ex-boyfriend Elon Musk sent a "scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down."
- #091
Djimon Hounsou appeared in the DC Extended Universe as the voice of King Ricou in this film and as the wizard in Shazam! (2019), and also as Midnite in Constantine (2005). In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Djimon played Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Captain Marvel (2019). He also voiced T'Challa in the animated version of Black Panther.
- #092
(At about 4 minutes) On the table in Tom Curry's house is a copy of H. P. Lovecraft's novel "The Dunwich Horror". Dunwich was a large town in the English county of Suffolk and was lost to the sea during a great storm in 1278.
- #093
Michael Kenneth Williams and Michael Jai White stated that they were interested in playing Black Manta.
- #094
(At about 46 minutes) A frame in which King Atlan raises his trident and summons giant fish pays tribute to a scene in the New 52 Justice League comic in which Aquaman proves his worth by summoning giant fish to attack parademons.
- #095
Jason Momoa openly expressed interest in directing like Zack Snyder.
- #096
Contains a major spoiler — show
At around 1 hour 8 minutes, Arthur and Mera hide inside the mouth of a whale that Arthur says he got from Pinocchio (1940) and pretend to be dead (around 1 hour 23 minutes). This is the second superhero film to pay homage to Pinocchio, after Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
- #097
The film contains 2,300 VFX shots, completed by Industrial Light & Magic, Rodeo FX, Scanline VFX, DNEG, Moving Picture Company, Method Studios, Digital Domain and Weta Digital.
- #098
Producer Peter Safran's wife, Natalia Safran, appears as the Fishermen Queen Rina.
- #099
Jason Momoa and Michael Beach both appeared in Stargate: Atlantis (2004).
- #100
In the film, Black Manta is named David Kane, while in the comics his name is David Hyde.
- #101
This is John Rhys-Davies's fifth comic book role, after The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989), The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy (1992), Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1994) and Justice League (2001).
- #102
This is the first DC Comics superhero film for which Industrial Light & Magic provided the visual effects.
- #103
In its second weekend it dropped only 23.2% in ticket revenue, a smaller drop than any superhero film, beating Superman II (1980) at 23.7%.
- #104
Costume designer Kym Barrett based the Atlantis wardrobes on diving suits.
- #105
Graham McTavish and John Rhys-Davies both appeared in Middle-earth films. McTavish played Dwalin in The Hobbit trilogy, and John Rhys-Davies played Gimli and provided the voice of Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
- #106
At around 1 hour 35 minutes, when Arthur wakes on the boat where "borrowed" is written, he is lying on his back, his hair in a tight bun and his beard wet (and appearing closely trimmed), echoing Jason Momoa's Game of Thrones (2011) character Khal Drogo, even with a wound in the same place as Drogo's.
- #107
In a 2024 interview, Nicole Kidman said that when James Wan first approached her about Aquaman she thought it was a horror project and was very excited, because she really wanted to work with him in the horror field. She said she loves hard horror films.
- #108
This is Patrick Wilson's second role in a DC Extended Universe film. He played the President of the United States in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
- #109
Rupert Gregson-Williams wrote the music for Wonder Woman (2017), the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe.
- #110
At around 1 hour 35 minutes, Mera plays "Everything I Need" on her flute on the boat.
- #111
After playing Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Randall Park took on the role of Dr. Stephan Shin in this film. Although this film drew inspiration from the New 52 Comics, Dr. Shin's character was changed for this film.
- #112
John Rhys-Davies had previously appeared in SpongeBob SquarePants (1999), which featured Mermaid Man, a hero based on both Aquaman and Batman. Rhys-Davies voiced Man Ray, Mermaid Man's enemy, who is based on Black Manta.
- #113
This is Temuera Morrison's third comic book film, after Barb Wire (1996) and Green Lantern (2011).
- #114
Dame Julie Andrews was the only cast member alive when Aquaman first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941. John Rhys-Davies was born three years shy of that, in 1944.
- #115
Principal photography wrapped on October 20, 2017.
- #116
The name "Aquaman" is spoken only about half a dozen times in the film.
- #117
This is Graham McTavish's sixth comic book role, following Loki (Marvel animated films), Sebastian Shaw (Wolverine and the X-Men (2008)), Savanti Romero (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)), Fergus McDuck (DuckTales (2017)) and the Saint of Killers (Preacher (2016)).
- #118
This is the sixth film in the DC Extended Universe.
- #119
Patrick Wilson (King Orm) is the fourth actor from Watchmen (2009) to appear in the DC Extended Universe, after Carla Gugino (Kelor in Man of Steel (2013)), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Thomas Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)) and Billy Crudup (Henry Allen in Justice League (2017)). Before it was adapted into a film, Watchmen was also a comic book series published by DC Comics.
- #120
James Wan's frequent collaborator Joseph Bishara composed a piece titled "Trench Engaged" for the trench sequence.
- #121
An Aquaman film was first announced in 2001, with Kiefer Sutherland set to play Aquaman. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Josh Holloway, Simon Baker, Armie Hammer, Gerard Butler, Charlie Hunnam, Alexander Skarsgård and Liam Hemsworth were also considered for the role in the years before Jason Momoa was finally cast.
- #122
Jeff Nichols and Noam Murro were both considered to direct.
- #123
At the time of its release, it was the fourth highest-grossing American film in China, with 2.01 billion Yen. The top three were: * The Fate of the Furious (2017) - 2.67 billion Yen. * Furious 7 (2015) - 2.43 billion Yen. * Avengers: Infinity War (2018) - 2.39 billion Yen.
- #124
This is Dolph Lundgren's second comic book film, after The Punisher (1989). He was also considered to play Venom in New Line Cinema's cancelled Venom film in the late 1990s.
- #125
Patrick Wilson and Michael Beach both appeared in Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), which James Wan also wrote and directed.
- #126
Jason Momoa appeared in Baywatch (1989), and his co-star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II appeared in Baywatch (2017).
- #127
Kurt Johnstad and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick worked on the screenplay before Will Beall was brought in to replace them.
- #128
Willem Dafoe and Temuera Morrison both appeared in Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997).
- #129
The film was released one weekend after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), the shortest gap between a DC and a Marvel film. Three pairs of films have been released two weeks apart: * X-Men: First Class (2011) and Green Lantern (2011) * Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and Justice League (2017) * Superman (2025) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025).
- #130
Willem Dafoe had previously appeared with Amber Heard's ex-husband Johnny Depp in Platoon (1986), Cry-Baby (1990), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017).
- #131
Neil Patrick Harris, Sam Worthington, Philip Winchester, Thomas Jane, Michael Fassbender, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Karl Urban were all suggested by fans to play Aquaman.
- #132
Contains a major spoiler — show
At roughly 21 minutes, this is the second film after The Abyss (1989) to open with Michael Beach's character dying underwater.
- #133
James Wan drew inspiration from coral reefs when designing Atlantis's infrastructure.
- #134
Aquaman made the shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects but did not receive a nomination.
- #135
Aquaman is set one year after the events of Justice League (2017).
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