Whenever a superhero team-up movie hits cinemas, it seems that they’re tasked with fending off an army before making their way to the big bad. It’s already happened to the Avengers twice with the Chitauri and Ultron robots, and will soon be the case for the Justice League when they have to go up against a legion of Parademons from Apokolips.
Understandably, this has led to fans wanting to see something different, with the daring not pulling any punches on social media. A recent example of this would be The Hollywood Reporter taking to Twitter to ask, “Why are bad guys in superhero team-up movies always faceless drones?” Well, it looks like Patrick Wilson, who will be playing Ocean Master in Aquaman, had a cryptic, yet bold response:
Not for long. @creepypuppet https://t.co/0C9rJrAVdT
— patrick wilson (@patrickwilson73) March 27, 2017
Now, this has caused some outlets to think the exchange had something to do with supervillains being underdeveloped in major motion pictures (it does happen sometimes), but I maintain that both sides were talking about faceless armies. Yes, it may be an enduring trope, but do you want your heroes to mow down scores of men who have families to go home to? I didn’t think so.
But with Aquaman rumored to take cues from the Throne of Atlantis comic book storyline (which has also been adapted to an animated movie), that may change. If indeed militants from the depths of the ocean march on the surface world, it would no doubt make for a morally challenging superhero flick the likes of which is seldom seen. Furthermore, we expect to see much depth offered when you factor in that Wilson’s playing the brother of Arthur Curry, something that’s not your typical superhero-supervillain rivalry.
Speculation and Twitter wars aside, we’ll just have to wait and see what Aquaman has in store for moviegoers when it arrives in theaters on December 21, 2018.