With one DCEU appearance already under his belt – technically two if you count that blink-and-you’ll-miss-it video log from Batman V Superman – Jason Momoa’s King of the Seven, Arthur Curry, is gearing up for his standalone adventure. And given how it’ll be the first DC tentpole in almost 13 months, we couldn’t be more excited.
Yes, Aquaman is finally beginning to loom over the horizon, rising like a giant tidal wave of hype and tempered expectations. The Warner Bros. marketing campaign is (mostly) in full swing, too, with the first-look teaser expected online sometime this summer.
Until then, fans have spotted what appears to be some promo art on display at the ongoing Licensing Expo in Las Vegas (h/t Reddit), where Zachary Levi shared our first peek at his costume from Shazam! Aquaman is a completely different kettle of fish, though – pardon the pun – as below you’ll see Jason Momoa’s Atlantean clad in his battle armor, trident and all.
On the other end of the megaphone is James Wan, who has seemingly cherry-picked some of the old-school Spielberg adventures as his biggest inspirations for 2018’s standalone movie. In a previous interview, Wan, whose cinematic achievements primarily lie in the horror genre, outlined what viewers can expect this Christmas:
What inspired me were all the older, classic action-adventure films that [Steven] Spielberg used to do, actually. And I kind of try to draw from that mentality, the idea of ‘awe’ and ‘wonderment’ that we used to see in those kind of films,” said Wan. “And I really wanted this movie to have that kind of magic heart, that wish fulfillment that we all have. What if we have the ability to just swim anywhere, right? Just hang out on a desert island in the middle of nowhere and just chill. And so I try to capture some of that spirit.
Said to be inspired by Indiana Jones and Star Wars, among other film classics, Aquaman is due to make land on December 21st of this year.