This article is moderately long a read, so if you really don't care...I have pictures you can look at...so that's nice. Something for everyone, hopefully. So, on to my rant.
For me, it’s always been the complexity of a character that drives him/her, not necessarily their powers. Even though Arthur’s power is LITERALLY UNDESPUTABLE…people still mock it. Unfortunately, this has created so much bad air for the character over the last couple of decades. This has resulted in two major re-imagings for the character. Both are currently the two most wanted characterizations for the movie version. Peter David’s 90s Aquaman, and Geoff Johns’ Brightest Day/N52 Aquaman. Both gave the character a new grasp on life and made him “cool”. I understand why many want the Peter David Aquaman. His look is certainly the most extreme the character has ever had, and he looks like quite the bad@$$...the only problem is that this character would absolutely not work on the screen. Not for a franchise anyways. I have my reasons, but I’m going to argue my point for why Jason Mamoa and WB should definitely draw upon Geoff Johns’ Aquaman for inspiration.
As you all know, Jason Mamoa is currently slated to play Arthur Curry in the DCCU. Personally, I think he fits the role pretty well, and I suppose I can get over him having black hair in the movies. I’ll deal with it.
Doesn't look half bad...atually
The problem isn’t his look, however. This brings me to my first point. The problem we need to be focusing on isn’t the color of his skin or hair, the look of the character doesn’t matter entirely. Just having a hook for a hand and a devil may care attitude might work for his first appearance, but it will hurt him later on. He’s much more than that. What he brings in terms of character is what will matter for him as a franchise.
In my personal opinion, Arthur Curry is the most complex character in DC’s pantheon. Why? He is a man who was born with more responsibility than anyone else in the Justice League. Superman was sent to Earth, and he chose to be a protector. Batman’s parents died, and he chose to punish criminals. Arthur was born of two worlds, and thus inherited the problems of both. Being of royal blood, and the first born, the pressures of the crown would ultimately fall to him. Atlantis was his responsibility whether he liked it or not. Then you add his human side. He may have all these Atlantean problems given by his heritage, but he also belongs to, and was raised, on land. He learned and lived with his father. He learned compassion and how to use his gifts for the betterment of all. Then he finds himself the king of this underwater world that hates everyone where he came from. He is a king of an underwater country who must bear the problems of land and sea. The first Atlantean king to understand the surface, and the only one who could lead them out of a constant, bitter hatred for each other. He is the only one who can unify, forever, two factions that hate each other…and him.
He has run from his responisbilities before, and he has come to accept its not possible. He has to be who he was born to be. A hero, a uniter, and a king.
Arthur Curry is a very complex character. Not many know this because, well, whenever he’s mentioned in conversation it boils down to, typically, these types of comments:
AQUAMAN SUCKS AND IS GAY!!!!11!1!1
Or
AQUAMAN IS A BAD@$$! HOLY S#IT!
When confronted with statement #1 from above, the typical response is to show all of his feats and boast of his strength. Sometimes this works, but other times it doesn’t. Trolls will be trolls, but to the casual reader...cool stuff being done is cool stuff. This is how I found the character. Someone posted the “My powers are useless they said…” meme that we’ve all seen a million times. This got my attention. I read Justice League, the N52 origin, and I got hooked. Aquaman was a complete beast! So, I started getting Aquaman comics on my phone, and naturally I started with the N52 incarnation. 1) Because that’s the one I saw do the Bad@$$ stuff and 2) Because it was the only one with a full run on the app, and with collected editions…anywhere. So I read, and I learned there was so much more to this character than what he could do. He is such a relatable character. If you’ve ever felt outcast or alone in your life before, or someone ever called you worthless or good-for-nothing, or if you ever felt like the weight of the world has ever been crashing down on your shoulders, or if you’ve ever been haunted by the mistakes of the past and can’t escape them YOU CAN RELATE TO ARTHUR CURRY. I haven’t found a single person yet who has read any of Johns Aquaman and not said “Oh, I can actually understand that”. No one has told me they read any of his work, and walked away without respect for the character or his powers.
This hooked me 100% on the character, and for reasons not so easily brought up in online debates. Then there are his villains! Ocean Master! His half-brother who only wants whats best for his people and is often misguided through his misunderstanding of the surface! Black Manta! The villain who hates Aquaman because Aquaman killed his father because Aquaman blames Manta for killing HIS father, and they’re always trapped in a circle of vengeance! Hell, even the Trench! Mindless killing machines…or are they? He has a small rogues gallery, but his two arch-nemeses are REALLY FLESHED OUT. Particuarly in the New 52. Sure, Scavenger, Charybdis, and others have factored into his life in one way or another, but Orm and Manta are the big two.
For all these reasons, I’m convinced this is how you make the character stick with the audience.
Simply follow the two-step "Make people love him" procedure.
BVS/JUSTICE LEAGUE-Introduce him as a one of the most awesome heroes the screen has ever seen. No, I’m not saying this out of favoritism. I’m saying this because if WB ever wants the character to take off this HAS. TO. BE. DONE/ Stigmas must be broken, once and for all. That's what Johns did in JL #3-6. Do that, and then it’s on to phase 2.
AQUAMAN-Get into his character. Bring people in with his powers, and then hook them for good by making him one the most relatable and intriguing hero we’ve ever seen hit the screen. Then utilize wither Manta or Ocean Master the way Johns did, and give him something Marvel doesn’t really have. RELATABLE AND COMPELLING VILLAINS! (I love Marvel, don’t hate on me for pointing out the obvious). This is what Johns did with his entire run.
So why does this matter? Why do we have to have the Johns version to really show any of these points? The reason is simple, David’s Aquaman doesn’t really have any of them.
Before anyone comes at me "AH, you only read the N52 so how would you know!". I have read some of David’s run(the few issues on the app, plus his #1/#0 issues in print as collectables), plenty of JLA, I saw his interpretation in JL/JLU, and I can honestly say that the character makes sense, but it doesn’t mean I have to love him. Let’s discuss Arthur’s road to the David’s run, for all those who aren’t familiar. You have a man, who for all intents and purposes, had all of the struggles I mentioned above. The character was a ruler of Atlantis, but ultimately a man with responsibilities in both worlds. Then Black Manta destroyed his life. Black Manta murdering Arthur’s son was, I’m not even going to say probably, because it WAS the single darkest moment in Arthur’s life. The aftermath showed his true character when he refused to kill him, but that was the last time we would see the Arthur Curry side of him for a long time. Mera would leave him, blaming him for the loss of their son, and Arthur, alone for the first time in years, would sink away into his role as king. He would see the surface in an ugly light, start referring to humans as “Surface-Dwellers”, and he would be consumed by his anger all the time. Then came David’s run. David took this character and used his rage and angst to sharpen the character into someone that would sell books. A hook-handed boss. The character is, frankly, as abrasive as sand-paper. That is ok, though, because after everything he had been through…it made sense. Bits of Arthur would shine through as the years went by(JLA a couple of times, like the moment he told Wonder Woman he was actually having fun), but he tended to shy away from the surface and his hero allies.
David’s run on the character was good, for the state of mind the character was currently in. The problem was that the Aquaman become very Namor-like in personality. He was angry, abrasive, violent, and if Thomas Curry could see the man his son had become he wouldn’t know what happened. He went down a dark path, and was in a dark place for a good while. It made sense for that part of the character's life but it was NOT a true representation of the character. It's like saying we should make a Superman movie with Superman Blue, or a Wonder Woman movie with Odyssey Wonder Woman. IT is the character...but parts are different because they're going through a phase in their life. Arthur is the same way. These personality changes never last, and if Arthur's didn't he would be, in my mind, a pretty plain and boring hero.
Frankly, I don’t see people jumping onboard for a franchise where the hero hates the surface and spends literally all of his time focusing on Atlantis. Plus, it makes him one-dimensional. “I am king and I protect my people”. If you like that Aquaman though, that’s fine, but to throw that one into the DCCU and expect people to like it may find yourselves disappointed when it gets no sequel. Sure, people have fallen in love with characters purely for their feats, but if you give him/her personality and depth then you’ll guarantee more people will start to root for them. We need someone whose struggle we care about, not some unlikeable @#$%.
He can be an @SS in Justice League. It doesn’t matter there. He was kinda an @$$ in Justice League Origin, and it didn’t influence my choice to check out his comics. What WOULD have influenced it, though, would have been if he stayed that unlikeable and un-relatable. The JL is his opportunity to break stigmas, and it shouldn’t be used for much else. Introduce some of his complexities, but save most of them for the movie.
If you love David’s run, or you grew up with it, or you watched JL when you were a kid and absolutely love the Hook-handed Arthur “Orin” Curry, then good for you. I’m just saying that for a future franchise…if you really want Arthur to stick around for, god-willing, a freaking trilogy then his personality has to match up with Johns. They could explore that darker area, but they shouldn’t dwell on it.
If they take a lot of inspiration from Johns then I believe Arthur's movies have the potential to be some of the most unique and incredible contributions EVER to the genre.
In conclusion, I feel Johns did more to show Arthur as a character, while David showed his cool side and did a pretty good job showing Arthur's damged self.
This has been my personal rant on the subject. It killed time, and I'm satisfied. Hope you enjoyed. If you didn't...I 'm sorry for your loss but feel free to complain in the comments.