'Aquaman' sneak peek makes a splash at Comic-Con

Nick Romano
Updated
Comic-Con: Aquaman sneak peek stars Jason Momoa

Aquaman is the next DC superhero in line for a standalone movie, and fans at Comic-Con International on Saturday got a first look.

The movie, directed by The Conjuring filmmaker James Wan, stars Jason Momoa as the Arthur Curry, a.k.a. Aquaman. Momoa was already on hand at the San Diego Convention Center’s Hall H to promote Justice League, which will see Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman recruiting the Atlantis royal to their team of superheroes. Aquaman began shooting in Australia back in May.

“In a lot of ways, this is an origin story,” Wan told the crowd before debuting the first footage from the film. “I don’t really have a lot to show at this point,” the director added, but also teased, “You get to see a whole different world we’ve never seen before that is so strikingly original.”

The clip shared begins with two fishermen on open water, as a foreign-language version of “Beyond the Sea” plays on their radio. Suddenly, something big grabs their fishing pole and starts to pull – first lightly, and then the whole boat gets pulled through the water. Looking down, they see gigantic undersea creatures, including huge manta rays and what appears to be a five-finned shark. The camera moves underwater, and we see that it’s a whole army, including some tough-looking dudes riding sharks.

The footage ends with a shot of Momoa holding up his trident.

Theories immediately abounded that the images teased Black Manta’s army, until Momoa offered some clarity. After noting that he flew from Australia just to be on the panel, he said, “That’s Ocean Master’s army. Black Manta ain’t got nothing like that. That’s my brother. I’m gonna be fighting my brother.” Patrick Wilson is set to play the character.

See Momoa in action inside Hall H below.

Amber Heard, who will make her debut as the deep-sea Queen Mera in Justice League, will return for Aquaman. Nicole Kidman, Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II also feature in the ensemble cast.

Aquaman is scheduled to hit theaters on Dec. 21, 2018.

—Reporting by Darren Franich