Aquaman trailer: Jason Momoa returns to Atlantis as its rightful king

Warner Bros released the first trailer for Aquaman at the ongoing San Diego Comic-Con, an annual convention where studios debut their biggest upcoming films. Aquaman is the latest entry in the critically-maligned DC Extended Universe of films.

The trailer was a long time coming because director James Wan had promised fans that he wouldn’t allow any footage to be released until the effects were up to the mark, and going by this first trailer, the film really does rely on computer generated environments a lot. While the trailer opens on Earth, or the ‘surface world’ as the Atlanteans call it, it spends a significant amount of time underwater.

Arthur Curry, whom we met for the first time in last year’s Justice League, is summoned to his mother’s home, Atlantis, because his half-brother Orm is mounting a plan to take over the ‘surface world’. Arthur was born of a human father, so he feels compelled to defend both his homes from Orm.

Having grown up on land, he follows Mera into the water and is introduced for the first time to his other home. The underwater scenes are huge in scale, and significantly for a DC movie, vibrant and very comic book-inspired.

We get to see several glimpses at epic, Lord of the Rings-like action, inventively designed characters, and Jason Momoa owning the role.

Following the commercial failure of Justice League, Aquaman and the upcoming Shazam are supposed to take the film series into a fresh new direction, unburdened by the legacy of Batman and Superman. Aquaman feels very independent from the rest of the series, and often seems like Black Panther, told through Killmonger’s perspective - without the destructive tendencies, of course.

The film stars Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen III, Willem Dafoe and Dolph Lundgren. Aquaman will be released on December 21.

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