Jason Momoa Became Aquaman After Reluctantly Auditioning For Another DC Role
Jason Momoa belongs to a small group of absolutely massive actors who are also genuinely funny as hell, like John Cena and Alan Ritchson. In some of his best roles, Momoa can be charismatic and funny, but also intimidating and a strong physical presence on screen. It's why he works great in "The Bad Batch" and as Aquaman, why he stole every scene he's in as Duncan Idaho in "Dune," and why Dante Reyes is one of the best "Fast & Furious" villains ever.
And yet, this is Hollywood, so of course Momoa was mostly seen as just a big scary dude after his breakthrough role in "Game of Thrones." Sure, audiences love bad guys, but they don't necessarily root for them. So it came as a big surprise when, in 2014, Momoa was cast as Arthur Curry aka Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe.
Speaking with EW about the first "Aquaman," Momoa recounted his journey with superhero movies, starting with an audition for "Guardians of the Galaxy." At the time, Momoa said, he was going to be a villain. "People always want to hire me to play a villain, you know?" he explained. The role of Aquaman came as sort of an accident, a silver lining from an audition for a very different superhero — Batman. "I almost didn't go," Momoa added. "I'm not a white guy. I ain't playing Batman." Instead, he thought he was for sure playing "Lobo or something."
Convinced he had no chance, Momoa "played it as if Batman had died in an alley and some thug picked up his suit and put it on," jaded and sarcastic. "And that's when Zack was like, 'I have an idea ...'"
And that, kids, is how we met Aquaman.
A rad casting choice
"I was like, 'What?' Blonde? Tights? Orange and green shirt? I'm like, 'I don't know man, is this a joke?'" Momoa said.
His casting as Aquaman in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" remains one of the best and boldest pieces of casting in a superhero movie since Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man. A character with decades-long baggage as a blonde, blue-eyed surfer dude being played by a Polynesian actor was once unthinkable, but it was part of what made the DCEU so exciting. Say what you will about Zack Snyder, but he knows how to cast a film, and every member of his Justice League is a spectacular choice.
Even outside of the SnyderVerse movies, DC was almost poised to be a place where Batgirl was played by an Afrolatina actor, where Supergirl was Latina, and Cyborg was a founding member of the Justice League. Granted, everything changed when David Zaslav attacked, but still. For a brief moment, things looked bright.
Momoa's casting as Aquaman was bold, but it was also fitting for the character. The portrayal of Aquaman in the 2018 movie was a middle ground between the silly surfer dude-bro of Hanna-Barbera's "Super Friends," and the gritty, growling king of Atlantis of the '90s comics that gave Aquaman a hook for a hand. Momoa was menacing and badass in a way Aquaman hasn't been on screen, but still funny and charismatic enough to make him fun to watch.
Would it have worked on Batman? Maybe! We'll never know what would have happened if Snyder had hired Momoa as the Caped Crusader, but we do know that the DCEU had something special thanks to the casting of Momoa as Aquaman.