Movies

'Aquaman' Easter Egg Added By James Wan Specifically For Edgar Wright

aquaman easter egg
By Hoai-Tran Bui

Based on the splash that Aquaman made at the box office this weekend, you probably got a chance to see this movie about a fish-man and his epic undersea adventures and get your senses assaulted by a tidal wave of lavish visual imagery So you'd be forgiven for missing a few Aquaman Easter eggs along the way. Unless, that is, you're Edgar Wright.

The Baby Driver director has an Aquaman Easter Egg dedicated just to him by James Wan, who gamely took on a bet with Wright two years ago involving a campy mid-'60s puppet series named Stingray. The only problem is that Wright didn't bet money with Wan — he bet an Oscar statuette. So he's going to get his hands on one of those first.

Some spoilers for Aquaman below.

Back in 2016, Wright tweeted at Wan to ask him a favor regarding his upcoming film Aquaman. Wright asked the director to include a reference to the little-known '60s puppet series Stingray — an odd Easter egg for any movie, much less a superhero movie that takes place underwater. But Wright promised that if Wan was able to include that reference, "Then I will personally give you an Oscar."

And Wan did it, dammit. In a scene early in the film, the director sneaks a glimpse of the TV series on the TV in Arthur Curry's (Temuera Morrison) lighthouse where Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) wakes up after washing ashore. Disoriented from her injuries, Atlanna notices the TV making noise, throwing her trident at the screen — but not before we see that the program the TV is playing is Stingray.

Honestly, with the film's wild tonal shifts and array of pulp influences, I'm not surprised that Wan managed to include this particular Aquaman Easter egg in the film for Wright. And Wright has acknowledged his loss in the bet, though he has yet to see the movie. Now if only he had an Oscar statuette lying around.

Academy, this is a good chance to recognize the award-worthy work that Wright is doing. And hopefully this won't be the last time that Aquaman will get to being mentioned in the same sentence as "Oscar" since Wan's eye-popping film deservedly landed a spot on the Oscars VFX shortlist.

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