‘Aquaman’: Amber Heard Reveals Surprising Details About Mera

DC Comics’ underwater warrior known as Mera debuted on big screens during last year’s Justice League, but she’ll make a more significant appearance when Aquaman premieres later this year.

The queen of the seas has a longstanding history in the comics canon, and a lot of that will translate to the big screen. But actor Amber Heard revealed some key details and some surprising changes to the character while speaking with EW about the film.

“She’s a warrior who was raised by the queen of Atlantis before she passed. We meet Mera after the queen has long since left and she’s been raised to take over as queen her whole life,” Heard said. “She’s been raised to serve her kingdom and rule over Atlantis with King Orm (Patrick Wilson).”

This is a big change from the comics, as Mera’s origin typically shows her developing a relationship with Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman, despite butting heads at first. While that is likely to be the case here, it appears that Mera will be betrothed to Orm, known in the comics as the Ocean Master.

Other than that key change, it seems like other aspects of her personality will be ripped straight from the page.

“She’s very disciplined and almost militaristic,” Heard said. “She’s fully dedicated to saving her nation and that serves as an impetus to go to the surface world and elicit help from Arthur who’s the polar opposite of Mera — he lives in the moment, he’s confused about his identity, he lacks the purpose and focus that Mera has, which makes them an unlikely duo. But it’s that disparity that makes a nuanced relationship between them. Where one is strong the other is weak and those differences are a conduit for their bonding.”

When it comes to her powers, which were briefly glimpsed in Justice League, those two will be faithful to the comics canon.

“So there’s an old-fashioned hierarchy in their society that they rule Atlantis,” Heard said. “There are different tribe communities within the social hierarchy. Some of us have certain superpowers and I have hydrokinesis — not just making bubbles.”

While the actor pokes fun at her appearance in Justice League, she still credits director Zack Snyder for convincing her to come on board in the first place.

Fans will be able to see her first major appearance in the DC Films universe when Aquaman premieres in theaters on December 21st.

Are you excited to see Mera cut loose? Be sure to chime in with a comment!