‘Aquaman’ Director Defends Poster Showing Jason Momoa Wearing Leather Pants Underwater

The first official Aquaman movie poster was released today and while fans were excited about the epic look at the hero with his army of ocean creatures there was one thing no one could quite figure out — why is Aquaman wearing leather pants under water? Now, director James Wan is speaking out in defense of the wardrobe choice.

Wan took to Twitter to address the leather pants question and his logic was surprisingly straightforward. Aquaman is wearing leather pants because Jason Momoa. Check it out below.

“Because he’s Jason Foockin’ Momoa!!! You want him wearing swimming trunks?? or pantsless? He’s already half naked for goodness sake. Haha,’ Wan wrote.

While we’re pretty sure that there is a portion of the population that does, in fact, want to see a pantsless Aquaman, when given the options of swimming trunks or the pants the leather pants probably are the better choice for a man set to unite the seven seas even if swimming in leather isn’t most practical option. Another detail on the poster that fans noticed was Aquaman’s Quindent instead of his signature Trident. It turns out that there’s a reason for that, as ComicBook.com found out when visiting the Australian set of the DC Extended Universe film.

“Aquaman goes on this quest to find out where the true trident, the king’s trident, is,” Aquaman‘s unit publicist Ernie Malik said. The Quindent Aquaman used in Justice League is “not this trident, the dead king’s trident,” Malik pointed out, “which is really the trident you want. With this trident, you can control the whole ocean, everything. But only a true king can wield it in their culture.”

Getting to see Aquaman go on that quest is also a part of the larger origin story that the movie will tell, one that may diverge from the comic books, but certainly uses one specific version of the character as a touchstone.

“I think that the New 52 version of Aquaman was definitely our touchstone and our starting point,” Aquaman producer Peter Safran said. “And even though the film is not a direct adaptation of that, that was certainly, in terms of his origin, who he is; that Tom Curry is his father and Atlanna is his mother, who Orm is, etcetera. That all comes from the New 52. And, there are certainly creature elements from it, from the Trench. So, that was our biggest influence.”

What do you think about Aquaman‘s leather pants in the poster and Wan’s response? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Aquaman opens in theaters on December 21st.