Justice League Costume Designer Reveals Alternate Look at Aquaman

Aquaman 2 is still a little way off, but people are still excited about his next adventure. A fan brought up the preliminary designs for the character from Justice League. People seem to love the visual characteristics of the heroes that Zack Snyder was planning to use for Justice League. After all, Arthur Curry popped up in Batman v Superman fist and then there was a lot of discussion about how the film treated the other League members. But, over time people have come to appreciate some of the swings the filmmaker took with his versions of the character. The backlash to Aquaman not rocking the orange and green armor seems so long ago now.

Wilkinson’s work incorporates some of the classic elements of Aquaman’s design, but actually doesn’t adhere to tradition as much as James Wan did in the hero’s solo outing. The Justice League art sees Arthur with the orange and green color scheme, but also with metallic gray accents. Also noticeable in the Snyder vision is the shark fin element on the boots that has been present for a couple of DC’s various redesigns. This one is more fish than regal and for the tone of the film, it would have elevated the otherworldly nature of the hero as he stood alongside some heroes with origins that stretch far beyond the Earth.

Wan made no mistake to credit Snyder for letting him be the first one to take Jason Mamoa’s character under the waves for the first time. It ended up working out well for both the director and the studio.

“So when he told me that was his idea,” he remembered. “I was like, ‘Oh great, then I can actually have Arthur go to Atlantis for the first time.‘ That’s very important for me, because he can go into it and have a wide-eyed approach to Atlantis and be in awe of it. I think that’s very important from a storytelling standpoint because the audience gets to experience Atlantis for the first time along with the character.”

“It wouldn’t be the same if Arthur goes to Atlantis and he’s been here before and he’s kind of jaded about it,” Wan added. “There’s nothing impressing him. Then you as an audience watching would not be impressed either. It’s that Spielberg approach, right?

“Seeing a character seeing something for the first time ― like in Jurassic Park when Laura Dern sees the dinosaur for the first time. The camera is pushing in on her look of awe and wonderment. That’s how you convey it to the audience and that’s how the audience comes along with the characters.