Patrick Wilson Perfectly Identifies Characters From Aquaman and Watchmen

Patrick Wilson may currently be Orm/Ocean Master in James Wan's Aquaman, but it's not his first DC Comics-related role. He also starred as Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl II in Zack Snyder's Watchmen film and when it comes to identifying characters from both corners of the DC Universe, it turns out he knows his stuff.

In a recent "Late Late Shorts" from The Late Late Short with James Corden, Wilson had to read 18 character names and determine if they were from Aquaman or Watchmen and, as you can see in the video above, the actor got them 100 percent right.

It's a pretty impressive feat considering that most of the characters he was asked about didn't necessarily appear in either movies but, instead, have been seen in the comics. While it would be easy to dismiss Wilson's success in the endeavor as simply a product of him knowing Watchmen well, it turns out that since playing Nite-Owl in the 2009 film he's gotten into comics -- including those with Aquaman.

"I did Watchmen before, a minor comic you may know," Wilson joked during an interview with ComicBook.com. "I really backed into comics through Watchmen. I did not grow up reading comics. Growing up, Superman was Christopher Reeve and that defined my superhero. After Watchmen, I got into it. I always wanted to know, too, what these movies were that were coming out. So I read all of Captain America, Thor, all the Marvel movies. I just wanted to see what these movies were going to be, where they were going to be pulling stuff from. When I got this, I started going through Orm, and through New 52 once we zeroed in on which Orm we were, where his backstory was because it's obviously completely different from the original, him being the half-Atlantean. I love that he's the purebred, it makes his fight even better. So then I read every storyline from then."

He also seems to be enjoying his role as Orm, especially on social media. Not only did Wilson share a photo of his Ocean Master mask as a Christmas decoration ahead of the holiday, when a Florida man had the curious misfortune of crashing a Ferrari into the ocean, Wilson took to Twitter to thank him for it. After all, Orm might hate the surface for their maltreatment of the seas, but even he can appreciate a Ferrari.

"From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an action-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas, Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa in the title role. The film reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime—one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be... a king.

Aquaman is directed by James Wan and stars Jason Momoa (Arthur/Aquaman), Amber Heard (Mera), Nicole Kidman (Queen Atlanna), Patrick Wilson (Orm/Ocean Master), Willem Dafoe (Nuidis Vulko), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Ludi Lin (Murk), Dolph Lundgren (King Nereus), Djimon Hounsou (The Fisherman King), Natalia Safran (Fisherman Queen), and Michael Beach (Jesse Kane).

Aquaman is in theaters now.