Jason Momoa’s Blond Highlights Were a Nod to Classic Aquaman Comics

Aquaman’s blond highlights in Justice League were meant to pay homage to the source material, considering how little the DCEU’s Aquaman resembles the comic book version of the character otherwise. Jason Momoa cameoed as the DC superhero in Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, and he made his official debut as Arthur Curry, aka Aquaman, in the filmmaker’s Justice League this month, thus marking the character’s first live-action movie appearance.


The actor originally boarded the DCEU way back in 2014 – when he originally thought he was auditioning for one of Batman’s villains – but had to wait a few years before making his silver screen debut. At first, some were vehemently against the former Game of Thrones actor taking up residence in Atlantis, with many feeling that he would be better suited for a role such as Lobo, but Snyder and co. were confident that Momoa would be able to transform Aquaman from being a joke to one of the DCEU’s leading superheroes – and that may very well happen in his future solo outing.


Momoa’s iteration of the character is distinctly different from many versions in the source material, but those differences fit within the overarching shared universe – and they may actually breathe new life into the age-old superhero. However, Momoa and the rest of the creative team still wanted to honor the comic books in some way, so Momoa revealed in Justice League: The Art of the Film that he and the rest of the film’s creative team decided to give Arthur blond highlights.

“Zack [Snyder] had the idea for the tattoos. Everyone wanted to have a little bit of blond in the hair. For the eyes, I always liked that Van Gogh green color you can get lost in; it draws you in, but you’re also scared by it. So I wanted to have that look.”


The bulk of Aquaman’s backstory and mythology was, unfortunately, left on the cutting room floor. The character’s brief history was originally much more expansive in Justice League prior reshoots and Warner Bros.’ reported 2-hour runtime mandate, but audiences should expect the superhero’s backstory to be told in James Wan’s upcoming standalone Aquaman film. And who knows, perhaps that film’s producers will try to bring the character closer to the comics, just as the studio did with Henry Cavill’s Superman in Justice League.


Regardless of what happens to Arthur Curry, however, the task of fully introducing audiences to Arthur’s underwater world has been left up to Wan. Aquaman is due out in December 2018 and is the first post-Justice League DCEU film to release. Although recent rumors would have people believe that Warner Bros. is canceling the DCEU following Justice League‘s abysmal critical and commercial performance, considering that Aquaman has already wrapped production and Shazam! is still on track to roll cameras within the next few months, the DCEU is still very much trudging forward.