r/Aquaman • u/Desperate_Worth8457 • 5d ago
DISCUSSION Aquamomoa vs Aquaman
Ok so as someone barely familiar with Aquaman, how different are these two PERSONALITY WISE? Was Momoa a good representation of Arthur Curry?
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u/TheDistantWave 5d ago
Aquamoa sounds better
Momoa pretty much played Momoa tbh I don’t mean that as a slight, but the characterization was far from comic accurate.
I think it would be cool if they made Absolute Aquaman as a tribute to his iteration of the character though. Like a surfer bro Aquaman who hangs out in bars could be fun with the Pacific Islander influence to add color to the rest of the cast.
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u/Alcor_71 5d ago
In the first movie Momoa tried or was told to play the character and with some exceptions he did that with good results. Although not comic accurate it was ok.
In the second He did as he pleased, after all he co-wrote the story. Which in the opinion of many it was a bad thing to do. You can't leave someone with a basic knowledge of the character's history etc, decide the story of a movie. The result was a movie that made no sense storywise, with a guy who wore Aquaman's suit.
Surprised that Wan let him do as he wanted, but I think Wan had given up on the movie and Momoa was out of control. Not surprisingly with all that went on with that movie, everyone seemed lets get it down so we can go home.1
u/TheDistantWave 5d ago
I wouldn’t call the first Aquaman film accurate to the comic portrayal of the character either.
I’d argue the closest we got was honestly the Justice League movie in terms of characterization. But the world portrayal was off there too with stuff like using hydrogen spheres to talk underwater because I’m assuming they couldn’t grasp the idea of them being able to talk outside of air pockets.
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u/Alcor_71 5d ago
First movie was based mostly on Geoff Johns run, who co-wrote with Wan the story. Now if you mean Momoa's portrayal, that will always be difficult to figure out how much accurate or not.
In appearance he definitely doesn't look like Aquaman at all, they tried to fit him in the character as best as they could.
It was ok, not accurate, they managed to rein him in. Not letting him do what he wanted, as he did with the second movie. One of the major criticism of the second movie, was that he acted as Momoa not Arthur Curry.In Justice League, they got nearly everything wrong in my opinion with Aquaman, He was never a drunk, Mera is downgraded to be a commander of the guard, when she is a Princess. Even her hair color is wrong.
The airpockets? Well Chris Terrio who wrote the story, said he didn't know how to explain how they talked underwater, so he came up with air pockets. When all he had to do was read some comics.
In the Aquaman movie they undid nearly everything from Justice League, even Vulko who is de-aged.1
u/TheDistantWave 5d ago
I’ve read a lot of Aquaman comics, Momoa’s portrayal wasn’t accurate in the Aquaman films.
Geoff Johns cowriting the script isn’t something I’m unaware of. It also doesn’t mean it adheres to accuracy. Johns also wrote probably the weakest story in Aquaman’s 80th anniversary in my opinion.
The depiction isn’t even why I’m saying Momoa is inaccurate. It’s the sizing up people in a bar over little to nothing, then chumming it up with those guys in the bar. Comic Aquaman was never given a biker, bar hanging aesthetic. Momoa’s portrayal was a very social outgoing character, that’s not really how we’re introduced to Aquaman in the comics. The delivery and stuff he’d say in terms of jokes weren’t the type of humor I’d associate with the character “I could just pee on it”
They took storybeats from the comics. Like Throne of Atlantis and loosely adapted it. Which is some stuff like Arthur being a reluctant king. But that’s a pretty broad aspect to call it comic accurate.
I’d argue the second film was pretty inline with the first in terms of characterization. It seemed like the same character Momoa portrayed in the first film to me.
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u/Alcor_71 5d ago
What does Johns 80th Anniversary story has to do with all this? TBH most of those stories sucked!
In Johns run, first issue - Arthur goes to eat fish and chips. In comics we have seen him dining with Mera in restaurants, or going to a school reunion, or taking Mera, Tula and Murk to a Fun Park. That he is not social it is not true. OK he is not shown in comics in a bar with bikers, not does it make that difference. Actually he was having a drink with his father, then the bikers came along.
James Wan himself said the movie is based on Johns run and had elements from Parker to. Now if you expect panel by panel accuracy than no it ain't. No movie will ever be.1
u/TheDistantWave 5d ago
The fact you brought up Johns as some type of claim to accuracy is why I brought him up in another Aquaman related project that he written. Not a far off concept
How did those encounters go for Arthur is the difference? Putting yourself in social environments isn’t the same thing as socially engaging with people because it’s something you enjoy.
Not to mention those stories explain why Arthur even went out. The fish spot was something his father would take him to, it was dear to him, most of the other outgoings are due to Mera encouraging Aquaman to get out more.
The whole criticism is portrayal of the character. Having Aquaman do stuff he did in the comics is irrelevant to my original post. It’s about how the character acts, not about where he goes, what he eats, and it’s not about story elements outside of his characterization.
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u/lazytownenjoyer 5d ago
I’m no expert on Aquaman, but I’ve been reading Peter David’s run on him and I have read a few issues of Geoff Johns’ run as well.
Tbh personality wise there’s not a lot of similarities. Aquaman’s life actually kinda sucks with the amount of responsibilities he has + all the tragedy he has suffered. He’s also not fully accepted in either the surface or underwater world so he has that going for him.
Momoa leans heavily into the jokes and dude comedy that might have appealed more to a broader audience, and I do find it entertaining but I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily an accurate representation. Don’t get me wrong, Aquaman isn’t this edgy brooding character in the comics either but he’s definitely not on Momoa’s level.
I do think the movies were a fun time, even though they weren’t all that deep (hehe)
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u/Please_UnbanMe Waterbearer 5d ago
Yeah visually Peter David’s run is comparable in a way, but personality wise they’re actually the furthest apart iterations I think.
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u/aquamerandy 5d ago
You are referring to old Aquaman mainly as the one who's life sucks. That was some lazy writing from writers who made him look as a loser. The guy who lost his throne, his son, his wife, his friends etc. A recurring theme for decades.
From New 52 onwards Aquaman has been de-traumatized of all that baggage.
Momoa's Aquaman is a mix of David's and Johns in some way. The movie is based mainly on Johns run.
Second Aquaman movie better to move on, it was a total mess.2
u/lazytownenjoyer 5d ago
Yeah I haven’t read much of modern aquaman besides the first few of the Johns run. Mainly going through the PD collection now
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u/aquamerandy 5d ago
PAD tried to overhaul his image, making him more badass although it slightly changed public perception of Aquaman, it didn't last. DC gave up on Aquaman, even tried to introduce a new character in his place with Sword of Atlantis,
Things changed with New52, Johns, Parker and Abnett delivered a more traditional Aquaman, de-traumatized and who is and feels like a winner. He was in print for nearly a decade until Deconnick drove him into a wall and got him canceled. After years without a book, Jeremy Adams is currently writing the book, he delivers a good Aquaman book but unfortunately at sales level it ain't doing well.
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u/Alcor_71 5d ago
Momoa was chosen to break the Typecast public perception had of Aquaman.
Comic readers didn't need that, but the general audience knew Aquaman as the Superfriends and SNL useless character.
Making him look more badass and with the exuberant personality of Momoa. It worked initially, especially with the first movie, added to a good origin story and CGI effects.
With the second movie it didn't, Momoa went too far, many had difficulty in distinguishing between the actor and the character. Adding to a bad movie as a whole, controversies, lack of marketing etc.
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u/PassionSalty5069 5d ago
they feel pretty different. Comic Aquaman is serious, pragamatic, and acts like a king first and a superhero second. Momoa leans hard to into the broody, reluctant, hero archetype who just wants to party and hit things
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u/Flat-Whole2759 5d ago
His casting was very genius with his background and tattoos. The aesthetic of Atlantis in ZSJL was very cool and fascinating.
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u/AegidiusDesigns 3d ago
I think the pivot to himbo Aquaman was mainly due to James Wan inheriting Zack Snyder’s casting decision to bring in Momoa.
Because, no, fundamentally Aquaman hasn’t been written like a dude-bro at all in modern times.
I think it’s pretty clear Wan wanted his long-time actor-friend-collaborator Patrick Wilson to take on the role, the guy literally looks like Aquaman, but was told by the studio the only way he’d get to do his Aquaman flick was if he did a tie-in movie with the blossoming ‘DCU’.
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u/Please_UnbanMe Waterbearer 5d ago
The closest the comics ever got to Aquamomoa was in Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run for like 20 issues.
And in my opinion they’re still very different. Momoa never had the regal attitude that the comics has, and is way louder and more of a himbo.
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u/Fun-Fun7523 5d ago
It was just the tattoos that made him close, otherwise Kelly Sue Aquaman, looks anything but Momoa or Aquaman. For most of her run he's out of character.
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u/Please_UnbanMe Waterbearer 5d ago
Really? I thought her Aquaman was a pretty good. I didn’t like her overall plot, but I thought her characterization was fine.
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u/Fun-Fun7523 5d ago
She got that book canceled.
Arthur acts mainly out of character, especially with the infamous scene in which when he discovers Mera is pregnant. TBH both Arthur and Mera are mostly out of character in her run, only in the last few issues they act as themselves.
Kelly Sue was the one who said in an interview that Arthur's upbringing by Tom was abusive, that he had mommy issues among others things and that her job was to make him come out of all that.1
u/Please_UnbanMe Waterbearer 5d ago
Oh yeah I don’t like what she said about his upbringing. But honestly out of character moments like that don’t super bother me. They make them feel more like characters, they make mistakes sometimes. But yeah still could’ve been done a bit better.
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u/Fun-Fun7523 5d ago
That dumb killing of Arthur by Mera, actually killed the book. It never recovered from than onwards. That aside, that infamous scene, First it was intended Arthur went to Atlantis to have some "fun" with Mera, than he tries to walk out when he finds she's pregnant. Arthur would have never done that, Even if he it recalls his childhood, Arthur would have first reassured Mera, than later would let the matter sink in, Not walk away.
He later learns that Mera did not intend to kill him but overloaded because his actions led her to believe he was abandoning her. Still he plays the aggrieved party. No Aquaman would have never done that.Mera was shown to be unfit as a Queen during emotional stress. So much for Deconnick's feminism. You couldn't trust someone like that with a flower shop let alone a kingdom.
Deconnick said and did many things that raised eyebrows. Not least abolishing the monarchy because it ain't an American thing. Man these are comics, fantasy worlds not real life. How can someone bring that into equation with a fantasy underwater kingdom and the American Republic?
Still I don't see any comparison with Momoa and her Aquaman. Momoa's Aquaman is extrovert, shoot first see later type. Whilst her Aquaman is nothing like that.
To be fair, In the last 7 issues she partially corrects that and makes him more Aquaman like, the traditional Aquaman, not Momoa.1
u/Please_UnbanMe Waterbearer 5d ago
I’m still so confused by Mera killing Aquaman. I don’t even understand the timeline. So did he not die at the end of Drowned Earth and was faking his death only for Mera to actually kill him? Or did he die, come back, die again, and come back again? It was a weird era for sure lol.
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u/aquamerandy 5d ago
First Aquaman movie, Momoa was acceptable as Aquaman. Arthur has always been an introvert as a character. He has few friends he is really comfortable with. As Arthur says in the movie he's not a team player. Even at Justice league level he is somehow the outsider. Only with Mera does the real Arthur comes out.
Second Aquaman it was Momoa playing Momoa not Aquaman.
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u/HopeofDawnsRays 5d ago
Funnily enough, there were a lot more of bro moments back in the 90s/early 2000s Aquaman than there have been in recent years. It's not entirely unheard of for A.C. to be more lighthearted, but overall the stories tend to focus more on the "heavy is the head that wears the crown" type of thing.