Credit: DC StudiosJust under a month until James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) arrives in theaters, and Warner Bros. has omitted controversial star Amber Heard from its latest release.
The sequel to director James Wan’s Aquaman (2018) has felt a long time coming. The surprise billion-dollar smash, DC Studios’ only movie to hit the landmark in ten years, sailed into theaters five years ago. With Jason Momoa as the titular Justice League member, Aquaman saw the Game of Thrones star appear alongside other A-list talent like Willem Dafoe (Vulko), Patrick Wilson (Orm Marius), Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), Yahya Abdul-Mateen III (Black Manta), and Amber Heard (Mera).
Momoa had, just a year previous, appeared in Justice League (2017) with the likes of Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman), and Gal Gadot (Diana Prince/Wonder Woman), and while the Zack Snyder/Joss Whedon movie was poorly-received, DC fans still came out in droves to see Momoa’s solo follow-up.
Previously slated for release in 2022, Warner Bros. made the decision to push the DC movie back into 2023, with a final resting date of December 22, 2023. It is currently the only blockbuster release in the coveted Christmas weekend slot. Last year, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) dominated the festive period — the film that caused Aquaman 2 to move into 2023 in the first place.
While the first movie did impressive numbers at the global box office, there are intense worries about the sequel. There have been reports of people walking out of free movie screenings, issues with VFX, the current downfall of DC Studios and the superhero comic book genre as a whole, and then there is the Amber Heard-ness of it all.
Actress Amber Heard starred as Mera in the first movie, which James Wan said was conceived to be a romantic adventure, and was expected to continue appearing as the marine princess in more installments of the franchise. Appear she will, but not without contempt from a large portion of viewers.
Seven years ago, Amber Heard filed for divorce from her former husband Johnny Depp, citing physical and verbal abuse. The domestic abuse allegations would be further discussed after the publication of Heard’s opinion essay in The Washington Post in late 2018. What followed was a media storm that saw the couple head to a domestic violence courtroom trial, not once but twice.
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The two highly-publicized trials — the first in London, UK, where Depp sued British publication The Sun and its parent company News Group Newspapers, and the second in Virginia, USA, where Depp sued Heard for defamation — have seen the pair continuously analyzed and scrutinized.
As the dust settled, with Depp’s overwhelming defamation case win in Fairfax County, Virginia, fans called out Warner Bros. for its continued support of Amber Heard, who had been proven guilty of defaming her ex-husband. Following his loss at the London High Court, Depp was asked by Warner Bros. to step down from his leading role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, leading people to declare they should also remove Heard from the DC Extended Universe.
But, despite trends like #JusticeForJohnnyDepp going viral and Heard’s role in Aquaman 2 being contested during the defamation trial, the actress will appear in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. So, why is Warner Bros. hiding it?
When the trailer dropped, Heard could be seen for a brief second. Then, later, Wan stood by his decision not to feature Mera in a larger capacity, saying that the sequel was more of a buddy comedy than a romantic expedition a la the first movie. However, in the latest trailer release, Warner Bros. has omitted Heard completely, with only her flame-red hair being shown for less than a second. You can watch the trailer below:
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The shot towards the end of the TV spot simply shows Temuera Morrison’s Tom Curry, Jason Momoa’s Artur Curry, Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna, and the back of Amber Heard’s Mera. Everyone’s face is seen in the short clip, but Amber Heard’s…
The DC movie franchise is under quite the change as of late, and Aquaman 2 will be the final outing for the current DCEU. Earlier this year, new DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran revealed the first chapter in their upcoming slate, entitled “Gods and Monsters.” The first feature film will be a reboot of the Superman story, Superman: Legacy (2025), with David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan as Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane, respectively.
What do you think of this latest Aquaman release omitting Amber Heard? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!