Aquaman 2 occupies a weird place in the DC canon, coming as the final entry before the entire franchise gets a James Gunn-induced reset. Thankfully, it’s using that weird situation to have loads of fun, including giving a revamp to the most widely mocked element of the Aquaman character: his personal seahorse.
Before the DC Universe gave us Jason Momoa’s bombastic take on the Atlantean hero, Aquaman was a bit of a punchline among DC characters. And a lot of that mockery – including a running gag on The Big Bang Theory – focused on the fact Aquaman rides around on a seahorse, rather than any sort of noble and glamorous steed.
When the Aquaman 2 release date comes around, though, we’ll get to see this seahorse in a new and more badass form. The horse has always been called Storm, but hadn’t really lived up to that name. The contrast of the pink seahorse with Aquaman’s traditional orange and green colors was very goofy, to say the least. But on the big screen, Storm looks pretty awesome.
In the trailers for Aquaman 2, we can see a refreshingly not-pink version of Storm rearing up out of the water with Arthur Curry riding on its back. The color palette of Aquaman’s suit might be veering a little more towards the classic comic style, but Storm is going in a new direction.
In this case, the DC Universe’s new movies are following the template for Storm that was established in the New 52 continuity of the comics. This era began in 2011 and focused on changing the perceptions of Aquaman, turning him from the comedic punching bag presented in The Big Bang Theory into the sort of all-action hero reflected by Momoa’s performance.
Storm got a revamp as part of this refresh and, although the pink color was maintained, this version of Storm looked more like the sea monsters of mythology than the seahorses you can spot at your local aquarium. This has very much been carried over into Aquaman 2, in which Storm looks pretty majestic.
We loved the surreal edge of the first Aquaman movie, which gave us an octopus drummer alongside a menagerie of undersea beasties. We’re in for plenty more of that stuff in Aquaman 2, with Storm’s redesign just the tip of the underwater iceberg.
If everything in James Wan’s film looks as good as Storm, then this could be one of the best movies in the DC Universe. Certainly, nobody will be laughing at this version of Aquaman.
Times are about to change for good with James Gunn’s slate of upcoming DC movies, officially named Chapter 1 Gods and Monsters. So now is a good time to revisit the DC movies in order and go back through the tangled web of the studio’s prior movies.
Or for more on the watery world of Arthur Curry, find out why Aquaman’s most powerful ability is too strong for the DCU and learn why we think Aquaman 2 is making a big mistake by changing a DC villain.