Jason Momoa says that Aquaman 2 will have a story about climate-change including an extensive speech at the United Nations on the topic.
Through all of the ups and downs that have taken place during the change of leadership at the top of the DC Universe, Jason Momoa has been a steady constant. The stalwart star of Aquaman has stood by new Co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran as they dismantle and rebuild the superhero franchise into their own decade-long vision. Bounding Into Comics reveals that, according to Momoa, a large chunk of the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will focus on climate change, a pet cause of the actor himself.
“The beautiful thing is that me and my partner wrote the first treatment for it, about a 55-page treatment, and a lot of it has to deal with me talking to the UN expediting what’s going to be happening with the melting ice caps.”
Jason Momoa on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Past superhero films have included scenes of characters addressing the United Nations, most recently in Black Panther 2 when Angela Basset as Queen Ramonda is publicly admonishing the collective countries. Jason Momoa’s description of the scene in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom makes it seem that it won’t involve humiliating French para-military forces. Arthur Curry’s passion to combat climate change does have its roots in the source material, as while he’s less militant than Namor, the King of Atlantis has always had a problem with pollution.
Plenty of Aquaman stories have included him battling with oil companies, fisheries, and producers of industrial waste. If Jason Momoa’s character existed in our world, than the Pacific Garbage Patch would have been viewed as a declaration of war against the denizens of the ocean. The catch is that all of this pollution directly impacts sea life, but the melting ice caps and climate change is a different situation.
Jason Momoa explains his feelings on the issue as “There’s no far-off galaxy coming to destroy us, there’s no alien from another place, it’s really just the idea of us ruining our planet, and the fact that we all need to get it together and save our home.” Which is a good sentiment for our world, but in the DC Universe, he’s King of a race of people that can breath underwater, would they really be concerned over the ocean claiming say, Atlanta, when they live in Atlantis?
Jason Momoa and Amber Heard as Aquaman and Mera
Would the Earth of the DC Universe even be concerned with climate change given actual gods walk among them and there’s an alien that can freeze water with his breath? If a machine can be designed that grants wishes, then why doesn’t Lex Luthor fix climate change and gain the goodwill to get away with liter murder? Jason Momoa’s sentiments, while respectable, are the wrong message, at the wrong time, in the wrong movie.
Super heroes have represented real-world issues since the very start of the medium, from Wonder Woman representing feminism to the X-Men standing in for civil rights. It is impossible to separate comics from delivering messages but placing a heavy-handed message in a foundational film might be a miscalculation. Jason Momoa’s tenure as Aquaman may end with his upcoming sequel, though James Gunn has said that the film will start to introduce his vision for the DC Universe, making it the Thor or Captain America: The First Avenger of the new franchise.
Here’s hoping that the climate change message takes a backseat to establishing new characters, new locations, and a potential new direction for the DC Universe. Jason Momoa is an entertaining actor and he can share any message that he views as important, but this is a crucial year for Warner Bros. Discovery, James Gunn, and the future of DC superhero movies. It might not be the right time for a message movie when fans don’t trust the studio to even deliver a cohesive narrative yet.
