Jason Momoa

After months of rumors and an interview where he publicly stated that he was annoyed with questions about being cast for a role he was not attached to, it turns out Jason Momoa was lying to us after all.

According to HitFix.com, Momoa (Conan the Barbarian, Stargate Atlantis, Game of Thrones) has been cast as Arthur Curry/Aquaman. Warner Bros. hasn’t confirmed the announcement, but HitFix claims they’ve confirmed the rumor to be real and that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder has finalized the designs for the character. Reportedly, Aquaman will make a cameo appearance in Dawn of Justice and then be featured heavily in the Justice League film that will be released in 2017.

For some time, Momoa has been rumored to be tied with the role, and at one point rumors circulated that he had indeed been confirmed for the part. However, when asked about it at Detroit’s Motor City Comic Con, Momoa acted annoyed with the questions and answered, “No. Stop asking me. It’s so annoying. Sorry, you’re not annoying.”

Momoa would be only the third actor to portray the King of the Seven Seas and the first on the silver screen. Alan Ritchson portrayed first portrayed Arthur Curry on Smallville in the fifth season episode “Aqua” and appeared in 3 subsequent episodes. After “Aqua” aired, Justin Hartley was cast in a pilot episode for The WB called Aquaman, an origin series similar to Smallville. The series was to debut in the fall of 2006, but the merger of The WB and UPN into The CW resulted in the series not being picked up (Hartley would eventually be cast as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow on Smallville afterward).

News also broke this week that Warner Bros. plans to announce six upcoming films based off DC Comics characters at this year’s Comic Con. Two of the confirmed movies would be Dawn of Justice and Justice League, but left some mystery as to what the other films would be.

According to Nikki Finke, founder of nikkifinke.com, she claims to have a source that has Intel on what Warner Bros. will announce at Comic Con. She lists the following films and their expected release dates:

• May 2016 – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
• July 2016 – Shazam
• Xmas 2016 – Sandman
• May 2017 – Justice League
• July 2017 – Wonder Woman
• Xmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
• May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2

Nikki also quotes her source as to report the following about the upcoming DC Comics films, including why Dawn of Justice was delayed:

Like Marvel’s The Avengers, there will be cameos of superheroes for future installments. The cameos will include the already known Cyborg and Flash. Green Lantern [not played by Ryan Reynolds, thank god] may be introduced.  And Aquaman will be seen in the Justice League movie. Problem is, Warner Bros Pictures was still negotiating with the actors for those cameos and future roles, meaning major contracts for multiple JL/character films to follow. The studio didn’t want to move forward until they had more of this secure so they held off starting production for a few months.

World of Entertainment reported on the news of Cyborg’s casting back in April when the news of a Justice League film was confirmed. Now with the news that Momoa is (supposedly) Aquaman, that leaves the questions of who will be the Flash and who will be Green Lantern. The source claims that it won’t be Ryan Reynolds due to the negative reception and moderate success of the 2011 film.

The mention of Flash being confirmed brings up an important question: will it be a different actor or will it be Grant Gustin? If you missed the news, Gustin was cast as Barry Allen/The Flash for the upcoming CW series The Flash, scheduled to air this fall. If it is indeed Gustin, that means both Arrow and its spin-off, The Flash are connected to the DC Cinematic Universe.

Do you believe the rumor is as true as HitFix claims it to be? Would Momoa be a good fit? Are there other actors you’d rather see as Aquaman? What about casting choices for The Flash and Green Lantern?  Post your thoughts in the comments below.