Aquaman star Amber Heard has revealed just how deep director James Wan will be diving into her Mera’s heritage come December when she partners with Jason Moma’s Arthur Curry to protect Atlantis.
Heard debuted in Zack Snyder’s Justice League when Aquaman sought clarity on the Mother Boxes Steppenwolf was seeking out. There, we got key insight into her role as a sentry of the sea kingdom, as well as her connection to Arthur as he struggles with his inevitable destiny as king.
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“She’s a warrior who was raised by the queen of Atlantis before she passed. We meet Mera after the queen has long since left and she’s been raised to take over as queen her whole life,” Heard said to Entertainment Weekly, referencing Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) aka the mother of Arthur and King Orm (Patrick Wilson).
“She’s been raised to serve her kingdom and rule over Atlantis with King Orm. She’s very disciplined and almost militaristic. She’s fully dedicated to saving her nation and that serves as an impetus to go to the surface world and elicit help from Arthur who’s the polar opposite of Mera — he lives in the moment, he’s confused about his identity, he lacks the purpose and focus that Mera has, which makes them an unlikely duo,” she added. “But it’s that disparity that makes a nuanced relationship between them. Where one is strong the other is weak and those differences are a conduit for their bonding.”
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The relationship with Orm is an intriguing take on the Aquaman lore, and follows another liberty the film has taken with respect to her relationship to King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren). In the comics, he was her husband-to-be and king of Xebel, a banished rebel faction of Atlanteans, but Wan now has him as her father, meaning Mera could find herself not just in a love triangle, but embedded in conflict with regards to which family she should be aligning with.
Arriving Dec. 21, director James Wan’s Aquaman stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren and Nicole Kidman.