The prospect of an Aquaman movie has always been a dicey one. For many who don’t read the comics, Aquaman is the lame duck of the Justice League — the guy who can basically just talk to fish. Of course comic fans know he’s so much more than that, but overcoming that initial obstacle is tough. With that in mind, it may come to a surprise to some fans that director James Wan actually had more options with the DCEU.

In an interview with Uproxx, the CONJURING 2 director confessed that he had a choice between Aquaman and the Flash, and revealed why he chose the King of Atlantis over the Scarlet Speedster.

“It was, well, oh jeez, this would be a big tidbit: They asked me which of the two characters I’d be interested in and it was between The Flash and Aquaman.

This is how I weighed it: For me, we’ve seen various versions of The Flash…

[…]

I loved that Flash! But the thing that ultimately pushed me more towards Aquaman is I love the possibility of creating a whole new world. I’ve always wanted to do a world creation story and visually create this amazing, incredible, magical kingdom. And also, I love the fact that Aquaman is an underdog character. I love the fact that people like to make fun of him. [Laughs.] I feel the bar is a lot lower and I can have fun with him!”

The man definitely has a point. While it may seem like an uphill battle to get people to appreciate AQUAMAN as a character, it’s even more of an uphill battle to convince fans that your version of the character is worthy to stand alongside another concurrent interpretation of the character.

The power of fan expectations cannot be estimated — especially when it comes to superhero films. There’s a reason why films like THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON faced a relatively underwhelming response from fans, and that had a lot to do with the anticipation of fans. Sure, the movies had their problems, but had moviegoers gone in with zero expectations, there’s a good chance they may have been more satisfied as they left the theaters. AQUAMAN may very well be a beneficiary of comparatively low expectations next to THE FLASH. Let’s just hope that Wan can create a compelling story that can surprise all the haters.

AQUAMAN is slated to hit theaters on July 27, 2018.

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SOURCE: Uproxx