The upcoming DC Universe has many challenges to overcome, and the handling of Jason Momoa’s Aquaman presents a major problem for James Gunn’s DCU.

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Jason Momoa’s Aquaman presents the biggest Justice League problem that the new DC Universe will have to try to resolve. Momoa will soon close out the DCEU with December’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, making way for the new DC Universe that is being built by James Gunn and Peter Safran. The DCU has already confirmed that multiple actors will return as their characters; however, the same does not seem to apply for the main players of 2017’s Justice League. Henry Cavill has already been recast as Clark Kent, with David Corenswet playing the hero in Superman: Legacy.

That opens up the door for the rest of the Justice League cast to be recast, and a report states just that. According to Variety, the Justice League cast is out of Gunn’s DC Universe. That would include Momoa, who is said to be leaving his role as Aquaman behind in favor of playing Lobo, a beloved and violent anti-hero, in the DCU. If it turns out that the report is true and Momoa’s Aquaman is not one of the confirmed canon characters of the new DC Universe, then Gunn and the rest of the DCU team will have a major challenges ahead of them.

The DCU Replacing Jason Momoa Would Make Aquaman Challenging To Replace

Momoa’s Aquaman Became A Fan Favorite

Momoa changed the public perception of Aquaman. Before the actor played Arthur Curry in the DCEU, the most famous version of Aquaman in audiences’ minds was that of the lighthearted take on the character — which included Aquaman talking to fish — in the Super Friends cartoon. Momoa then made Aquaman extremely popular by taking the character in a more serious direction, with a gruff tone and an imposing physique that turned Aquaman from a joke into a bona fide badass. Momoa’s popularity as Arthur Curry translated to his solo film’s box office, with the specialized website Box Office Mojo showing that 2018’s Aquaman ended its global run with roughly $1.152 billion.

While all of DC’s 2023 movies so far having underperformed puts Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’s box office in trouble, the possibility of the movie ending up well below the first solo film for the character is part of a bigger issue of the DC brand than Momoa’s popularity with the fans. Based on how well-received Momoa is as Aquaman, with the actor having cemented the DCEU take as the definitive version of Aquaman for many, the DCU’s recasting of the hero will face some problems, as any actor would have to either match the high bar set by Momoa or surpass it.

Why The DCU May Choose To Cut Aquaman From Its Universe Entirely

A New Justice League Roster Could Solve The Problem

As matching what Momoa did with Aquaman might prove itself too difficult, the DCU could decide to go another way and remove the character from the equation — for a time. While it is hard to believe that a new Aquaman will never appear in the DCU, the shared universe could see a different Justice League roster form in the DCU’s Chapter One, perhaps a variation of the Justice League International from the comics, allowing Aquaman to spend some time away from the big screen. That could then build anticipation for another take on the character, which could differ greatly from Momoa’s, to be introduced, thus solving the DCU’s Aquaman problems.