James Wan Explains Why He Chose To Direct Aquaman Over The Flash

Of all the films on DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. upcoming slate, the most mystery surrounds Director James Wan's Aquaman movie.

It could go a variety of ways, and the character hasn't seen as much media exposure as his fellow Leaguers, like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. He ranks right above Cyborg currently, and that's sad since Aquaman had such a long headstart on him.

For Wan, this is part of the reason he chose Aquaman over other projects, which actually included The Flash as well. In an interview with Uproxx, the director spoke about the choice and why he made it.

"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. When asked why, he said: This is how I weighed it: For me, we've seen various versions of The Flash… (Including the current show on CW) Exactly. There's a popular show on TV and there was a great one in the '90s. 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!"

At that point, Mike Ryan mentioned Entourage. "Yeah, exactly. Everyone makes fun of him! And I actually don't mind that! What it allows me to do: I think people are a lot less precious with him than, let's say, you were doing a Spider-Man or a Batman or whatever."

Ryan then mentioned that not many people have a definitive take on Aquaman, which Wan replied to with: "Exactly. That's exactly it. I felt like it allows me the freedom to just tell the story of the character I wanted to tell. And I think what I proved for myself with Fast and Furious 7, how I took on this massive movie and I was able to overcome the tragedy that befell the production – I think it really proved to everyone I'm capable of doing more than just horror movies."

Wan's Aquaman is scheduled to hit theaters on July 27th, 2018.