James Wan Explains Why He Wanted AQUAMAN To Be An Isolated Story

James Wan was super excited to be involved in the DC Universe, but he made it clear that if the gig of directing Aquaman was going to involve him stepping in to be a big name with limited control of production WB had the wrong guy. Wan told Comicbook he wanted to be the person to flesh out Aquaman’s world, and luckily, he was given what he wanted:

"It was very important for me early on to be allowed to make my own film and to have my own voice be in there. After Furious Seven and Conjuring 2, I didn't want to be a director for hire. After Furious Seven, that's kind of who I was to some degree, but after that, I don't want to be that guy again. So, it was very important for me to be able to bring my own stamp, my own visual aesthetic, create the characters. Even though Jason [Momoa] has somewhat been established Justice League, I wanted to bring his character into this, basically, fresh in a lot of ways. So it was important for me to obviously pay a respect to where he was left off in [Justice League], but then allow me the freedom to take him to where I want to take him at the end of the movie. My hero goes on this hero's journey to become someone very different than where he started. That was something that was very important for me. But the movie I want to make, that I was allowed that freedom to do that."

Good for Wan, and I guess we’ll see whether or not WB was right to trust him. Aquaman opens in theaters December 14th.