Dolph Lundgren Has Been Cast As Aquaman's Rival

IMAGE VIA CLAY ENOS/ WARNER BROS

Action hero Dolph Lundgren has been cast in Aquaman in a slightly villainous role.

The Rocky IV star will be playing King Nereus of the aquatic kingdom of Xebel and he claims Mera is his wife and wants to kill Aquaman, states The Hollywood Reporter.

What this casting proves is director James Wan isn’t shying away from making his Aquaman film some sort of epic period adventure with warring families and shows Atlantis is going to have this Game of Thrones/ Lord of the Rings scale.

The history of King Nereus and Xebel is long and complex, but ScreenRant has done a great job to explain everything in detail.

IMAGE VIA DC COMICS

Basically, Nereus is a celebrated warrior in Xebel and was due to marry Mera once her father passed away.

IMAGE VIA DC COMICS

Wan went on to Twitter to state Lundgren isn’t playing a stereotypical villain. That’s true in a sense, he’s more of a rival to Aquaman as he has his own commitments to Mera and his people and he’s simply to follow them.

Not quite villain, but thank you :) https://t.co/LtqpcSanFL

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) 13 April 2017

Lundgren addition just is another thing to get excited about this project with a cast that includes; Jason Momoa as the leading man Arthur Curry, Amber Heard will be playing Mera (Aquaman’s royal love interest), Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna (Aquaman’s mum) and Patrick Wilson is starring as Aquaman’s villainous half-brother, Orm.

IMAGE VIA CLAY ENOS/ WARNER BROS

Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe will be playing Aquaman’s adviser Nuidis Vulko, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is iconic villain Black Manta and finally, Temuera Morrison will be playing Curry’s dad Thomas.

I think this cast is just getting better and better and with Wan at the helm this has the potential to not only be the DC Film to date but also one of the best superhero films ever and I have nothing but faith in this film.

If you think about Wan is building an Atlantis universe as we could be visiting Xebel in the sequels and they don’t have to depend on just Black Manta and Orm aka Ocean Master.

Also, how long has Lundgren and Wan been keeping this casting secret? Because the 59-year-old posted this on Twitter five months ago.

Been hardest (and most excited) secret to sit on. But finally, welcome to Atlantis @Dolph_Lundgren #KingNereus #KingdomOfXebel https://t.co/qpDU00nVSd

— James Wan (@creepypuppet) 12 April 2017

Dolph is short for Dolphin. America, follow me to my underwater paradise!

— Dolph Lundgren (@Dolph_Lundgren) 9 November 2016

The only downside is Lundgren won’t be returning to Sky One’s Arrow where he has been brilliant and has been one of the highlights of the fifth series and hoped he’d return for season six.

With production beginning in May expect more casting news once the official press release comes out and Aquaman is slated to be released Christmas 2018.