During the 2018 holidays, the
faltering DC Extended Universe superhero film franchise of Warner Bros. Pictures
received a big bounce-back following the critical and box office misstep of
2017’s “Justice League” with “Aquaman.” This first post-“JL” solo film about
the world’s most famous aquatic superhero with the power to talk to fish
starred Jason Momoa and got good reviews along with becoming the fifth top-grosser
for 2018 cinema. Its success led to development of a spinoff and a direct
sequel for 2022 with Momoa. Unfortunately, the actor intimated that he might be
too busy protesting a major construction project in Hawaii to reprise his role.
Comic Book Resources tells us that Jason Momoa has hinted on social
media that he might be dropping the role of Arthur Curry/Aquaman on the
upcoming sequel for the DCEU superhero movie. In fact, his post on Instagram
related a sarcastically grim reason for why he cannot reprise the character, on
account of his involvement in the ongoing protests by native Hawaiians,
including the actor, against the resumed construction of the Thirty Meter
Telescope (TMT), a new astronomical observatory being built on the summit of
the dormant Mauna Kea volcano on the state’s Big Island.
“Sorry Warner Bros we can’t shoot
Aquaman 2. Because Jason got run over by a bulldozer trying to stop the
desecration of his native land,” Momoa wrote on his Instagram captioning a
photo of the ongoing construction for the TMT complex at Mauna Kea, considered
as sacred ground for the native Hawaiian population. “This is what telescope
construction looks like (Subaru Telescope, 1992). The TMT will be four times
larger on unscathed land,” the actor added as he called on his fellow native
Hawaiians to join in the protests against the observatory project, which
resumed construction this past July 15.
Work on the Thirty Meter
Telescope began on the early part of this decade, but protests by the native
Hawaiians, who have lived on the island for centuries before the arrival of
Americans from the mainland, succeeded in halting construction by October 2014.
The Hawaii state Supreme Court would invalidate building permits for the TMT
until finally approving it on December 2018. This time, when protestors blocked
access roads for the construction site last month, it only led to the July 17
arrest of 38, all of them native tribal elders (Kupuna). A follow-up social
media entry by Jason Momoa called for more cooperation between native Hawiians
born in the state and the descendants of those who have moved overseas.
Warner Bros. slates “Aquaman 2,”
to be directed again by James Wan, to release on the 2022 holidays. Also in
development is “The Trench,” a spinoff featuring the monstrous aquatic race
encountered by Aquaman and Mera in the original film.
Image
courtesy of Metro UK
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