Justice League had a lot of problems, some fans did enjoy it but most critics didn’t. It managed to fix some problems plaguing the DC Extended Universe and introduced some of the upcoming characters to be featured in future DCEU installments. We can’t deny Aquaman was pretty badass (despite being a douche) and Amber Heard’s Mera seemed like someone to look out for. The upcoming Aquaman will no doubt tackle their relationship and it seems like the character of Mera is looking to be pretty awesome.
It looks like Zack Snyder, director of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and most (?) of Justice League convinced Amber Heard to be the love interest of Aquaman due to her character being a strong female character and not a damsel in distress.
Heard told the print version of Entertainment Weekly:
“I’m allergic to being the damsel, the two-dimensional archetype of what women are often limited to in this industry, especially in the superhero world, Zack got me at ‘warrior queen.’ He said, ‘You get a sword and a crown,’ and I’m like, ‘Okay.’”
This sounds great and Mera looks like she’ll be focused greatly in the Aquaman film. It’ll be great to feature a love interest that isn’t a damsel in distress unlike many superhero and action films before. However, Heard’s words aren’t entirely accurate amidst more modern films. Although, the superhero genre leaves much more to be desired in terms of female leads, Hollywood is no doubt bringing more into light with films like the acclaimed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and the recent Wonder-Woman. Hell, films have included female heroes and strong supporting female characters before, granted not as much as they should be with films like Aliens and Kill Bill along with more recent works like Mad Max: Fury Road.
That’s not to say that Heard is wrong (she has a point in regards to the superhero genre) but it does seem like it’s the easy path to go these day by saying that females are just pushed aside as damsels in distress. However, her concerns are fairly understandable but it’s highly dubious Mera will be downgraded to a mere damsel. Director James Wan has provided some great films along with good female characters with films like The Conjuring and Fast and Furious 7 (despite the misogyny present in the franchise) and would probably do the character of Mera justice.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
