7 Behind-The-Scenes Facts We Learned About "Aquaman" At San Diego Comic-Con

"They’re so deep down [in the ocean] that their bodies are hardened,” said Wan. “Maybe not to the extent of the Man of Steel — bullets aren’t necessarily pinging off of them — but regular human weapons don’t inflict the kind of pain that they [typically] would. In the movie, he gets shot with a grenade launcher, and he goes down, but he gets back up!”

“The world that he’s from is not an easy one to execute, but I didn’t want to make an Aquaman movie where most of it took place on dry land,” said Wan. "He comes from such a magical place. The seven different kingdoms are so exciting, and it’s like going on a journey into this fantasy realm, but it takes place right on our own planet."

“The women in this movie are not damsels in distress,” said Wan. “Mera doesn’t need saving and, if anything, she saves Aquaman a lot because he’s not accustomed to the world of Atlantis. You can’t read an Aquaman comic book without Mera being a part of it — they’re really a dynamic duo. She’s really strong and really smart. Amber and I, early on, really wanted to create a character that young girls could look up to.”

"All the crap that we just sort of pollute and throw out literally goes down there [into the ocean], and that's where [these characters] live," said Wan. "The concept is that the Atlantians are getting sick from all of the stuff that we pour down there."

"It’s not another superhero movie where the villain is from outer space or another dimension. The threat is coming from right below us," said Wan. “What makes his anger for the surface world so relatable is that he’s just tired of all the crap from the surface world, like literally, the crap they send down into the ocean."

"Aquaman’s a guy who is half-Atlantian and half-surface world human," said Wan. "He doesn’t feel like he belongs in either world, and that’s how Jason was growing up. You know, he’s half-Polynesian and half-white, as well. Growing up in Hawaii, people would kind of make fun of him because he didn’t look like them. Then he moved to middle America and didn’t look like them, so he always felt like a fish out of water wherever he was.”

“Aquaman feels like he doesn’t belong, but what he finally comes to understand through his journey is that he’s the best of both worlds," said Wan. "And I think that theme will resonate in a strong way to the world that we live in now, which is no longer just black and white. There are all of these people [who are] in between that, and now they'll finally have a POC hero to look up to — who is of Polynesian/Asian background — which is so cool.”