Aquaman: First look at Atlantis warriors riding great white sharks

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The armies of King Orm (Patrick Wilson) and King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) face off in this exclusive first look at the fantastical underwater world of Aquaman — and there’s a lot going on beneath the surface. First, let’s take an unobstructed look at this exclusive new image:

Now here’s one with some markup for us to discuss:

This is an ancient meeting place called The Council of the Kings that’s fallen into ruin. It’s not in Atlantis (so we still haven’t seen that yet — it wasn’t in Justice League either) but on the outskirts.

1) When Atlantis sank into the ocean, it split into Seven Kingdoms. Each statue you see in the distance represents one of the original kings.

2) The Atlantean army on the right ride great white sharks into battle. “When you see these Atlantean army riding these sharks, it’s so photo-real it blows you away,” producer Peter Safran says.

3) King Nereus of the kingdom of Xebel and his men ride sea dragons. Director James Wan wanted to create these fearsome creatures, Safran notes, as a way of subverting the comic image of Aquaman riding a seahorse.

4) On the center right, you can see Orm astride his massive alligator-like “tylosaur.” Behind him, Vulko (Willem Dafoe) has mounted a giant black hammerhead shark.

Bonus: Here’s a really cool piece of concept art of the same shot, where you can see a few more details:

For more Aquaman photos, check out our exclusive gallery of new images from the film and check out our intense new cover photos.