Willem Dafoe’s Vulko rides an armored shark in the latest images from director James Wan’s Aquaman movie. Dafoe was originally set to make his screen debut as Nuidis Vulko (Atlantis’ chief scientific advisor and a mentor/ally to Arthur Curry) in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, prior to his appearance in Wan’s DC Comics adaptation. However, the footage he shot for the film ended up on the cutting room floor, following the extensive re-editing and reshoots that Joss Whedon oversaw in the wake of Snyder’s departure from the project.

While Aquaman will explore its namesake’s backstory, the bulk of the movie focuses on Arthur’s half-brother Orm (Wan’s frequent collaborator Patrick Wilson) and his efforts to unite the seven underwater kingdoms in a war against those who dwell on-land. Among the factions that Orm attempts to rally to his cause is that of Xebel, which King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) rules over. Aquaman concept artwork released earlier this year offered a sneak peek at one particular sequence in the film where Orm and Nereus assemble their massive armies together, in the ruins of The Council of Kings.

Said Aquaman concept art also featured Dafoe as Vulko, sitting atop an armored shark. Wan has now released an official photo of the actor doing exactly that in the movie to his Twitter account, as you can see below.

Most of Orm’s Atlantean army will be riding great white sharks in Aquaman, with Nereus’ warriors charging into battle atop seadragons. However, as you can clearly see above, Vulko (being a high-ranking member of Atlantis’ forces and all that) will be riding around on a giant, armored, hammerhead shark in the film. The second photo above was also unveiled by Wan and shows Orm riding atop a tylosaur, aka. a fictionalized take on the tylosaurus that falls somewhere between a shark and a crocodile. Fans got their initial glimpse of the latter leading his army into a massive underwater showdown in the Aquaman trailer released this past summer.

It’s good to see Wan is still doing his part to keep the buzz around Aquaman going, now that the movie’s release date is just over two months out. The filmmaker is likewise keeping things fun on social media and even teased Wilson about the “blue, mechanical bull” that the actor had to sit on when they were shooting the scenes with Orm atop his tylosaur. While it remains to be seen if Wan and his team deliver the goods with Aquaman itself, any film that features Jason Momoa as a superhero and Willem Dafoe riding a giant shark is doing (at least) two things right.

MORE: Every Aquaman Update You Need to Know

Source: James Wan

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