James Wan Explains Who The Drums-Playing Octopus Really Is In ‘Aquaman’
Aquaman is a visual spectacle with many shot she demonstrating stunning visual effects. This includes a cameo from Topo, a humongous octopus that also happens to be quite a musician.
Thought to be the classic Easter Egg nodding to the Aquaman supporting character, Aquaman director James Wan recently revealed that the decision to have Topo wasn’t just an Easter Egg. It was rather a cameo, hinting at the character’s inclusion in future films.
Talking to the Huffington Post, Wan stated some of the thoughts that went into having Topo in the film.
“If you Google ‘topo Aquaman,’ you see all these really goofy characters of this octopus playing musical instruments,” Wan explained. “So I’m like, ‘OK, how do I take that and bring it into my movie and make it cool?’”
“It just makes it fun right off the bat,” the director elaborates. “When you see that you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m in a different kind of superhero movie.'”
Topo is one of the longest-serving allies of Arthur Curry, debuting in Adventure Comics #229, and was portrayed as a musician, playing anything from the drums to guitar. Created by Ramona Fradon, the character has had three major iterations in its existence in the DC comics lore. However, recently the “New 52” reboot of the character portrayed him as a half-octopus and half-hybrid that could only be summoned using Curry’s telepathy.
The character also appeared in a single episode of the animated Young Justice series. Topo can be seen playing the drums in the film as Arthur and Orm fight each other in the climactic scene of the film.
“It was very important for me early on to be allowed to make my own film and to have my own voice be in there,” Wan previously said to ComicBook.com. “It was very important for me to be able to bring my own stamp, my own visual aesthetic, create the characters. Even though Jason has somewhat been established Justice League, I wanted to bring his character into this, basically, fresh in a lot of ways.”
