When Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom's first trailer finally arrived in September 2023, DC fans had to really pay attention to see their first look at Amber Heard's Mera in the sequel.
Mera appears in a blink-and-you'll-miss it moment near the very end of the trailer, suggesting that Heard's allegation that her role in Aquaman 2 was "very pared down" was accurate.
Now that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is out in cinemas though, just how much is Mera involved in the sequel? Let's explain all.
Mild spoilers ahead.
Is Amber Heard in Aquaman 2?
Even though she only has a brief appearance in the trailer, Amber Heard's Mera has a bigger part than you'd expect in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
While Patrick Wilson's Orm has been alongside Aquaman in the promotional material, he doesn't appear until the second act when Aquaman goes to break him out of prison. Before that, it's Aquaman and Mera like the first movie.
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When Black Manta and his forces attack Atlantis, Mera plays a big role in defending Atlantis, before she's injured by Black Manta as part of the scene briefly seen in the trailer.
She is then sidelined in the middle act which is focused on Aquaman and Orm, but Mera comes back to again play an active role in the final third. She even has a couple of hero moments saving various characters.
We don't know exactly whether this was always the plan or if she was originally in the sequel more.
During her defamation trial against Johnny Depp, Heard told the court in May 2022 that her appearance was a "very pared-down version" of what was planned for Mera (via EW).
"I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it, that depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoiler aways, two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role," she testified.
Director James Wan appeared to deny this to EW in September 2023 after the first trailer was released, saying the sequel is exactly what he planned "from the get-go".
"The first Aquaman was Arthur and Mera's journey. The second movie was always going to be Arthur and Orm. So, the first was a romance action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance action-adventure movie. We'll leave it at that."
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is out now in cinemas.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
