Aquaman exclusive: First close-up look at a massive sea dragon

Remember in the 1970s Super Friends cartoons when Aquaman would ride that dinky little seahorse?

Below is Aquaman director James Wan’s answer to that.

Here’s a first look at a massive sea dragon:

The sea dragons are ridden by the people of Xebel — one of the seven underwater kingdoms of Atlantis, their leader is King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) and Mera (Amber Heard) is one of their warriors.

“The idea was to turn on its head the idea of Aquaman riding a seahorse, take something for which he was mocked and turn it into something terrifying and impressive,” says producer Peter Safran. “He’s a Xebellian creature but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Arthur (Jason Momoa) on one at some point…”

That sounds like a hint!

Here’s the cartoon version from back in the day:

Previously, EW.com debuted a distant look at the Xebel warriors on sea dragons vs. Atlantian warriors on sharks:

And no, these sea dragons don’t breathe fire — they’re underwater, silly! — but they’re very strong and fast. We’re confident Daenerys would want one.

Aquaman is coming Dec. 21, but the first trailer arrives this Saturday —follow @jameshibberd to see it as soon as it’s posted.

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