James Wan Confirms Green Lantern Villain's DCU Debut In Aquaman 2 - With A Twist
Marquee DC Comics superhero The Green Lantern isn't yet a part of the present-day DC film universe, but the character and his galactic superhero team's debut is in the works. Notably, Nathan Filion will play Green Lantern Guy Gardner in "Superman: Legacy," directed by new DC Universe architect James Gunn. After that, a Green Lantern TV show titled "Lanterns" will air on Max. In the meantime, director James Wan revealed in an Empire Magazine interview that his upcoming "Aquaman" sequel "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" will debut a notable Green Lantern villain, albeit with a twist.
According to Wan, "The Lost Kingdom" will introduce a character named Karshon to the DC Universe, portrayed by "Pose" star Indya Moore. In DC comics, Karshon's alter ego is The Shark due to his humanoid sharklike appearance. However, Wan clarified that his version of the character will not share this characteristic with their comic book inspiration. "This Karshon is not a shark character. It's different [from] the comic books in that sense," he said. "One of the things we wanted to do, now that Arthur is king of Atlantis, is to give him barriers within the political world. Karshon comes from the High Council, and is like a political roadblock for Arthur."
From the sound of it, then, Karshon will be an Atlantean like Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) in their upcoming film debut.
Karshon is distinct from King Shark and is most closely associated with the Green Lantern
The comic book version of Karshon may sound familiar to DC film fans, especially taking into consideration his membership at one point in the Suicide Squad. It's worth noting, however, that the giant shark in the 2021 "Suicide Squad" film portrayed by Sylvester Stallone is named King Shark and is distinct from Karshon.
Furthermore, whereas King Shark is simply a large shark-man, Karshon possesses psychic powers in addition to his slate of shark-adjacent abilities. It's most likely due to this characteristic, then, that it's possible for Wan to do away with their typical sharklike look while maintaining their identity. That said, the character most frequently shows up in Green Lantern comics and antagonizes Hal Jordan, whom Karshon's predatory instincts have determined to be his ideal prey. How they will relate to Aquaman in "The Lost Kingdom" will therefore introduce a new facet to the character.
Since the canonicity of "The Lost Kingdom" is murky, it's unclear whether or not Indya Moore's Karshon can persist in future DC projects centering their traditional foe in The Green Lantern. Nevertheless, their addition to the DCU makes this notion a distinct possibility.