Most Atlanteans in the DC Comics universe may look just like humans, but their anatomy is obviously quite different, as evidenced by their ability to breathe underwater. Atlanteans are also capable of breathing air, and in the comics, the transition from underwater to surface isn’t anything major for them. However, the Aquaman movie decided to take a different approach with this by having the Atlanteans needing to vomit whenever they start breathing air.
As director James Wan explained, this is meant to get the leftover water out of their lungs so they can take in air without any issues. Aquaman director James Wan discussed this more at length, per Screenrant:
People would ask me, you know, ‘So when they talk, is it bubbles that come out of their mouth?’ And I’m like, ‘No because there’s no air in your lungs, so there wouldn’t be any bubbles.’ Right? So then in that sequence where you saw Mera open up this air pocket… when [Orm] lands in that, he’s breathing air. The first thing he does is, he’s in an air pocket, so he’d puke out all the water that’s in his lungs. So that’s the first step. We think about all these little details and stuff like that. And then when he’s screaming [when the water returns], we want bubbles coming out of his mouth because now there’s actually air in his lungs.
Wan also discussed how they are able to go back and forth from the surface to the water, something humans can’t actually do.
In our story Atlanteans, because they were surface-dwellers at one point, they evolved slightly different. So we used that to differentiate a caste system. Like the high-born evolved slightly different to the people lower than them.
Aquaman dives into theaters on December 21.
Source: Screenrant
