One of the most famous superhero films to never quite get off the ground was “Mad Max” director George Miller’s “Justice League: Mortal”. Even before the MCU launched, Miller’s film had grand plans to not just be an adaptation of the famed DC superhero team comic, but a potential launchpad for a new DC universe. The project fell through ultimately due to the 2007/2008 writer’s strike, financing and tax rebate reasons, but did get far enough to not only cast but costume test its various actors prior to filming.
That included the film’s Aquaman actor Santiago Cabrera. Cabrera, best known at the time for his role in the first season of “Heroes,” has since gone on to plenty of other work in shows like “Star Trek: Picard,” “Merlin,” “Salvation,” “The Musketeers,” “The Flight Attendant,” “Big Little Lies,” and “The Cleaning Lady” along with films like “Che” and “Transformers: The Last Knight”. Speaking with recently, Cabrera reflected on how close he came to suiting up as Arthur Curry/Aquaman: “Technically, I was Aquaman in 2007 when the writer’s strike hit.
Just before, we went to Australia, I was with George Miller – I’m just such a fan, I think he’s phenomenal. And I had a little communication with him. My friend Tom Burke, who was fantastic in Furiosa, which I just loved, he was like, ‘Hey, George says ‘Hi.
’ It was a feeling like, would you like to be a superhero?” The strike hit, so they put [Justice Lea.