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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has officially hit theaters, but the film did not come without drama after the globally publicized Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial. Now that the movie is out, Amber Heard has taken a moment to thank her fans for their love and support, sharing some behind-the-scenes glimpses of her character, Mera.
On Instagram, the 37-year-old actress shared a gallery of photos featuring her red-haired character with her 5.2 million followers. “After all this time, Aquaman 2 made its splash (sorry, it’s too easy),” she quipped in the caption. “Thank you to all of my fans for the overwhelming support and love in Mera’s AQ return. Thank you so much.”
Among the images was a photo of her bottle-feeding her daughter Oonagh Paige, born on April 8, 2021. The actress still has comments disabled on her account.
Aquaman 2 hit theaters on December 22 and has already surpassed Marvel’s final US box office gross of $84.5 million and its global tally of $205.6 million, per Digital Spy.
Following the trial, concerns arose about Heard’s role in the film. There was even an online petition to remove her from Aquaman 2 on Change.org, which received over two million signatures.
Then, Depp’s fans covered the court fees for the release of documents from Heard’s therapist, Dr. Dawn Hughe. These documents described a hostile “Aquaman” set where an allegedly intoxicated Jason Momoa dressed like Depp and pushed to have Heard removed from the role, as reported by Variety.
Despite the alleged efforts to remove her from the film, Heard ultimately made the final cut. However, her screen time is limited to 20 minutes, with 11 lines in the film, as reported by Business Insider. Although she has some action sequences at the beginning and the end, she is largely detached from the main story despite having a child in the film with Momoa.
Before the film’s release, director James Wan told Entertainment Weekly in September that Mera’s reduced screen time was always part of the plan. “I always pitched this to everyone 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,” Wan said. “We’ll leave it at that.”