The discourse surrounding Amber Heard in the public eye has died down significantly, but fans still want to see her removed from Aquaman 2.
DC's string of bad luck with their superhero films hit a particular snag when Heard started making news headlines. Despite a decent film career, fans turned against the Aquaman actor after she posted an op-ed for the Washington Post. What began as an opinion piece about surviving abuse turned into litigation after her ex-husband Johnny Depp sued her for defamation. Heard's perception as a public figure went downhill, and many fans called for her to be recast as Mera.
The court has since decided on the case, and even after Heard spoke about the court’s verdict to side with Depp, her problems haven’t ended. The actor has shied away from the limelight for the most part, but fans still want to see her removed from the Aquaman franchise. Created on March 20, 2019, a Change.org petition asked for signatures to support removing Heard as Arthur's (Jason Momoa) love interest, Mera. To this day, hundreds of people are signing a day to recast the part, with 4 630 527 signatures as of July 18, 2023.
This petition has also been informed by the news cycle surrounding Depp. Once Disney's darling, the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was fired from the Fantastic Beasts franchise as Grindelwald and replaced by Mads Mikkelsen. Matters were further complicated when controversial author J.K. Rowling rushed to his defense. The petition argues that Depp was an innocent bystander and the guilt should lie solely on Heard.
The optics surrounding this issue are complicated at best. In the original opinion piece that Heard penned, Depp is not mentioned. Her words exclusively spoke about how she was affected by domestic violence, and not who the perpetrator was. However, Depp contends that this still made getting work difficult for him, which is where the lawsuit came in. But despite these claims, it seems Heard is the one who lost. Depp won the civil suit against her and still his rallying supporters. He has been able to get work since then and has been filming a new movie titled La Favorite.
The creatives behind Aquaman have also not risen to the bait of what to do about the situation. As of this article, Heard is still credited as Mera in the upcoming sequel. But with petitions targeting her livelihood, Heard is seemingly always on the losing side.
Aquaman 2 is scheduled to premiere on December 20, 2023.
Source: Change.org