Why Mera's Costume From The Snyder Cut Makes No Sense

Among the many changes director Zack Snyder made to his cut of Justice League, he gave a larger role to Amber Heard, who plays the Atlantean princess Mera. Her character gets a bit more developed in the four-hour film, with a battle against Steppenwolf and a role in the Knightmare ending that implies Aquaman is no longer among the living.

Heard was reportedly one of the few actors to be called in to do reshoots when the Snyder cut was in production.

After completing those reshoots, Heard told ComicBook.com,

"I'm super excited about it. We just wrapped on reshoots and I just love nerds. I f---ing love nerds, excuse my language."

She explained that nerds are often connected to great projects and that "nerd passion" drives people to want to be part of something. However, following the release of the movie on HBO Max, she revealed something else: that cool Atlantean costume she wore basically makes no sense.

In an amusing Instagram video uploaded on March 31, Heard appears to be in her trailer, wearing her full-body costume complete with the headpiece, though it's not clear whether it's from shooting for the original film or reshoots for the Snyder Cut. Rather than imbuing her with any special powers, though, the costume appears to be hampering her mobility.

Heard apparently can't sit down in her costume, not can she do much else. As she tries to hoist herself to a standing position, the actress knocks over a cup, the contents of which form a green pool on the floor. Although she gamely tries to grab it off the floor, she can't bend over far enough to reach it. Generally, it seems that the bodysuit in question has very little give to it, making it impossible for her to use her knees and also making it difficult for her to bend at the waist. She tries some twists, but nothing seems to work particularly well. Heard sardonically captioned the image,

"She's beauty and she's grace."

Fortunately, none of this really shows up in the movie. It's a good thing she's just standing still in some of her dialogue scenes with Aquaman. The movie creates an illusion that this outfit is pliant and elastic enough for her to fight alien invaders in it — underwater, mind you — and comfortable enough for a long trek in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But in reality, the costume is clearly more about making Mera look cool than letting her be functional in any way.

There has been a long history of criticism against how women are often outfitted in superhero media. As activist Holly Jacobs pointed out in the Twitter thread that followed Heard's post of her video there,

"Practicality is never a priority in outfitting women in the media industry."

With most costumes, though, the problem is less about inability to move and more about skimpiness. One oft-shared Twitter post from the time of the original film's release in 2017 compared the costumes worn by the Amazons and designed by Lindy Hemming for the Patty Jenkins-directed Wonder Woman — complete with breastplate armor — and the leathery, midriff-baring Amazon costumes from 2017's Justice League, as designed by Michael Wilkinson.

Heard's Justice League costume overall is better than many. While form fitting, it is a full-on regal ensemble befitting her station and her role in Atlantean culture, complete with a crown, shoulder pad armor, gauntlets, leg and knee armor, and carvings that suggest accents. Of course, you could argue that the armor focuses on her chest in unnecessary ways, but it's not as revealing as the costumes many other women have had to wear in superhero movies.

And Heard's comparative modesty comes in contrast to Jason Momoa's general look as Aquaman in the film, which basically seems to involve jeans and shirts he's constantly taking off to reveal his bare chest, though later in the movie he also gets a costume upgrade.

So in some ways, the costume deftly avoids some of the usual criticism while, as observed by CBR, it stays true to the version the character wears to war in the comic books. If only she could move in it, she'd be a superhero to be reckoned with.

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