The latest Amber Heard news has left fans furious.

Heard has been confirmed to be returning to the Aquaman franchise in its next movie, and people are not happy about it.

It comes after fans were speculating about a possible replacement for the current cast for Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, with one petition to replace Heard reaching 4.4 million signatures.

Her place in the franchise was very much up for contention after her highly publicised 6-week long defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp last year. The thirty-seven-year-old lost against the Pirates of the Caribbean star, who sued her as a result of her op-ed in the Washington Post, in which she alluded to Depp being her abuser.

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube

The pair originally married back in 2015, but were divorced by 2017. The actress claimed that she “endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse” from Depp, which “included angry, hostile, humiliating and threatening assaults”.

The case resulted in a loss for Heard, who was ordered to pay $5 million in punitive damages, although this was reduced to $350,000 later on.

During this whole debacle, Heard’s position as Mera was very much up for contention. It was rumoured that the star had been dropped by Warner Bros, however those remained unconfirmed, and are now evidently untrue.

Reports from September suggested that the actress was still set to star in the sequel, but after a long wait, her return to the franchise has finally been confirmed.

The sequel is slated for release at the end of 2023 after numerous delays due to COVID. James Wan, whose credits include Insidious and The Conjuring, returns to direct the second movie, as does writer David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who is known for Orphan and Red Riding Hood.

Heard played the role in the franchise’s first film back in 2018. She received lukewarm reviews in the role, but then so did Aquaman as a whole.

Refinery 29 said: “While Heard is more than a match for Momoa, I wish Aquaman didn’t so want to peg her as a love interest.”

However, The New York Times wrote: “Poor Amber Heard has to perform her scenes in a scarlet wig and emerald green costume and do superpower acting with her mouth agape. She looks like she ate forty Katy Perry songs and is belching them up.”

Despite these reviews, Heard is set to return to the franchise.

Insider confirmed the news after a screening of the sequel’s first trailer at CinemaCon, which featured 2 shots of the thirty-seven-year-old, as well as one of her in a battle scene.

It still remains to be seen just how much of a role Heard will have in the new movie, despite her return.

However, fans are already furious about her casting.

One person said: “If you needed another excuse not see Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom Warner Bros’ has announced Amber Heard will officially return as Mera in the upcoming movie. Ug, gag me with a spoon…”

Another wrote: “The double standard is WILD. If it was the other way around, there would be no way the industry would allow Johnny (a man) to return. They would’ve canceled his whole career.”

While a third said: “You got to be kidding me. There’s a lot of people out there who has done way less then she did and they still are cancelled. I’m not watching the movie. This is just wrong.”


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