Have you seen that movie about the half-human space pirate, alien cyborg assassin, grieving rage monster, gun-toting talking raccoon, and sentient tree who team up to save the galaxy? Oh, you have?

Love or hate “Guardians of the Galaxy,” there’s no disputing that on paper the premise for Marvel’s latest superhero adventure sounds, well, kind of insane. By all logic, “Guardians of the Galaxy” shouldn’t have been the blockbuster success it was. Yet the movie is now nearing $320 million in box office worldwide and a sequel is already in the works.

So does the success of something as wacky-sounding as “Guardians of the Galaxy” mean that there’s big screen hope for another unlikely comic book superhero like DC’s Aquaman? That’s what studio Warner Bros. is hoping. As a member of DC's Justice League (an "Avengers" style superteam that includes Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman), Aquaman is poised to be a big part of the studio's recently announced nine movie slate of DC Comics films - and he's one of the weirdest superheroes around.

But as "Guardians" proves, being weird doesn't necessarily mean people won't watch it. Here are three ways an "Aquaman" movie can copy the success of "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Familiar faces

The Guardians of the Galaxy once had the same problem that Aquaman now faces: Nobody really knew who they were before they got their own movie.

If an "Aquaman" movie is to succeed, it should follow the "Guardians of the Galaxy" model and assemble a cast of familiar faces. People may not know who Aquaman or his friends and foes are, but they're certainly take notice if the right people are cast in the movie. People went to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" not because they had any affection for the space-based superteam, but because stars like Bradley Cooper and genre movie favourites like Vin Diesel and Zoe Saldana were in it. And now that everyone has seen "Guardians, they all realize how great Chris Pratt is, as well.

The "Aquaman" film is off to a pretty good start by casting "Game of Thrones” star Jason Momoa to play the title character. He's earned a huge following thanks to his turn as Khal Drogo on the HBO fantasy series, and if the studio can add some bigger names to support him then the movie will be on the right track. It also wouldn't hurt to have Ben Affleck's Batman or Henry Cavill's Superman make some kind of appearance.





Make Aquaman a bad-ass

Moviegoers won't complain if you exceed their expectations. That's part of the reason that "Guardians of the Galaxy" has been so successful: people simply didn't expect it to be so entertaining or for the characters to be so awesome.

When most folks hear the name Aquaman, the first reaction is often a derisive snort or the words “that guy is lame!” All people really know about the character is that he's able to communicate with marine life through the power of telepathy. This slightly goofy “speaking to fish” ability has long made Aquaman the butt of jokes both in and out of comic book circles.

Half the battle for Warner Bros. will be changing public perception about the character. Casting Jason Momoa (an actor who is known mainly for playing Conan the Barbarian and Khal Drogo and is practically the epitome of bad-ass) is a great first step in repairing Aquaman's public persona, but talking up his other abilities is the other half of that equation. Aquaman is basically a waterborne version of Superman, a fact that "Batman v. Superman" director Zack Snyder was quick to point out recently.

“I don't want to give anything away about the movie or anything like that, but you know, Aquaman has some cool abilities,” Snyder told Detroit's 97.1 The Ticket. “People are like, ‘does he talk to animals?’ because that seems to be what he does, or fish or whatever, but the cool thing is, his trident, that can actually cut the flesh of Superman if—you know, they came in contact, that’s in the canon... Not to say he’s in my movie or anything like that, but he has the potential to be bad-ass, that’s all I'm saying.”

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