There was no one more surprised than director James Wan when the Twitterverse exploded last month amidst reports that he was backing out of Warner Bros.’ planned Aquaman film.

Devin Faraci, from the website Birth. Movies. Death, had sources tell him that Wan might be exiting the upcoming superhero film, which features Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis.

“That was based on an unsubstantiated rumour,” Wan told Postmedia Network during an interview for this week’s horror, The Conjuring 2. “I freaked out when I saw it on Twitter. I was like, ‘What is this? Why am I trending for Aquaman? What’s going on here?’ Literally, that happened while I was trying to finish Conjuring 2. I was putting the finishing touches on it and it was like, ‘What is going on here?’”

The Extended DC Cinematic Universe has taken its lumps recently, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice not performing up to critical or box office expectations and director Seth Grahame-Smith departing The Flash. Recently, the studio handed the keys of their planned movie universe to DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns.

“I’m not going to get into that,” Wan says when asked about the wobbly start for the DCEU, “but I think what I will say is Aquaman is a work in progress.”

Wan cut his teeth making low-budget horrors including Saw and the first two Insidious films. He also helmed last year’s immensely popular Furious 7.

He says his version of Aquaman will be like nothing fans have seen.

“There are a lot of superhero movies out there right now. There’s so many of them, and I was at the point where I didn’t want to make a superhero movie just to make a superhero movie,” he says. “But there is something very unique about the world of Aquaman. It allows the filmmaker the chance to create a visually unique world. It’s a world-creation story and he’s a character that’s never been done before and I think that’s so unique.”

Despite being one of the oldest members of DC’s Justice League (the character was first introduced in 1941), Aquaman has never made a big screen appearance.

“There’s a reason he’s never been done before, because it’s a very difficult movie to make and it’s a very challenging movie to make,” Wan says. “We’ve never been able to make that until now. Technology has not allowed us to go there until now. So I think it’s very exciting. The potential could be super cool and we’ll see what happens.”

Aquaman, who had a brief cameo in Batman v Superman, appears in next year’s Justice League. His standalone film is set to hit theatres July 27, 2018.

Twitter: @markhdaniell

MDaniell@postmedia.com