On Tuesday the Aquaman Shrine brought attention to the fact that Warner Animation had been trying to sweep under the rug the fact that in its upcoming feature Justice League: War, based on the first arc of the New 52 Justice League, had seen Aquaman removed . And eventually they found he'd been replaced by Captain Marvel Shazam.

there may be a perfectly justifiable reason why Aquaman has been removed from this movie. But the fact that DC/WB saw no reason to mention what that might be–not anticipating (or simply not caring) people's reaction–is the part that confounds me the most. Aquaman is one of DC's biggest hits in the New 52, so removing him from a major project like this was bound to incite some gnashing of teeth. Why not head it off by addressing it (even briefly) up front?

Twitter war ensued, which saw Warners PR guy tweeting, alongside writer Heath Corson and director Jay Oliva;

@RyanAJoseph you realize that you can thank me for that right? — Jay Oliva (@JayOliva1) August 14, 2013

@JockBroLV @SuperPRGuy You ain't kidding. When you see it, let me know what you think. #AquaFans — Heath Corson (@HeathCorson) August 14, 2013

A promo video for the movie had writer Heath Corson talking about preserving the dynamics set out by Geoff Johns between Superman and Wonder Woman, Batman and Green Lantern, and Cyborg and… Shazam? Catch it five minutes in…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DkKOp45c9U[/youtube]

Something was needed to pacify the raging Aquafans, incensed that Aquaman has been excised from this story, to make way for an interloper… and it came. From a certain Chief Creative Officer…

With Heath backing him up;

Confirmation it is!