Zack Snyder’s Justice League actually introduced Mera’s (Amber Heard) coolest power before it debuted in Aquaman. With the intention of setting up future films that were planned for the DCEU at the time, such as Aquaman, The Flash, The Batman, and Cyborg, the Snyder Cut introduced characters from each respective world. Teasing the plot of Aquaman, Zack Synder’s Justice League included a scene between Vulko (Willem Dafoe) and Arthur (Jason Momoa) in which they discussed Arthur’s rightful claim to the throne of Atlantis and King Orm’s intentions to start a war with the surface world. Apart from being featured within Batman’s Knightmare epilogue, Mera’s role within the Snyder Cut relatively remained the same except for an extended action sequence during her encounter with Steppenwolf.

While Mera appeared in the same scenes as the Whedon Cut of Justice League, the Snyder Cut contains a lot of inconsistencies that contradict her character as presented in Aquaman. Some of the continuity errors include minor details, such as the color of Mera’s costume and the addition of a British accent, but one of the biggest discrepancies is Mera’s background. In the Snyder Cut, Mera describes herself as an orphan who was raised by Queen Atlanna, Arthur's mother, after her parents died during the wars of Xebel. In Aquaman, however, Mera’s father King Nereus is not only alive, but plays an integral role in the conflict between King Orm and Arthur. While Mera’s history becomes more complicated in the Snyder Cut, one of the details that remains consistent with her character is her ability to manipulate water, which was one of her biggest moments in Aquaman.

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On their quest to find the Trident of Atlan in Aquaman, Arthur and Mera travel to Sicily and use the map they discovered in the Kingdom of the Deserters to uncover the Trident’s hidden location in the ocean. When Arthur and Mera are pursued by Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and a few other Atlantean soldiers, Mera gets the chance to demonstrate her expertise in combat, even on dry land. As Mera leaps across the rooftops in Sicily and dodges the gunfire of the Atlantean soldiers, Mera falls through one of the roofs and lands inside of a wine repository, which her power of hydrokinesis can transform into an arsenal. Bursting the wine out of the bottles, Mera shapes the wine into spikes that she then uses to skewer the Atlanteans. While this scene was the first glimpse at Mera’s raw power within the DCEU, her abilities would’ve premiered in a more sinister scene had the Snyder Cut been given a theatrical release in 2017.

In the Snyder Cut, the scene in which Mera challenges Steppenwolf is extended. As the Commander of the Atlantean Guards, Mera is in the midst of gathering more soldiers to defend the Atlantean Mother Box when the box suddenly activates and Steppenwolf transports himself to Atlantis through a Boom Tube portal. As Steppenwolf attempts to steal the Mother Box, all of the Atlantean Guards present are killed by Steppenwolf, leaving Mera to hold him off alone. When Steppenwolf pins Mera against a wall, she initially appears cornered until she uses her power to pull Steppenwolf’s blood out of his body. While Steppenwolf is able to recover from the attack rather quickly, the scene proves that Mera is a force to be reckoned with since she held her own against one of the DCEU's toughest opponents.

Despite the discrepancies in her backstory, the portrayal of Mera in the Snyder Cut is actually more consistent with the continuity of the DCEU when it comes to her powers. In the Whedon Cut of Justice League, Steppenwolf was more of a challenge for Mera and he defeated her rather easily before he stole the Atlantean Mother Box. Within the Snyder Cut, however, Mera is portrayed more as a military leader in the Atlantean community and displays the skills that match her reputation. While Zack Snyder’s Justice League may have introduced Mera more fully within the DCEU, the Snyder Cut currently isn’t considered DCEU canon.

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