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Hollywood star Jason Momoa turns 45, and we can’t help but look back on his celebrated acting career. The Hawaiian actor made his debut with Baywatch: Hawaii, which ran from 1999 to 2001. He vaulted to fame following his Game of Thrones role as Khal Drogo, who married the leading Daenerys Targaryen.
On the occasion of his birthday on August 1, here are the top 10 movies Jason Momoa has starred in:
Helmed by Zack Snyder, 2017’s Justice League debuted Jason Momoa in the superhero world. He played the role of Arthur Curry/Aquaman in the DCEU film, who had raised himself in the wild ocean, later to be taken in by a lighthouse keeper. The latter changed his name from Orin to Arthur Curry.
The film featured a star-packed cast of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, and Momoa. The actor reposed as Aquaman following his brief cameo in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Momoa starred in the 2022 Netflix fantasy Slumberland, which was directed by Francis Lawrence. Shedding his superhero duties, the actor took on a rather light-hearted role as Flip, who would help a young girl, Nemo, reunite with her father.
However, he does not fall far from the tree, as Momoa’s Flip embarks on a journey to the Sea of Nightmares with Nemo to find a magical pearl to complete their mission. Slumberland became the fifth-most streamed Netflix movie in the first week, with 1 billion minutes, per MovieWeb.
The latest Aquaman sequel was unable to match the finesse of the original installment in 2018. 2023’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom follows the Black Manta seeking revenge on Aquaman for playing a part in his father’s death.
Black Manta wields the Black Trident’s power, while Aquaman puts together a team, including his imprisoned brother, to protect his kingdom of Atlantis. The film was released only a year after the infamous Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trials, due to which the latter’s inclusion might have affected the show negatively in addition to the poor storyline.
2012’s Bullet to the Head starred action legend Sylvester Stallone opposite Momoa’s assassin role as Keegan. Keegan works for a corrupted businessman who orders a series of murders that catch Stallone’s Jimmy Bobo’s attention.
Also a former hitman, Bobo teams up with detective Taylor Kwon, played by Sung Kang, to take Keegan down with his evil boss. The action flick builds upto an epic showdown between Keegan and Bobo that remains a treasured action scene in Hollywood.
Momoa has been a dystopian veteran, as he starred in the 2016 thriller The Bad Batch years before he took on the Dune character, Duncan Idaho. The film revolves around a young woman, Arlen, who is exiled in a Texas wasteland and must find a way to escape the desert reigned by cannibals and a cult leader.
Momoa’s Miami Man is associated with the cannibals but teams up with Arlen and embarks on a mission to find his lost daughter. The Bad Batch has a star-packed cast of Keanu Reeves, Suki Waterhouse, Jim Carrey, and Jason Momoa.
The Hawaiian star became a part of another blockbuster franchise with Fast X, the latest installment of the Fast & Furious film series. Jason Momoa plays antagonist Dante Reyes, who faces off with the leading Dom Toretto, played by franchise veteran Vin Diesel, to avenge his drug lord father’s demise.
Reyes’ arc is central to the sequel’s plot, as he intends to wipe out all of Dom’s family and loved ones. But that’s where Dom’s car-loving family steps in and gets to work to outsmart Reyes’ agenda.
In this 2018 action thriller, Momoa takes on the persona of a family man, Joe Braven who goes out of his way to protect his dear ones. He moves to a secluded mountain with his father in hopes of reconnecting but his thoughtful effort takes a turn for the worse after a group of drug dealers begin pestering Braven and his family.
Jason Momoa created a DC legacy of his own with 2018’s Aquaman, which became a blockbuster smash and remains his best film yet. In the original installment, Aquaman tackles the challenges that arise from his brother’s thirst for power.
According to the comics, Aquaman went deep into the seas to find the Trident of Atlan and propel as the protector of the sea, which was met with high acclaim from fans. 2018’s Aquaman became the highest-grossing DCEU film ever but the sequel was not able to match it’s pace.
Taking on the Lego version of his DC character, Momoa played Aquaman once again, in animated form, for 2019’s The Lego Move 2: The Second Part. Franchise star Chris Pratt reprises his role from the original film and plays everyman Emmet Brickowski to tackle a new threat in his civilization.
But this time he can’t do it alone and seeks help from Justice League Lego members, Superman, Aquaman, Batman, and Green Lantern to keep his Lego city safe. The Lego Movie 2 was a blockbuster hit and successfully maintained the spirit of the original.
Joining the star-studded cast of Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Oscar Isaac and Dave Bautista was Jason Momoa for the sci-fi epic franchise Dune, created by filmmaker Dennis Villeneuve.
Based on the Frank Herbet novel series of the same name, Dune follows the protagonist, Paul Atreides, who is set to embark on an interplanetary mission to protect his family and loved ones and survive the dystopian world.
Therefore, Atreides turna to Jason Momoa’s swordmaster, Duncan Idaho who prepares him for battle to ensure he prevails.
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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered Iran to strike Israel directly, in retaliation for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, New York Times reported, citing three Iranian officials, briefed on the order, including two members of the Revolutionary Guards.
Khamenei gave the order at an emergency meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on Wednesday morning, shortly after Iran announced that Haniyeh had been killed.
Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of the assassination. Israel, which is at war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has neither acknowledged nor denied killing Haniyeh, who was in Tehran for the inauguration of Iran’s new president.
Notably, Israel has a long history of killing enemies abroad, including Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders, according to the NYT.
Through almost 10 months of war in Gaza, Iran has tried to strike a balance, putting pressure on Israel with sharply increased attacks by its allies and proxy forces in the region, while avoiding an all-out war between the two nations.
In its biggest and most overt attack on Israel, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones in April in retaliation for an Israeli strike on its embassy compound that killed several Iranian military commanders in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
“Now it is unclear how forcefully Iran will respond, and whether it will once again calibrate its attack to steer clear of escalation. Iranian military commanders are considering another combination attack of drones and missiles on military targets in the vicinity of Tel Aviv and Haifa, but would make a point of avoiding strikes on civilian targets,” the Iranian officials said.
One option under consideration is a coordinated attack from Iran and other fronts where it has allied forces, including Yemen, Syria and Iraq, for maximum effect, they added.
Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters and is also the commander in chief of the armed forces, instructed military commanders from the Revolutionary Guards and the army to prepare plans for both an attack and a defence in case the war expands and Israel or the US strike Iran, the officials said.
In his public statement about Haniyeh’s death, Khamenei signalled that Iran would retaliate directly, saying, “we see avenging his blood our duty,” because it happened on the territory of the Islamic Republic. He said Israel had set the stage for receiving “a severe punishment,” New York Times reported.
Other Iranian officials, including the newly elected president, Masoud Pezeshkian, the foreign ministry, the Guards and Iran’s mission to the UN, also said openly that Iran would retaliate against Israel and that it had a right to defend itself against a transgression on its sovereignty.
Iran and the regional forces it backs — Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and multiple militias in Iraq — form what they call the “axis of resistance.”
Leaders of those groups were in Tehran for the inauguration of Pezeshkian on Tuesday.
Haniyeh was assassinated at about 2 am (local time), after attending the ceremony and meeting with Khamenei. The killing shocked Iranian officials, who described it as crossing red lines.
According to the NYT, it was a humiliating security breach for Iran, which is eager to project strength but has been unable to prevent Israel from carrying out covert operations on its soil. The embarrassment was compounded by Haniyeh’s prominence, the presence of other allies, and that he was attacked at a highly secure Revolutionary Guards guesthouse on a day of heightened security in the capital.
It further reported citing analysts that Tehran sees retaliation as necessary for both avenging the killing of Haniyeh but also as deterrence against Israel killing other powerful enemies, like Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, or General Ismail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Forces who oversees the militant groups outside Iran.
“Iran likely believes it has no choice other than retaliating to deter further Israeli attacks, defend its sovereignty, and preserve its credibility in the eyes of its regional partners,” said Ali Vaez, the Iran director of the International Crisis Group.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)