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The DC Universe’s latest big-screen hero commanded the blue carpet at the “Aquaman” premiere on Thursday night. Promising audiences a unique surprise beforehand, fans were left to guess what star Jason Momoa’s big reveal would be. Would the King of Atlantis arrive among a group of synchronized swimmers, would he float in on a giant mechanical seahorse, or would Amber Heard revive her swim-cap couture?

To the crowd’s delight, Momoa was accompanied by a group of performers who stunned the masses with a ceremonial Haka. For the uninitiated, the Haka is a dance or challenge in Māori culture, which stems from New Zealand. This high honor has been performed as a welcome ceremony to important guests, at graduation ceremonies, at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, to memorialize the dead at funerals, and even at weddings (some of which have gone viral). The Haka isn’t gender specific, both women and men can dance in the modern-day adaptations.

Momoa isn’t the first celebrity to incorporate the Haka into Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson performed the Haka ceremony with a girl’s soccer team in “The Fast and Furious 8.” But last night, social media was ablaze with Momoa and his trident-wielding Haka.

“I was invited to this, and I turned it down because I had too many competing deadlines,” tweeted comic book creator G. Willow Wilson. “I make bad choices.”