Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom could be an awkward transition point from the DCEU to James Gunn’s DC Universe. After the formation of DC Studios, James Gunn and Peter Safran’s plans are set to establish a new DC Universe to effectively commence with 2025’s Superman: Legacy. However, the DCEU still has four movies debuting in 2023, with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom to be the last in 2023’s holiday season.
With the multiverse adventure of The Flash, the introduction of parallel DC realities on the big-screen affords DC Studios a great pivot point into the DCU. However, the story of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom might prevent that from being a fully seamless shift. That is due to the possibility of Aquaman himself, as the King of Atlantis, potentially having a rift with the surface world.
Aquaman At Odds With The World Is An Awkward Character Ending
Set photos from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have shown a scene involving Arthur appearing to address the United Nations. Additionally, the movie’s plot is known to involve Arthur teaming up with his half-brother Orm a.k.a. Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson), who had been his enemy in the first Aquaman. With Orm having attempted to lead Atlantis to war with the surface world in Aquaman, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom might see Arthur re-evaluate his half-brother’s perspective.
Arthur Curry, as a human-Atlantean hybrid, has mostly favored his surface world roots, as seen in Aquaman’s appearance in Justice League‘s Snyder Cut (also known as Zack Snyder’s Justice League) and in 2018’s Aquaman itself. However, becoming King of Atlantis surely has broadened his outlook. In witnessing the surface world’s pollution of the seven seas he rules over, Arthur might decide to issue an ecological ultimatum to the surface. While a fitting conclusion to an Aquaman movie in the abstract, it would not be an ideal franchise ending for the DCEU overall.
Aquaman 2 May Not Be The End For The Character
Complicating the analysis of the situation is the overall picture of the DCU’s first chapter being, in Gunn’s words, “less than half” revealed. That also comes amid rumors and speculation of some DCEU cast members continuing in James Gunn’s DC Universe plans. Whether Momoa’s Aquaman could be one of them remains to be seen, but with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom a sequel to the billion dollar hit that was Aquaman, the sequel might not be the end for the character.
The highly positive early reception to The Flash makes that an even more complicated picture of which characters or stories will be folded into the DCU. With DC Studios also having an Elseworlds label for movies like The Batman and Joker franchises, Momoa’s Aquaman could theoretically continue there, as well. In any case, the story and potential ending of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom makes it a rather bizarre off-ramp from the DCEU to chapter one of Gunn’s DCU, and only time and more details about the plans for the latter will make that picture clearer.
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