Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Will Be A Standalone Film
The DCEU is pretty much over and done with. "The Flash" is now in theaters (and not doing so well), and the upcoming "Blue Beetle" is said to be part of the new DC movie era being fronted by James Gunn and Peter Safran. But there's still one more movie that's part of the original DCEU — the long-delayed "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom." The sequel to the massive hit "Aquaman" once again features Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry aka Aquaman, with James Wan back in the director's seat.
If you're expecting this final hurrah for the DCEU to be connected to the films that came before, you might want to temper those expectations. In a recent interview, James Wan confirmed that like the first movie before it, "Aquaman 2" is going to be a stand-alone story. And you know what? That's a good thing! I genuinely think the biggest problem the DCEU had was trying to connect everything, Marvel Cinematic Universe-style. And there's data to back this up — the standalone films "Joker" and "The Batman" both garnered praise and big box office, while the interconnected DCEU floundered. In other words, it's okay to make a comic book movie that stands on its own and isn't concerned with creating a big, shared universe.
'That was always our approach'
Before we go any further, let me just make this clear: I love "Aquaman." In my humble opinion, James Wan's entry is the best film in the DCEU. It's a big, bright, very silly adventure that features Nicole Kidman wearing a fish-monster costume, Julie Andrews voicing a Lovecraftian monster, and a friggin' octopus playing the drums. If that doesn't appeal to you, well, I don't know what to tell ya.
With my love for "Aquaman" in mind, I can't wait for "Aquaman and the Lost City," even if the film has been heavily delayed — it was originally supposed to come out in December 2022. Then it got moved to March 2023. Now it's holding firm for a December 2023 release date. And when the film arrives, don't expect to see a lot of DCEU crossover. Speaking with Comic Book, director James Wan said, "Well, Aquaman – even the first film – has always been a very standalone film." He added:
"That was always our approach: that it kind of lives in its own world, and that's kind of how we've approached The Lost Kingdom as well ... You know, people love Jason Momoa; people love him playing this role; and people love the action visuals of this space and this world. And that's what we're doing: we're taking it to the next level and we are still expanding – and just any fans of Aquaman the character, that love Black Manta, this is the next level and I'm very excited to finally put out there to show them what we've been working on all these years."
Again: that sounds a-okay to me! Give me a standalone Aquaman story, and bring back that drum-playing octopus. In "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," "when an ancient power is unleashed, Aquaman must forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation." The sequel, which stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman, swims into theaters on December 20, 2023.