Batman may be on the back burner for DC, but James Gunn’s extended world continues to spin. In addition to his Superman movie, Kal-El’s cousin will make her solo film debut in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.

Gunn’s universe has already gone to task in reinventing the brand and he has recently added a familiar face to the mix. According to the Dune actor himself, Jason Momoa has been cast as the villain, Lobo. Momoa’s previous work in the DC universe is not cause for concern. After playing Arthur Curry in two Aquaman films, he will return to DC as one of his favorite characters. Momoa took to Instagram to officially drop the news. He posted a quote from an interview several years back about his hopes for his comic book future.

“I collect comics, and I don’t do so much anymore, but he was always my favorite, and I always wanted to play Lobo, because I’m like, ‘Hello? It’s the perfect role.'”

Momoa indicated that no one would have to twist his arm to audition for Lobo in the future. Patience is a virtue because, as Momoa succinctly said in his post, “They called.”

Momoa has now been confirmed to portray the role he has been gunning for in a surprising twist of fate.

Lobo is no Aquaman

James Gunn came into control of the DC brand at just the right moment. For the past decade, DC has been trailing behind its rival Marvel in of quality. But following the magnum opus, Endgame, there was a void to be filled. Marvel could never quite top the film and now it is DC’s time to shine. The success of Matt Reeves’ Batman started a butterfly effect that has created a new era for DC. Since Gunn took over as the creative head of the brand, he has been making waves.

Superman is one of the most anticipated films of 2025 and Supergirl already carries some heat. The role of Kara Zor-El has been awarded to House of the Dragon actor Milly Alcock. The young performer portrayed Rhaenyra Targaryen in the first half of Season 1. Jason Momoa will add to the high-profile film as a veteran of DC. His new character, however, varies distinctly from the rambunctious and fun-loving Aquaman. The illegitimate son of Queen Atlanna of Atlantis, Arthur never thought he would have real responsibilities. His desire to do good contradicts his half-brother Orm’s need for control.

In Supergirl, Momoa will lean more toward Orm on the personality scale. Lobo is an anti-hero character, first introduced to DC Comics in 1983. Hailing from the utopian planet of Czarnia, Lobo becomes a bounty hunter of the stars. After falling out of favor, the character was revitalized in the ’90s. While he was meant to be a parody of heroic characters such as Marvel’s Wolverine, he became a hit with fans — including Momoa. Viewers will have to wait for some time for the release of Supergirl, but in the meantime, can read up on some of Momoa’s favorite comic book characters.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

When it comes to measuring up to Marvel, the DCEU — now officially defunct, with the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — was always damned if it did, damned if it didn’t.

While its early offerings from Zack Snyder were criticized for veering from Marvel’s metric, serving up grimy moodiness instead of crowd-pleasing banter, those that came later were thrown under the bus for striving to emulate the MCU too closely and coming up short.

In its final ever scene, however, the DCEU drops a twist that may seem like a low-key ending for the 10-year franchise as a whole but actually quietly rewrites its relationship to Marvel, and reveals that the DCEU has been a dark mirror to the MCU all along.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s final scene, explained

After defeating Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and making peace with his brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) achieves his lifelong goal — by which I mean it was mentioned once at the beginning of the film — to unite the worlds of the land and the sea by announcing the existence of Atlantis to the rest of the planet.

Speaking at a press conference, the king of the oceans introduces himself and his kingdom and appeals to the people of both worlds to put aside their prejudices and come together. To emphasize this point, Arthur explains how he is a child of the land and the sea, a lighthouse keeper’s son and the King of Atlantis. His final line? “I am Aquaman,” he tells the crowd, before the film ends as “Born To Be Wild” starts to play on the soundtrack.

Any Marvel fans watching must feel some acute déjà vu at this scene, and not just because the whole “hidden nation reveals itself” concept is a ripoff of the end of Black Panther. A superhero announcing themselves as “I am [insert made-up name here]” at a press conference as a classic rock song kicks in? With this moment, both its own finale and that of the entire DCEU, Aquaman 2 is evoking the iconic last scene of Marvel’s Iron Man.

Whether intentional or not, this moment draws a direct line between the death of the DCEU and the birth of the MCU. While one franchise spawned from this scene another says farewell with it. With this, the DCEU seems to be itting that, yes, of course it was chasing Marvel’s coattails this whole time, but what actually ended up happening is that it’s become — to use DC terminology — the Bizarro version of the MCU.

If you’ll recall, Superman villain Bizarro is the reverse of Kal-El in every respect; mean where Superman is kind, dumb where Superman is smart, and he even talks backwards. Likewise, the DCEU was poorly received whereas the MCU has (largely) been beloved. Haphazard where the MCU was (largely) well-planned. And, crucially, ultimately short-lived while the MCU appears never-ending.

Ironically, DC’s next iteration, a whole new continuity called the DCU, will be headed up by a former Marvel filmmaker in James Gunn, but it seems that he will be looking to carve out his own path that runs parallel rather than backwards from the MCU. In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s final scene, however, the dead and buried DCEU walks up to that podium and finally its the truth about its identity.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is finally here and with it the conclusion of the story that began with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel a decade ago. It’s safe to say it’s been a bumpy ride for the DCEU, with highlights like Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Wonder Woman counterbalanced by truly awful movies like Wonder Woman 1984 and The Flash.

James Gunn’s rebooted DCU is on the way, but as Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry takes an awkward bow and shuffles off stage, it’s time to look at the very final moments of not just the movie, but the entire DCEU project.

Naturally, spoilers follow, but not for the core plot of the movie.

The credits scene

This brief comedic scene shows Patrick Wilson’s Orm experiencing surface food, continuing a story element about Arthur showing off the surface world to him, along with a practical joke that cockroaches are considered a delicacy.

This gag is resolved in the credits in a scene in which Orm once again tries human food, beginning with a cheeseburger. But he still doesn’t quite have the knack of surface life and, when he spots a cockroach he adds it to his burger and chows down.

And that, as far as we know, puts a bow on the entire DCEU. Yup, the final moment of the cinematic universe that once had ambitions to take down the MCU is Patrick Wilson munching on a cockroach.

Perhaps this is symbolic of something, but we’re not sure what. Either way, there are no teases of what might be next for Aquaman and friends, and it currently seems unlikely they’re going to make it into Gunn’s DCU. That’s a wrap!

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is now in theaters.

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Please proceed with caution.

The adventures of DC’s King of Atlantis continue, then abruptly stop forever, in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It’s been a long, wet road, but the good times couldn’t last forever.

That said, could they last for a little bit longer? Just for a few more seconds, at the tail end of the movie, as a special treat for being good and sitting through the credits and finding out who Amber Heard’s hair wrangler was?

Does Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have a post-credits scene, and what future DCEU stories might it set up? The news, unlike reviews for the movie itself, isn’t totally bad.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: Post-credits scene or nah?

Alright, fish heads. (Is that what Aquaman fans call themselves? Are there enough Aquaman fans that they need a name for the fandom? There must be, right? The last movie made a billion dollars. We’re getting off track.) Yes, Aquaman 2 has a post-credits scene? There’s a more interesting question to ask, though: Why does Aquaman 2 have a post-credits scene? 

In the scene in question, Orm, AKA Ocean Master ⏤ Arthur Curry’s half-brother and unlikely buddy cop in the film ⏤ puts a bug on a burger. Then he eats the burger. With this golden-age-of-Nickelodeon moment of gross-out payoff from a very silly setup earlier in the film, the movie ends. 

More than that, though, the franchise ends. The entire DCEU, from the Codex 2013’s Man of Steel to the godless CGI from 2023’s The Flash to this, the shared universe’s final entry, concludes ⏤ not with a bang, but with the guy from that Gerard Butler Phantom of the Opera movie eating a hamburger with ucky, yucky bugs on it. 11 years ago, at the end of Avengers, when the post-credits scene did a sendup of self-important, hyper-dramatic post-credits scenes by having the team awkwardly eat meat wraps in silence while people cleaned up behind them? This is sort of like that, only unintentional, and with a bug, and more than a decade late, and also it’s the cap on a $6 billion roller coaster of a franchise. 

In conclusion, maybe movies are just bad now. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters Dec. 22.

It’s been five years since Aquaman last graced movie theater screens, thrashing expectations of what kind of business a movie about damp people could do without being made by James Cameron.

With that dynamite success in our minds, one question lingers: Can Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom be as financially successful as its predecessor?

The curt but straightforward answer: probably not. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is unlikely to make more at the box office than Aquaman did, but then again, neither will most movies (more on that in a moment). At present, Variety estimates that the sequel might ⏤ might ⏤ clear $40 million over its four-day opening weekend, putting box office projections somewhere below The Marvels but above CATS. There are many reasons why this may be the case, so let’s peruse a few right meow.

Why must Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom fail, papa?

Consider all of the factors that made Aquaman a success story back in 2018. The long-suffering DCEU was still shaking off the jitters from the cinematic rat king that was Justice League. While the loudest corner of the internet screamed into each other’s open mouths about how the Snyder Cut would save us all, quieter folks were eager to see Jason Momoa focused in with a more singular lens. Early reviews for Aquaman, which was marketed as a fresh beginning for the franchise, sold fans on what was allegedly the most Marvel-y DC movie to date.

And here we are, just five years later, looking back at the high-water mark ⏤ the place where Warner Bros. made waves, then rolled back. Jason Momoa is still charming, but audiences aren’t tripping over themselves to see him chuckle hairily anymore ⏤ at least not the way that Universal was probably hoping they would when they added him as the high-profile star of Fast X only for the movie to pull in a little over half of what The Fate of the Furious made six years earlier. What’s more, being “so much more like a Marvel movie” isn’t the compliment that it used to be. These days, it mostly just means that a flick doesn’t have enough Robert Downey Jr. to be fun. 

Aquaman 2 and the ever-lurking threat of franchise death

Most importantly, where 2018’s Aquaman was designed to be a fresh start for a franchise with infinite potential, Aquaman 2 is the opposite: an undesigned end. It’s the last entry in the DCEU era of blockbusters, not thanks to careful planning and a tapestry of storytelling, but because everything almost always went wrong. The shared universe that started with 2013’s Man of Steel was a gordian knot of aesthetics, tones, and character interpretations. If the MCU leading up to Endgame was a Rube Goldberg device, carefully designed to lead from A to B to C ⏤ or, at least, to look like that’s what it was doing ⏤ then the DCEU was a Pachinko machine: countless indistinguishable balls of story bouncing off each other, consequence-free, before disappearing into the pit at the back of the audience’s memory.

When the credits roll on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the machine gets unceremoniously unplugged. No fanfare, no lead-in to the next chapter of the story, just narrative entropy. For all of our collective complaints about the endless treill of comic book movies, it’s hard to get audiences excited by promising them nothing.

All of this ignores a monumentally important detail: That it would be bananas if Lost Kingdom beat Aquaman’s box office take. It would be wild if any DC movie did, or if most unrelated movies did, for that matter. In a post-pandemic world, where crowded rooms are still uncomfortable and tentpole movies are almost guaranteed to hit the streaming services that you’re already paying for within a month or two, the money that Aquaman made is borderline unheard of. It was the DCEU’s highest-grossing picture across its 10-year history. On a $160 million budget, it became the first film in the franchise to cross the $1 billion mark. The Flash did a quarter of what Aquaman did, numbers-wise. Black Adam did about a third. 

The unfortunate prognosis of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Without the fervor of Zack Snyder’s fandom, or even the postmodern irony that turned the Morbius re-release into what might have been the first case of an entire film studio being cyberbullied, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom doesn’t have a base to play to. Without the promise that it’s building to something new, it scans as a narrative dead end. It’s been pointed out by smarter people that superhero movies don’t feel special anymore and it’s difficult to think of a better example of that phenomenon than this: The vestigial mass of story hanging off of a dead franchise, desperately hoping that crowds will show up for the angry-eyed swimmy guy from half a decade ago putting on a rubber skin suit that’s a different color than last time.

But if it helps, Jason Momoa might be Lobo now. So at least that’s something we can all look forward to.

Well, it was fun (some of the time, at least) while it lasted, but the DC Extended Universe has officially come to an end.

With the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on Dec. 22, 2023, the DCEU is defunct. Originally created as a rival to the MCU, the DCEU was launched with 2013’s Man of Steel, shortly followed by a Marvel-like phase full of projects planned for the next decade. As it happened various corporate upheavals and box office misfires ensured the franchise’s final line-up looked very different from what was first announced. All in all, however, the DCEU released 15 theatrically released films and one famous streaming-exclusive director’s cut.

The DCEU’s day is over now, though, due to James Gunn coming in to create a new shared universe — simply titled the DC Universe — from the ground-up, starting with 2024’s Creature Commandos animated series. It’s not as unwieldy as the MCU’s 30+ movies, then, but there’s still some confusion over the best way to watch the DCEU from start to finish.

Wonder (woman) no more, however, as here’s your guide on how to view the DC Extended Universe in chronological order.

What order do I watch DC movies in?

Wonder Woman (2017)

The first film on the DCEU timeline is 2017’s Wonder Woman. A prequel origins story for the Princess of the Amazons, following her role in Batman v Superman, Wonder Woman introduces Diana as she fights alongside Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor in the War to End All Wars. Most of the film takes place in 1918, aside from a handful of scenes set in the present day. This is the perfect starting point for your DC movie marathon.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Some scenes in this 2020 sequel take place prior to the events of the first Wonder Woman, but for the most part, Wonder Woman 1984 is set — you’ll never guess! — in 1984. Living among mortals in the 1980s, Diana is living a double life as an art historian at the Louvre and helping save the day in a (mostly) incognito fashion, which just about adds up with her being an unknown figure in the DCEU’s present-day.

Man of Steel (2013)

Man of Steel was the movie that kickstarted the DCEU and gave us Henry Cavill’s cult favorite incarnation of the Man of Tomorrow. The film showcases Superman’s origin story, including the destruction of Krypton, growing up as Clark Kent on Earth, and facing the fearsome General Zod. Man of Steel introduces key characters, components. and ideas that went on to shape the trajectory of the DCEU.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Batman v Superman introduces the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) into the DCEU. The movie initially positions itself as an action epic pitting the billionaire vigilante against the Last Son of Krypton, but it quickly becomes apparent that they will have to team up to deal with the dual threat of Lex Luther and Doomsday. This film acts as an all-important bridge for the DCEU as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman unite in live-action for the first time.

Suicide Squad (2016)

While the film takes place inside the DCEU and references the events of Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad’s narrative is mostly disconnected from the other films. The main cast of the movie consists of villains making their big-screen debuts — excluding the Joker, of course — including Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Deadshot (Will Smith), and plenty more of Task Force X — a black-ops team made out of expendable supercriminals — from the comics.

Justice League (2017)

The theatrical cut of Justice League was the first film to assemble DC’s premier group of heroes. The DCEU’s incarnation of the team consists of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and Aquaman (Jason Momoa). During the film, the League is forced to deal with the threat of Steppenwolf and the hordes of foes sent by Darkseid in his conquest to assemble the apocalyptic Mother Boxes.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)

After the fierce backlash to Justice League’s theatrical cut, Zack Snyder was invited back to complete his original vision for the film. The resulting Snyder Cut is a four-hour spectacle that adds new scenes explaining the reasoning for major choices in the film as well as adding whole new plot points and characters to jazz up the action. Although fans would prefer this one to be canon, filmmakers have confirmed WB considers 2017’s Justice League to be in continuity, so feel free to watch this one as an optional extra.

Aquaman (2018)

After his introduction in Justice League, fans got their first standalone take on Aquaman in 2018. In this movie, we pick up months after the events of (the theatrical) Justice League and see Arthur Curry return to Atlantis to deal with a threat of his power-hungry brother, Prince Orm, and the revenge-fueled Black Manta. The film also has some flashbacks which give viewers a glimpse into the origin story of the Atlantean hero.

Shazam! (2018)

For the past couple of decades, DC has been notorious for the dark and serious tone of its movies, but Shazam! completely threw that formula away and was well-received by fans and critics alike. This film takes place after the events of Justice League, but doesn’t rely on the previously established lore to build its characters. The standalone spectacular is simply an introduction and origin story to the hero of Shazam and his family (or *sigh* Shazamily).

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous… Whatever) (2020)

Birds of Prey (full subtitle: (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) takes place around the same time as Shazam!, following the formation of the Justice League. The film follows on most directly from Suicide Squad, picking up with Harley Quinn as the lead, putting together her own team of anti-heroes to take on the crime boss Black Mask. The mish-mash group has a lot of chemistry, and there are a lot of stylish choices from directory Cathy Yan, making this a fun addition to the DCEU.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Due to the interconnectivity drying up (more on that in a moment), it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where the latter-day releases fall in the timeline. However, thanks to the importance of the ages of the Shazamily, we know exactly where Shazam! Fury of the Gods falls. Billy Batson and his foster siblings are known to be two years older than in Shazam!, which means the sequel must take place in 2020. Just a sunny, happy alternate 2020 where no one’s heard of COVID.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

According to James Gunn, who made his retroactively significant DC debut with this one, The Suicide Squad takes place in 2021. Righting the wrongs of David Ayers’ first outing for the anti-hero team, The Suicide Squad introduces a massive cast of new characters and brings some familiar faces back into the fold to do what the Suicide Squad does: save the world and die along the way.

Peacemaker (season 1)

No, Peacemaker is not a movie, but as the only TV series set within the continuity of the DCEU it is a much-watch. Apart from following up on characters introduced in The Suicide Squad, including Jennifer Holland’s Emilia Harcourt (who went on to cameo in both Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods as well), it also features a memorable — and hilarious — appearance from the Justice League themselves.

Black Adam (2022)

By this point in the DCEU, WB was only interested in making standalone films rather than movies that are just one piece of the puzzle, a la Marvel, so even though Black Adam is ostensibly a Shazam! spinoff it’s mostly self-contained. It’s notable for introducing the Justice Society of America into the canon, establishing that superheroes have been around since long before Superman and the Justice League.

The Flash (2023)

The Flash is a tricky one to map out in the canon because it’s mostly set in an alternate universe in 2013, the Flashpoint timeline, in which a different version of the events of Man of Steel take place. However, if we use Barry Allen as the barometer then, as he comes from the present-day and is a veteran member of the Justice League at this point, it’s probably best to stick it on at this point in the watch-through.

Blue Beetle (2023)

In many ways, Blue Beetle is a taste of the DCU to come as James Gunn has confirmed Xolo Maridueña’s Jaime Reyes is the first DCU character. However, slightly confusingly, the film itself is counted as DCEU not DCU. At one point, we thought this might’ve meant Blue Beetle took place before some big DCU-birthing universal reset in The Flash, but now that doesn’t seem to be the case, so the film occupies the penultimate position in both the release and chronological watch orders.

Aquaman and the Lost Kindom (2023)

An inebriated Arthur Curry featured in The Flash‘s post-credits scene, so presumably we can infer that the events of The Lost Kingdom occur soon after that. Clearly, many years have ed since the events of 2018’s Aquaman, as the King of Atlantis is now a husband to Amber Heard’s Mera and a father to Arthur Junior, meaning we can probably say that it matches the real-life gap between the two films. It’s unintentionally fitting that the DCU ends with a movie introducing the next generation of the Justice League, just as we’re about to get a fresh roster of heroes in the DCU.

The Marvels needs all the help it can get in turning around the tide of bad PR and indifference that’s been plaguing it in the run-up to its release, but promising that it’s going to be employing a tactic used by a DC movie that earned hostile reviews and yet broke the bank is either a stroke of genius or madness.

The final trailer for Nia DaCosta’s movie pulls out all the stops in attempting to convince the audience to go see it in theaters over its opening weekend, including leaning hard into the Avengers: Endgame nostalgia (yes, nostalgia for a four-year-old movie) and even spoiling ts own big crossover cameo. What’s more, by featuring half a dozen explosions across 120 seconds it seems to be evoking DC’s Aquaman.

As pointed out by a light-hearted thread on the MarvelStudios subreddit, The Marvels final trailer is certainly explosive as it features six moments of fiery CGI pyrotechnics in just two minutes, which equates to an explosion every 20 seconds. This feels like a threat that The Marvels going to take after James Wan’s underwater epic, then, which infamously ended practically every dialogue scene with a “KABOOM!”

This kind of thing is probably why the 2018 blockbuster only has 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, but also maybe why it was such a crowd-pleaser that it earned $1.15 billion worldwide. Even so, The Marvels drawing comparisons between itself and the Jason Momoa vehicle might not be a good look when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom seems all set to sink to the bottom of the box office ocean this December.

James Gunn has officially taken the reigns as an executive at DC Studios alongside Co-CEO Peter Safran, ushering in the rebooted film franchise known as the DC Universe. However, does this mean one of the legacy actors with the previous iteration, Jason Momoa, may finally have his shot at portraying the space bounty hunter known as Lobo?

Momoa turned out to be box office gold for Warner Bros’ soon-to-be-defunct DC Extended Universe, with his titular role in Aquaman generating the one and only billion-dollar worldwide box office movie for the entire cinematic universe to date. What’s more, Momoa is slated to star in the sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, on December 20. With that in mind, it’s surely in WB’s own best interest to retain Momoa as Arthur Curry…or is it?

Goodbye Aquaman, hello Lobo?

Though Gunn is rebooting the universe, that doesn’t mean all of the actors who were part of the previous franchise are going away completely. You see, Gunn confirmed on Threads just last week that Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, and John Cena’s Peacemaker were all slated to return, as we previously reported. Nowhere in that social media post was Momoa mentioned, but we wouldn’t count him out entirely as having a future in the DCU.

In fact, a recent report in Variety even claimed, based on unnamed sources, that “the actor has engaged in talks to play Lobo.” That same article stated none of the original Justice League actors would be returning for the DCU as their original characters. For those who want additional verification, have there been any hints outside the article that Momoa will be playing Lobo?

It turns out, that Momoa has heavily hinted at a secretive DC project that is forthcoming after he made a surprise Instagram story in which he shouted with glee in a video following a meeting with Gunn and Safran back in January. Though the title of the project wasn’t named, it added fuel to the fire of the pre-existing rumor that Momoa was being considered for the part of Lobo, a role for which the actor has long expressed enthusiasm since as early as 2014 and even before he was cast as Aquaman.

A rumor mill that’s been building for years

Back in November 2022, it was Gunn himself who fueled the speculation among fans when his very first post on the social media site Mastadon was an image of Lobo. Momoa wasn’t specifically mentioned at the time, though the rumor mill about him playing Lobo has been active for the better part of the past half of a decade now.

Around that same time, Momoa was quoted on Entertainment Tonight Canada as saying one of his “dreams come true will be happening” under Safran and Gunn. When CBR then followed that up by asking Momoa to “blink twice” if that project involved Lobo, he said:

“Well I have to obviously blink, so there’s no way I can get out of this without blinking, but you know that would be amazing if that happened.”

In regard to the mystery project, Momoa added: “Comic book fans around the world are going to be very excited.” He went on to say the project was “definitely something I’ve collected my whole life […] I collect this comic book the most.”

Assuming the latest reports are true, what is the earliest we can expect Momoa to appear as Lobo? According to the Variety piece, it could happen as soon as 2025’s Superman: Legacy.

Not to go too heavy on the underwater puns right from the outset, but there appears to be a sea change brewing ahead of the release of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, with Amber Heard being defended a lot more than certain subsections of the internet would have become accustomed to.

A lot of it stems from unsealed court documents alleging that Jason Momoa and James Wan actively wanted her fired from the DCEU due to the negative publicity stemming from her high-profile legal battles opposite Johnny Depp, with the leading man reportedly dressing in attire very similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean headliner for reasons that hardly sound like they were done in the name of hilarity.

Of course, Warner Bros. has made it readily apparent – or wants everyone to think so, at least – that Heard’s Mera will barely feature in the sequel at all, seeing as she was awarded one notable shot in a promo that ran for almost 160 seconds. Either way, it’s a turnaround to see folks rushing to her defense, and that’s even extended to a Reddit thread questioning her decision to deploy a British accent in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

Look, we can’t in any good conscience claim that her attempt was anything less than awful, but it’s not as if she’d have devised it on her own. As pointed out in the comments and replies, Heard wasn’t in a position to make demands on an IP the size of the DCEU, so it was almost certainly a Snyder call that James Wan simply wasn’t interested in replicating.

Actors largely tend to do what they’re told unless they reside permanently near the top of the A-list, and given that her stab at a British brogue was lamentably terrible and resoundingly mocked, Wan ignoring the precedent set by Snyder’s vision to have her utilize her own tones instead did turn out to be the smarter call.

With the confusing position of DC movies right now, I wouldn’t blame you for not ing specific plot points about the previous films in the franchise, especially when it’s all being reset. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is an ember of a kingdom that was burned to the ground long ago. 

And yet here it is, five years after the first Aquaman movie and several regime changes and controversies involving certain cast and here we are. Aquaman 2, the trailer looks… alright I guess, it’s hard to be excited for these DCEU throwbacks since we know that it likely won’t matter once James Gunn’s DCU really gets up and running.

Anyhow, the trailer gives us a lot to digest. We see Amber Heard’s return as Mera, although she literally appears for one second. We also know that the main villain will be Arthur Curry’s arch-nemesis, Black Manta, who appeared in the first movie, but only as a secondary villain. 

On top of all of that, we also see Curry’s brother aka Ocean Master return, although this time it looks like he’s done the classic villain redemption trope and become a good guy. Basically, we’ve got DC’s answer to Thor and Loki; can’t wait for Patrick Wilson to get his own spin-off series on Max.

But who is Aquaman’s brother, Orm?

Like I said, I wouldn’t blame you for not ing the first movie, not because it was bad, but because it’s kind of redundant now. But here’s a quick recap for those of you who have forgotten. Orm Marius is Arthur Curry’s half-brother. Unlike Arthur, who is half-human, Orm is pure Atlantean. He is the son of Atlanna and Orvus Marius, and he and Aquaman are both the children of Atlanna. Orm’s entire goal in the first movie was to unite the seven kingdoms to declare war on the surface. He’s the main antagonist of the first film and (spoilers) by the end of the film, Aquaman defeats him and he’s imprisoned while Arthur takes his place on the throne.

Was Orm in the comics?

Orm has frequently appeared in the comics — his first appearance was way back in 1966 — although his origin has changed a lot over the years. In some cases he’s been the son of Tom Curry and another human, making him fully human with no powers. This was his original introduction; this version was a tech pirate who was jealous of his older brother and his powers. The origins have changed numerous times, but there is always a deep rivalry between Orm and Arthur, and they are always half brothers, even if the parent they share changes from time to time.

The movie version of Orm takes most of its inspiration from the New 52 series of comics which started in 2011. This version of the character was introduced in 2012 and rather than being fully human, this time he was fully Atlantean and pretty hateful of the surface world. Orm has similar powers to Arthur in the New 52 comics, making him a much more fitting villain.

It will be cool to see where they take Ocean Master’s character in the much-anticipated sequel. It’s always a joy to watch Patrick Wilson and the new dynamic between the two Atlanteans could be interesting.

The defunct DCEU transformed Aquaman from a joke into a champion, but that’s new territory for the character.

Aquaman has always been the punchline of the Justice League, but that coveted role was given to Barry Allen in the DCEU. Were it not for Ezra Miller’s penchant for grooming minors, assaulting strangers, and frequently melting down, that tactic may have worked off. Instead, a combination of Miller’s messy history and a slew of barely-watchable releases doomed the DCEU to an early grave.

Before it was even buried, the franchise was reborn in James Gunn’s image, rebranded the DCU (creative!), and eyeing a complete recasting of all the lead characters. In some cases, like that of Henry Cavill, incoming stars will have massive shoes to fill. In the case of Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, there’s no one with feet big enough to meet the task. Its not just that the casting of Momoa gave the formerly plain, blonde, exhaustingly white Arthur Curry a much-needed modern makeover, but that Aquaman is, pure and simple, a ridiculous character.

Now don’t get me wrong here — he doesn’t have to be. The idea of a heavily-muscled, shirtless half-merman who can communicate with sea creatures, rule the inky depths, and combine his powers to fight for good isn’t dumb on the surface — just look at Triton, who we all respected long before Javier Bardem made him a zaddy. But Aquaman just… isn’t it. He’s an eye roll of a character, wrapped up in excessive color schemes and a deeply under-explored concept.

With Momoa’s casting, however, Aquaman got a new lease on life. Suddenly, the character was almost cool, as he flitted through the waves and chatted with fish and damp red heads. Cool enough, in fact, to prompt not one, but two solo movies. Two movies focused entirely on Aquaman, something that — as it turns out — was all but unheard of ahead of 2018.

Every Aquaman movie ever made

Spoiler alert: There aren’t many.

Folks, I expected at least a television movie or animated flop to the DCEU’s live-action Aquaman flicks on this list. I was thoroughly surprised — perhaps without cause — to find that the DCEU was the first franchise foolish enough to think Arthur could carry a solo flick on his own. Far more surprising was when that decision was proved right. Our boy Aquaman has made appearances in a number of animated and live-action films over the years, from 2017’s Justice League to animated darlings like Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox — but I wouldn’t count any of these as Aquaman movies. He’s in them, sure, but just as a member of the League. Even Throne of Atlantis is centered around the League, rather than Aquaman himself, which leaves our list painfully short.

Aquaman (2018)

The first solo film to ever star Aquaman, and only Aquaman, was 2018’s live-action Aquaman. The solo debut of Arthur Curry is actually among the DCEU’s better releases (not that that’s saying much), but it seems safe to say that its followup (listed below) will likely be the last major Aquaman release for quite some time.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)

2023 brings about the second solo outing for our boy Arthur, with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s impending December release. The film once again puts the King of Atlantis at its forefront, as it dives deep beneath the waves to tell the final story in the doomed DCEU.

And there you have it, folks. Each and every one of Aquaman’s solo outings, ever. If you, like me, expected at least a few more entries on this list, rest happy knowing you aren’t alone. But it seems the executives at Warner Bros. Pictures are a touch smarter than we give them credit for. They seem to realize that no one on Earth, barring a smoldering Hawaiian stud, can make Aquaman cool, and we can’t help but thank them for their restraint.

Though you wouldn’t know it to watch the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer, Arthur Curry’s (Jason Momoa) baby does indeed have a mother. Set four years after the events of the first film, Aquaman 2 picks up during Arthur’s reign over Atlantis. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and taking care of a child doesn’t make it any easier. Judging from the trailer, it appears that the baby’s primary caregivers are Arthur and his father, Tom (Temuera Morrison). Director James Wan will be the first to it that Arthur’s wife is not a focal point of Aquaman 2.

The Saw director told Entertainment Weekly that the primary dynamic is between Arthur and his estranged half-brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), also known as the Ocean Master. When the two former enemies band together to take on Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the strained siblings find common ground as they fight to save the ocean and come to appreciate each other in their own ways. And yet, although his romantic life isn’t the most important aspect of the movie, let’s not forget that Arthur’s also got hitched since last time we saw him.

The Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer reveals Arthur’s wife

Look close enough, and you can catch a glimpse of Arthur’s wife in the Aquaman 2 trailer. Certainly not as prominent as Orm, or even Arthur’s mother, Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Mera (Amber Heard) does appear to have something to do in the film. During an apparent battle scene, Mera seems to be attempting to break through an underwater window. This could be at the inevitable conclusion of the film when Arthur and Black Manta cross swords — er, Tridents. The confusion of the trailer notwithstanding, there is no other person the King of Atlantis is supposed to be with. Like Arthur, Mera possesses hydrokinetic powers and has been by his side, encouraging him to fulfill his destiny.

Y’Mera Xebella Challa, colloquially known as Mera, first appeared in Justice League to help entice Arthur to the fight. She has a far expanded role in the first Aquaman film, where she and Arthur fall in love. At first, cultivating a bickering relationship, Mera learns that Arthur isn’t some basic land dweller and ultimately s him in taking over the throne of Atlantis. This ending naturally puts her in a position to be Arthur’s queen and the mother to his children, and is the role she plays in the comics as well.