Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will officially bring the DCEU to an end. The film will find Aquaman (Jason Momoa) reluctantly joining forces with his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to combat a more powerful Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), which led director James Wan to describe the sequel as a buddy comedy.
While speaking with Empire, James Wan said that he pitched the first Aquaman movie as a Romancing The Stone-type thing, while he always knew that the second would be an “outright buddy comedy” like Tango & Cash or Men in Black. “I wanted to do Tango & Cash!” Wan said. “Jason plays Arthur larger-than-life; Patrick plays the straight man. It’s not unlike what Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones did in Men In Black – like Tommy, Patrick plays it dry, but very funny.”
“Having failed to defeat Aquaman the first time, Black Manta, still driven by the need to avenge his father’s death, will stop at nothing to take Aquaman down once and for all,” reads the official synopsis for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
“This time Black Manta is more formidable than ever before, wielding the power of the mythic Black Trident, which unleashes an ancient and malevolent force. To defeat him, Aquaman will turn to his imprisoned brother Orm, the former King of Atlantis, to forge an unlikely alliance. Together, they must set aside their differences in order to protect their kingdom and save Aquaman’s family, and the world, from irreversible destruction.“
Jason Momoa stars as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, now balancing his duties as both the King of Atlantis and a new father; Patrick Wilson is Orm, Aquaman’s half-brother and his nemesis, who must now step into a new role as his brother’s reluctant ally; Amber Heard is Mera, Atlantis’ Queen and mother of the heir to the throne; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is Black Manta, committed more than ever to avenge his father’s death by destroying Aquaman, his family and Atlantis; and Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, a fierce leader and mother with the heart of a warrior. Also reprising their roles are Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus and Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin.
While I doubt that the Aquaman sequel will prove to be as successful as the first, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will at least be as fun, despite all the rumblings of lackluster test screenings and multiple reshoots. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will hit theaters on December 20th.