Highlights
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the highly anticipated sequel to 2018's Aquaman, which was considered by many to be the best movie in the DCEU.
- The film's first teaser was released after a long period of no promotion, featuring footage that promises an epic adventure and a proper trailer in four days.
- The official synopsis reveals that Aquaman will team up with his imprisoned brother, Orm, to defeat Black Manta and protect their kingdom from destruction. The film is set to be released on December 20, 2023.
Aquaman 2 plot details were revealed in Warner Bros.' official synopsis, which arrived after a long period with seemingly no attention paid to the DCEU's final installment.
Serving as the final entry in the Synderverse, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is a direct sequel to 2018’s Aquaman, which was an origin story that introduced the world to Arthur Curry, a child born when a human lighthouse keeper rescues an Atlantean queen and the two fall in love, ignoring the Queen’s arranged marriage and having a child together. When she is forced to return to her kingdom and duties, Arthur is raised by her advisor into a strong and capable warrior who rises to the occasion when his younger half-brother Orm seeks to destroy the surface world. Some considered Aquaman the DCEU's best movie, and a sequel was greenlit not long after.
Due to delays and other issues, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom eventually settled on a late 2023 release. After Aquaman 2 set a negative franchise record for Warner Bros. Discovery and DC by having no trailer released to promote the film with under 110 days left till its theatrical release, the film finally got its first teaser consisting of about 30 seconds of encouraging footage (framing a promise of a proper trailer in four days), and with it, an official synopsis released on the film’s official website. This synopsis offers fans the first new plot details since the sequel's first general overview of the plot was given.
The synopsis includes more details about the project and a reminder that Aquaman 2 will keep its release date despite the strikes. “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. 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," reads the synopsis. "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 to protect their kingdom and save Aquaman's family, and the world, from irreversible destruction.”
A stunning lack of promotion and the stubborn decision to keep its original release date combined made many believe Aquaman 2 was being set up to fail by Gunn and Safran's new administration. While the film is still in real danger of going unheard due to the lack of stars promoting the film under SAG-AFTRA regulations, the impending promotional trailer and the new plot details given by the synopsis have gone a long way to remind people that the film exists and might even live up to its spectacular progenitor.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is currently set for theatrical release on December 20, 2023.
Source: AquamanMovie