And the last (sea)horse finally limps to the finish line. With the first teaser (for a trailer) for Aquaman and the Last Kingdom, the beginning of the end of the DC Extended Universe is finally here. The footage shows off what will be the last film made under the old Warner Bros./DC regime before James Gunn and Peter Safran came in to take everything over, and it will have to pull off a minor miracle to be successful if the past few DC releases are any indication.
Released by DC on YouTube, the teaser provides a quick look at the film, which will feature Arthur Curry, AKA Aquaman, going up against Black Manta. The teaser itself is for the real trailer, which will release in four days. Still, the teaser does look fun.
The new film brings back almost everyone from the previous movie, even keeping Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as the villain, though now he is more powerful than ever after finding the Black Trident, which gives him more powers than really big laser eyes. That means that Aquaman (Jason Momoa) will have to turn to the first movie’s other villain, his imprisoned brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to create a team-up that can save Atlantis and the world. Also returning for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom are Amber Heard as Mera and Nicole Kidman as Aquaman’s mother, Atlanna.
Aquaman was a surprise blockbuster success for DC, drastically outperforming subdued expectations after the fallout from Justice League, but the sequel has an incredible uphill climb to perform as well as the first film. In a vacuum, it’s all there for another hit: a still popular leading man, the same director in James Wan, a long-running build-up but outside that vacuum everything is against it. Despite the fact that Momoa is insistent that he’ll be returning to the role, they’ve cut out ties to the DCEU in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Gunn himself has said that this film is the beginning of the new DCU, for most audience members this still feels like the leftovers of a cinematic universe that doesn’t matter anymore. We’ll have to see if it can beat out the curse that crushed Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle.
Aquaman and the Last Kingdom will premiere in theaters on December 20.
