James Wan said in a pre-recorded video: “We dive back into Atlantis, but we also visit strange new worlds.” Wan called it an “action-adventure story with a really fun bromance between Arthur and Orm”. Black Manta is back and “vengeful”, wanting to unleash a “powerful ancient evil”. We see that Arthur has a son now and talks to his own father about raising children. Several quick shots of Arthur swimming underwater follow, jabbing his trident into a vehicle.
“I’m supposed to be a king, unite the land and the sea. But now I feel like the tide is turning,” says Arthur. “Something is destroying the surface world.” A sinister black cloud infects Atlantis. We find out that Black Manta believes his destiny is to unlock the greatest power in human history, and we see a shot of him fighting Orm. “No one hits my brother but me,” Arthur quips. We see a black trident that is turning people evil, with Black Manta releasing green energy. Another shot shows Orm and Arthur in the jungle, with more shots of epic underwater battles. Nicole Kidman gets in on the action, too, riding a creature into a big battle.
There’s a lot of new Atlantean technology this time around, with “absolute chaos in terms of action”, according to Ben’s findings, with “hundreds of characters fighting at once”. Orm tells Arthur, “If you lead, Atlantis will follow.” The brothers join forces to fight Black Manta, despite disagreeing. “Fans of the first movie will probably love this. It feels like a continuation of what came before, only much, much bigger,” says Ben. “James Wan seems to be trying to ground this movie a bit more into the generational father-son dynamic, but the action really takes center stage.”
“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” comes ashore on December 20, 2023.
