How Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom Ends The DCEU As We Know It
The DC Extended Universe is dead; long live the DC Universe. What has felt like a months-long inevitability has finally turned into reality with the release of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," which technically functions as the last chapter of the superhero saga that began a little over 10 years ago with Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel." What comes next will be the beginning of a much different approach, shepherded by DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. But compared to the slate of high-profile projects that Warner Bros. confidently announced back in 2014, it's obvious that things didn't quite go according to plan — and if ever there were a fitting eulogy for a franchise with plenty of unexpected highs and lows, well, that would be it.
To state the obvious, it was never the studio's intention to bring things to a conclusion with an "Aquaman" sequel, of all things. (Meaning no disrespect to a superhero whose first movie became the only movie in this post-"The Dark Knight" franchise to gross over $1 billion at the box office, unbelievably enough.) For a while, in fact, "The Flash" had been slated to release after "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," with the consensus opinion concluding that the timeline-hopping, multiversal "Flashpoint" adaptation would naturally reset the series and allow for the upcoming reboot to unfold in an organic way. Once again, however, the universe had other ideas and upended all the best-laid plans ... which is as on-brand as it gets.
So here we are, picking through the flotsam and jetsam of this iteration of the DC world to ask one last question: Does "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" work as our final curtain call on the DCEU as a whole? The answer, fittingly enough, isn't so straightforward. Spoilers to follow!
One last 'My man!' for the road
We should acknowledge that, by treating "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" as the swan song of the DCEU, we're putting a lot of pressure on a blockbuster that was never conceived as anything more than a simple sequel to a smash hit. Having wrapped principal photography back in January of 2022, long before news broke on DC's abrupt change in course, neither director James Wan nor anyone else involved could've ever anticipated the environment into which the movie would eventually be released. But with that caveat out of the way, it's fair to wonder whether it somehow acts as a rewarding conclusion to a messy universe of movies and shows.
For better or worse, however, "Lost Kingdom" largely ignores the chaos of the universe surrounding it — somewhat of a rarity within the DCEU overall — and focuses on telling a self-contained story about its titular hero. It's actually a relief that the overall plot goes out of its way to avoid delivering another universe-ending conflict or timeline-shattering consequence should our protagonist fail, instead keeping things relatively low-stakes so that audiences never even find themselves idly wondering why the other members of the Justice League aren't swooping in to help save the day. It might not feel like the most satisfying end to an entire franchise from that perspective, granted, but there's something to be said for even a flawed movie (you can check out /Film's review by Rafael Motamayor here) knowing its limits and not trying to be anything more than what it is.
And what "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is, mind you, resembles our most lovable "himbo" superhero going out on his own terms. It's not the DCEU ending we may have needed. But maybe it's the one we deserved.
Untangling the DCEU legacy
Whether the DCEU was a failed experiment or not is probably impossible to answer definitively, given that the final results ultimately offered something for every kind of fan out there. The Snyder cultists admirers may not have received the epic, sweeping saga they were promised, but they did at least get closure through something close to the original vision of "Justice League." Movies like "Wonder Woman" and "Birds of Prey" gave a much-needed alternative to the testosterone-heavy "genre" of superhero movies, taking a more earnest and fun-loving tone that stood at odds with much of what came before. Even "Blue Beetle" came in just under the wire to tell a back-to-basics origin story from a refreshingly non-white perspective. And, naturally, the "Aquaman" movies fully channeled the Saturday morning cartoon antics of their source material.
No, Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry isn't portrayed as the same brooding, mythological figure envisioned by Zack Snyder ... but character consistency in this franchise pretty much went out the window the second that filmmakers like Patty Jenkins, Cathy Yan, and, of course, James Wan stepped in and put their own spins on superheroes introduced in previous movies. When the book is finally written on the various twists and turns of the DCEU, there's one thing that this franchise can lord over its Marvel rivals. Despite notorious examples of studio meddling (looking at you, "Suicide Squad" and "Justice League"), every other movie bears the hallmarks of the directors in charge. Say what you will about the "Aquaman" films, but they're undeniably James Wan's through and through.
And maybe that's enough. There's no whitewashing the fact that so many recent DC movies have flopped hard. But through all the drama, the DCEU was never boring. There are far worse fates for a franchise than that.
"Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is currently playing in theaters.