‘Aquaman 2’: James Wan Addresses Batman Rumors and Amber Heard’s Role in the Final DCEU Movie

DC Extended Universe is a franchise that kicked off in 2013 with huge potential and hopes that DC can make a successful cinematic universe like Marvel made before. However, the series of unfortunate events, the studio’s feud with directors and stars, critical and commercial disappointments, inability to find a central story for the franchise, and whatnot have cost this franchise everything. In 2022, a new leadership of Warner Bros. decided to pull the plug and start the whole thing again from the ground up.

DCEU will be officially closed this December with the release of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,’ which is a sequel to the original ‘Aquaman’ movie, which was one of the better-received DCEU movies and, interestingly enough, still is the highest-grossing DC movie of all time. However, with the whole situation going around DC Studios, the sequel can already abandon any hopes of repeating such an enormous commercial success, but how will the movie do critically? We won’t know before December 20, when the movie finally opens in theaters.

James Wan talks about the movie’s rumors and Amber Heard’s role as Mera!

‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ found itself in a very thankless position, not only because it’s the last DCEU movie or because it’s already doomed to commercial failure. Since the movie started production, there have been controversies about Amber Heard’s return as Mera. As we all remember, the petition to remove Heard from the sequel amid the scandal with her ex-husband Johnny Depp has gathered more than 4.6 million signatures, but Heard still kept her role.

Apart from that, there have been previous rumors of Ben Affleck returning to play Batman, but that was before this leadership change at the studio. That anticipated return certainly won’t happen now since ‘The Flash’ completely changed the timeline and practically erased Affleck from existence.

James Wan, the ‘Aquaman’ director who returned to helm the sequel, didn’t want to speak in detail about Batman return rumors and Hear’s role, but here’s what he said in a recent interview for Entertainment Weekly.

“That’s a ‘no comment’ right now [about Batman return rumors]. You’re going to have to wait for the movie to come out.”

James Wan for Entertainment Weekly

“I always pitched this to everyone from the get-go. The first ‘Aquaman’ was Arthur and Mera’s journey. The second movie was always going to be Arthur and Orm. So, the first was a romance action-adventure movie. The second one is a bromance action-adventure movie. We’ll leave it at that [regarding Amber Heard’s role].”

James Wan for Entertainment Weekly

Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Dolph Lundgren, Randall Park, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman are returning to reprise their respective roles in ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’ Directed by James Wan, the movie is scheduled to be released on December 20, 2023.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Are you looking forward to ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’? Let us know in the comments.

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