‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’: Who Is Kordax? Main Villain Explained

We know that the storyline of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ involves Aquaman’s quest to stop Black Manta and his nefarious schemes. But one of the most important parts of that narrative involves the Lost Kingdom, which is actually the kingdom of Necrus. The entity behind the events of the movie was the Kordax, who ended up manipulating Black Manta through the black trident. So, who exactly is Kordax in ‘The Lost Kingdom?’

Black Manta and the black trident

One of the biggest storylines involved in ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ surrounds Black Manta because we know that he still has a score to settle with Aquaman. Arthur Curry was responsible for killing David “Black Manta” Kane’s father, forcing the villain to go on a path of revenge. As such, he tried to do whatever was necessary to kill Arthur.

During the earlier parts of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,’ Black Manta hired the help of Dr. Shin to try to find other kingdoms that were similar to Atlantis so that he could use their technology to fix his power suit. While they were successful in finding a sunken kingdom in Antarctica, it was covered in ice and was inhabited by a monstrous creature.

After surviving his encounter with that monster, Kane saw a broken black trident in the ruins of that kingdom. The black trident was calling to him. As he reattached the trident’s broken pieces, the entity speaking to him through the trident told him that he was going to give him the power to take his revenge on Aquaman and Atlantis in exchange for releasing him.

Since then, Black Manta has become so much stronger but is now an unhinged version of himself. He was hellbent on taking his revenge on Aquaman, and that was why he was willing to do whatever this entity was telling him to do. He stole orichalcum from vaults all over the sea so that he could use this substance to heat the planet’s surface and pollute the seas. But the reason why he needed to heat the planet’s surface was to melt the ice covering the ruins he found in Antarctica.

During a good part of the movie, no one knew who this mysterious entity in the trident was and what his larger goals were. However, when Orm touches the black trident in his first duel with Black Manta, he sees visions of the past.

Kordax was the king of Necrus

Orm eventually told Arthur and the other Atlanteans the things he saw in the trident. He revealed that he was taken back to the Lost Kingdom of Necrus, which was one of the greatest kingdoms of the seas centuries ago during the time of King Atlan. Back then, Necrus was a thriving kingdom under the leadership of King Kordax, the brother of Atlan.

The problem was that Kordax used orichalcum as the energy source of his kingdom. This caused damage to the surface and even to the seas, but Kordax was blinded by his ambition. He couldn’t care less about what orichalcum was doing to the planet and to the different kingdoms of the seas. Atlan was forced to confront his brother about the effects of orichalcum.

Instead of listening to what his brother had to say, Kordax believed that Atlan was simply jealous of his power and was looking to use orichalcum for his own personal gain. In order to match Atlan’s power, Kordax created the black trident and used its power to turn himself and the people of Necrus into monsters.

Kordax and his army of monsters went to war against the Atlanteans. He was defeated by Atlan, who decided to seal the entire kingdom of Necrus in ice. Atlan used a powerful magical seal bound by his own blood to trap Kordax for centuries.

In the movie, Kordax manipulates Black Manta into releasing him in exchange for the power that Kane needed to kill Aquaman. Kordax succeeds in escaping his imprisonment when he possesses Orm and uses Arthur’s blood to break Atlan’s seal during the latter portion of the movie.

However, Orm snapped out of his trance and decided to work together with Aquaman to defeat Kordax once and for all. Arthur used the Trident of Atlan to break the black trident and kill Kordax in one swift attack, causing the destruction of the Lost City of Necrus in the process.

Kordax in the comics

Like many different characters in the DCEU, Kordax was inspired by a character in the comics. However, there are a lot of differences between the characters. For one, Necrus in the comics was an entirely different kingdom and was ruled by a tyrant named Mongo instead of Kordax.

In the comics, Kordax was the son of Dardanus and Cora, the daughter of King Orin I. Kordax was born with blond hair and green scales. Due to his monstrous appearance, he was abandoned at birth and was basically an outcast in Atlantean society.

Kordax was able to survive due to his ability to control sea creatures. He was eventually found by his evil father years later. It was Dardanus’ influence that pushed Kordax into becoming evil as he went on to lead the Tritonians against the Poseidonians. 

Despite his incredible power to control sea creatures, Kordax was defeated and punished for his crimes. His hand was cut off and replaced with a sword. He was also banished from the kingdom.

Since then, every child born with blond hair was said to have the Curse of Kordax. This was the reason why Aquaman, who was born with blond hair in the comics, was abandoned at birth. Kordax’s banishment was the very reason why he hated the people of Poseidonis and Tritonis.

So, in that regard, Kordax in the comics is very different from his counterpart in the DCEU. Their backgrounds are different from one another. The only things similar between them are their names and their green skin. But the Kordax in ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ only had green skin because he turned himself into a monster. So, in short, the Kordax in the movie is a very loose adaptation of the Kordax in the comics.

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