James Wan Talks About ‘Aquaman 2’ and How the Movie Fits Into Both DCEU and DCU

When it comes to DC movies, this June is all about ‘The Flash.’ After nine years of waiting since it was initially announced, this long-anticipated movie is finally set to hit theaters worldwide. ‘The Flash’ was announced as the breaking point between DCEU and DCU, although there are officially two movies left to be released before the DCEU concludes once and for all — ‘Blue Beetle’ and ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’

The long-awaited sequel to the highest-grossing DC movie ever has, not by its fault, found itself in a thankless position as the last DCEU movie ever, and there’s a question of whether the movie needed to adjust its story to fit into the bigger picture of the franchise. DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn confirmed that ‘The Flash’ will be a breaking point between DCEU and DCU due to its Multiversal premise, and now we need to wait to see how ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ will fit into that.

‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ director talks about fitting the movie’s story into the bigger franchise!

Back when we didn’t have the idea that DCEU would eventually be rebooted (you know, back when Henry Cavill’s return as Superman and the announced ‘Wonder Woman 3′ movie were still a thing), there were rumors that Ben Affleck would reprise the role of DCEU’s Batman in ‘Aquaman 2’, but with everything going on, it’s safe to say that part of the movie was cut. Some other rumors even mentioned that the movie didn’t sit well with test audiences, so it needed to be re-edited several times.

Considering we don’t know much about the movie’s plot, there’s no telling what the final cut of the movie will look like when the movie hits theaters, but we’re still hoping for the best. Recently, the movie’s director, James Wan, shared with The Hollywood Reporter how he needed to make some adjustments to the movie when it became clear that ‘Aquaman 2’ would close the DCEU, but on the other hand, Aquaman’s story is independent enough that the movie should work pretty well as its own thing.

“I’ve had to make adjustments all along the way. The DCU has been through lots of different versions, and one of the things that was challenging about this film was keeping track of what was going on. Fortunately, the Aquaman universe is pretty far removed from the rest of the world. We’re going to many different underwater kingdoms that are not necessarily related to what’s happening with the other movies and characters, so we’re stand-alone in that respect. So I can just tell my story on its own without being affected too much, but at the same time, I have to be mindful of what’s been happening.”

James Wan for The Hollywood Reporter

The original ‘Aquaman’ movie, starring Jason Momoa and directed by James Wan, was released in December 2018, and with $1.149 billion worldwide, it is still the highest-grossing DC movie ever made. The sequel was set to be released last December, but it was first delayed to March 2023 to avoid competition with ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ and after that, one more time to December 2023.

With DCEU ending and DCU taking over, there’s no telling if ‘Aquaman 3’ would ever happen, even though Jason Momoa previously teased that he’s in good contact with James Gunn and that he apparently shouldn’t be done with one of his most famous roles after the release of the sequel. We’re really hoping James Gunn somehow left some room for Momoa’s Aquaman in his plan for the DCU.

‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ will see the return of Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman, all reprising their respective roles from the original movie. Directed by James Wan, the movie is set to be released on December 20, 2023.

Are you looking forward to ‘Aquaman 2’? Do you think Jason Momoa will continue to play Aquaman in Gunn’s DCU?

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