Aquaman Extended Look Teases Sibling Rivalry, Black Manta, Comic-Accurate Costume, And More
Get in, DC fans. We're going diving.
During New York Comic-Con on Friday, Warner Bros. unleashed a five-minute-long trailer for Aquaman that feels like a crash course on who the title hero is and how he came into existence, how he plans to rise up and serve as the bridge between the land and the sea, and the troubles he'll face in trying to unite the seven kingdoms of Atlantis.
It's like Aquaman for Dummies, but with more Amber Heard wearing a wig that can only be described as "neon Little Mermaid meets a Kardashian sister," Jason Momoa playing a hero with terrible short-term memory, and villains that look like Power Rangers chasing the two across rooftops and shooting lasers out of their eyes. Oh yeah, and with extra pee jokes (yes, really), enormous seahorses, and one Patrick Wilson sporting a blonde beehive hairdo. (And you thought Thor: Ragnarok felt retro.)
The footage begins at, well, the beginning — it maps out Arthur Curry's (Momoa) origin story. Born to a human lighthouse keeper, Thomas Curry (Temuera Morrison), and the Queen of Atlantis, Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Arthur is a "son of the land and a son of the seas." He's also the next in line to the throne — but seizing it will prove a challenge, as his villainous half-brother Orm (Wilson), otherwise known as Ocean Master, is the reigning king and doesn't plan on going anywhere any time soon.
Though he'll engage in a tense sibling rivalry that's said to play out like a "very classic Shakespearean story," Aquaman has Mera (Heard) by his side to help him locate an all-powerful trident — the Trident of Atlantis, we presume — that will bring the contrasting underwater kingdoms together.
The new Aquaman trailer features the pair bantering amongst abandoned ruins and activating some kind of stone maze to discover the trident's power — it can bring everlasting peace to Atlantis, but it can also bring about irreversible destruction. Where Aquaman wants to spark a reunion for good, hoping to connect the human realm with the expansive oceanic universe, Orm aims to unite the seven seas and inspire them to declare war on the surface world.
So, it sounds like Sebastian the Crab was wrong. Maybe it isn't better down where it's wetter. Maybe the commotion under the ocean isn't crustaceans and schools of fish playing a Calypso-inspired reggae tune, but instead two brothers battling one another to take the Atlantean throne and Mera scoffing at Aquaman after he starts talking about semi-public urination. Ahh!
Sadly, things aren't much better on dry land. After the trailer teases bright blue waters, sea-soldiers riding on the backs of sharks, and a submarine firing a whopper of a missile, it soars up to Earth to see Aquaman and Mera facing off against the ruthless mercenary Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his band of bug-eyed minions. The dynamic duo leap from building to building, dodging lasers as swiftly as they can, while Black Manta works through his vendetta against Aquaman. (You see, Aquaman actually accidentally killed Black Manta's father in the comics, so his rage is pretty justified.)
From there, we head back down to Atlantis, where Aquaman and Orm size each other up on a fighting platform encircled by lava in one scene and engage in a trident-clashing fight to the finish in another.
But the best part of the entire new trailer comes at the very end. In last 10 seconds, the clip shows Momoa standing in a comic book-accurate Aquaman suit. He's gold up top and green down below, and we are tickled pink.
Judging by this extra-extended look at Aquaman, it seems that director James Wan has made good on his many promises for the film. It really does look like Aquaman will be like Star Wars underwater, a "swashbuckling action adventure," and a high-seas "quest story in the spirit of Raiders of the Lost Ark meets Romancing the Stone." (Let's not forget that Aquaman and Mera were quite literally romancing a stone in this new trailer.)
If what Warner Bros. revealed today is indicative of the full, finished product, Aquaman just might be fresh and fun enough to turn the tides and put the currently struggling DC Extended Universe back on smooth waters.
Find out if that will happen when Aquaman swims into theaters on December 21.