DC Admits 'Aquaman 2' Has Changed After Last Year's Controversy

This December, Aquaman 2, or Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), will finally debut after a turbulent couple of years for both DC Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery. But director James Wan has admitted that 2022’s controversy impacted his upcoming sequel.

The DC Extended Universe is in flux. After a turbulent few years, the franchise which launched with Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel (2013), is on course correction as we move through 2023.

Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery, led by CEO David Zaslav, announced that DC Studios’ DC Extended Universe would be reinvented with the leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran. Both Gunn and Safran act as co-CEOs for DC Studios, and earlier this year, Gunn revealed that the new DC Universe (DCU) would consist of interconnected stories across live-action movies, television, animation, and video games, with a largely consistent cast across all types of media.

Related: Photo: Emilia Clarke Replaces Amber Heard as Mera In ‘Aquaman 2’

If it feels reminiscent of Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, that’s because it is. Although if Gunn and Safran’s first chapter, “Gods and Monsters”, is as aggressive as it was pitched, the MCU could be in danger of losing audiences to the fledgling DCU, especially after over a year of superhero fatigue complaints.

For now, though, fans are still firmly in the DCEU and will continue to be so with the release of what Gunn calls an “amazing film,” The Flash (2023), from director Andy Muschietti.

Despite the controversy regarding its star Ezra Miller (Barry Allen/The Flash), anticipation for The Flash has been high for quite some time. The return of Batman royalty Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne/Batman) has helped cushion the gaping hole Miller left in the movie when their behavior put the entire $200 million project at risk, as has the Henry Cavill-endorsed and critic favorite Sasha Calle as Kara Zor-El, AKA Supergirl.

From there, Blue Beetle (2023) will debut in the summer season, and then at the end of the year, Jason Momoa (Arthur Curry) will once more return as the marine superhero in James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Originally set to debut at the end of 2022, Aquaman 2 shifted to a spring 2023 release so as not to go up against James Cameron’s VFX giant Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). It was then delayed again to the Christmas period, and we now know more about the challenges Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom faced behind the scenes. Last year’s big reshuffle did affect the big sequel.

Wan admitted to The Hollywood Reporter (via Comic Book Movie) that the big Gunn and Safran takeover of DC Studios and its subsequent rebranding caused him to make “adjustments along the way,” stating, “The DCU has been through lots of different versions, and one of the things that were challenging about this film was keeping track of what’s going on.”

“Fortunately, the Aquaman universe is pretty far removed from the rest of the world,” Wan told THR. “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.”

The big reinvention of the DC Comic live-action universe included the very public ousting of Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman. The Witcher star had only just returned in the post-credits scene of Black Adam (2022) when his next Superman movie was announced. But shortly after, Gunn would reveal that his upcoming Superman movie, Superman: Legacy (2025), would not be casting Cavill but someone new in the role.

Related: DC Stars Reportedly Cut From ‘Aquaman 2’ Amid Poor Quality Disaster

And the DC reshuffle, including the famous trashing of the near-completed Batgirl, wasn’t the only controversy that Warner Bros. and DC dealt with last year.

The high-profile defamation trial between Aquaman (2018) star Amber Heard (Mera) and her ex-husband Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) took over headlines in the summer of 2022. Ultimately, Depp came out the winner, with Heard being found guilty on all three counts of defamation; Depp was found guilty of one count towards Heard through his then-lawyer Adam Waldman.

During the trial, Heard’s role in Aquaman and the DC live-action universe at large got called into question as it was reported at various times that her role had doubled since the trial, being cut significantly and being removed altogether. Upon the trailer release, #JusticeForJohnnyDepp exploded online after Heard’s Mera was featured in the footage.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to release on December 20, 2023.

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