Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom could be using Arthur Curry's originally planned story from Zack Snyder's Justice League 2. Production on the upcoming sequel to 2018's mega-hit Aquaman is set to get rolling this summer, with the title eschewing the usual 2 for more of a basic story description, similar to Shazam!: Fury of the Gods. The title could also be saying more about the story than it seems to at first glance, and it harks back to the first layout that Snyder had developed for his second Justice League movie.
In the lead-up to the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, a collection of whiteboards outlining Snyder's basic story for his Justice League arc, which could be finished by now, were shown in an AT&T exhibit in Texas. Snyder has emphasized not getting hung up on the details of the whiteboards and instead read them as a general blueprint for the Justice League arc, and this seems particularly applicable to Justice League 2, which Snyder has said was re-imagined into a pure Knightmare future-based movie in subsequent rewrites. However, when it comes to Aquaman's original story in the original Justice League 2 outline, this is where things get really interesting with respect to Arthur's sequel to his solo movie.
Since the Snyder Cut's release, Warner Bros. has repeatedly downplayed the hopes of fans that Snyder's two Justice League sequels will finally be realized (to little effect, as frequent #RestoreTheSnyderVerse social media trends can attest to). At the same time, Aquaman's sequel, while not a mechanism of the SnyderVerse restoration per se, could be incorporating what Snyder had first conceived for the King of Atlantis. Furthermore, this also follows a pattern of the studio declaring that SnyderVerse to be over while failing to truly leave it in the past.
Aquaman 2's Title Sounds Similar To Arthur's (Original) Justice League 2 Story
Though all we have to go on right now is the movie's title, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, that title itself seems like the movie could be retrofitting elements of where Arthur's story was intending to go. Per Snyder's whiteboards, the story was going to involve Arthur and the powerfully hydrokinetic Mera in battle with the last kingdom of Atlantis, known as The Unseen, in an attempt to unite all of the kingdoms of Atlantis. Judging from the title, this sounds like it could easily be the story for a sequel to Aquaman. It also wouldn't even require Snyder's Justice League 2 plans to be adjusted in the hypothetical event of the SnyderVerse being restored, since that already happened.
Snyder has also explained that behind-the-scenes reworkings of the Justice League 2 and 3 stories resulted in the former being revamped into a full-blown Knightmare movie. An indication of this can also be seen in the Snyder Cut itself, with Cyborg's Knightmare vision showing Darkseid killing Arthur, while Snyder's whiteboards reveal Black Manta and Orm were to kill Arthur as the Knightmare future begins to unfold in the original plan. With Orm and Black Manta still alive following Aquaman's conclusion, there is a chance the two could combine forces once again to be antagonists for Momoa's titular hero. This also shows that the franchise has yet to move on fully from Snyder's DCEU vision.
Warner Bros. Hasn't Managed To Move On From Snyder's DC Films
For all of WB's assertions that the DCEU is moving away from the original roadmap laid out by Snyder, the studio has consistently failed to make a clean break with the franchise he started and has even held on to key elements of it. This has partly been in the studio continuing to hold onto Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot as Aquaman and Wonder Woman, but more importantly, elements of Snyder's movies were noticeably referenced or subtly slid into the stories of DCEU movies in the post-Justice League, pre-Zack Snyder's Justice League era. Whether a reference to Steppenwolf's defeat in Aquaman, newspaper clippings referencing Superman's resurrection in Shazam!, or Birds of Prey making numerous callbacks to Harley Quinn's role in Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. never outright severed ties with the Snyder era of the DCEU. Instead, the studio has actually made a habit of cherry-picking different aspects from the films he was involved in, and utilizing them elsewhere.
Snyder has described his films as representing their own continuity (despite also saying characters like Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam could fit into it), and WB has emphasized the theatrical release of Justice League is DCEU canon. However, the fact remains that the studio has balanced its efforts to distance later DCEU movies from Snyder against its desire to hold onto the most widely liked aspects of his movies. Threading that needle made doing a hard reboot a bridge too far, resulting in seeds of the SnyderVerse being peppered throughout later DCEU movies. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom seems to be the latest example of this and one that could be bringing a discarded story originally developed by Snyder into play. It also continues the pattern of WB insisting that Zack Snyder's DCEU tenure is over while seemingly venturing back to the well for tiny, and occasionally significant, elements of what he started with the Snyder Cut.
What Does This Mean For The SnyderVerse?
As for what this could mean for the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse campaign, the short answer as of right now is, nothing major. Since the story Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom could be essentially taking an early idea of Snyder's and running with it, as well as a possible introduction for Aqualad, that shouldn't be taken as an indicator of Warner Bros. warming up to the SnyderVerse's restoration. However, what that does point to is that Warner Bros. still keeps heading back to ideas and concepts he conceived of and utilizing them in some form or fashion.
It's also worth speculating that this is something Jason Momoa may have had a hand in. Aside from generally heaping praise upon Snyder at every opportunity, Momoa was also the first Justice League cast member to publicly support the Snyder Cut's release, and during the Aquaman press tour, no less. Considering how much of a towering hit Arthur Curry's solo movie ended up being, along with Momoa contributing to the sequel's script, he may very well have pushed for Arthur's initial Justice League 2 story as the sequel's basic template. With that story no longer in play even if the SnyderVerse were to be restored, it's certainly not hard to conceive that Momoa may have felt that it'd be well-suited to dust off and use for the next Aquaman movie, one of seven upcoming DC films.
As more details emerge on the full story of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it paints an interesting picture of how the DCEU has operated under Warner Bros. since the theatrical version of Justice League was released. Moving away from Snyder's films while also using aspects of themthat suit individual movies has become synonymous with DCEU films, and will surely be present moving forwards. Still, one thing has become crystal clear since the botched theatrical release of Justice League and the successful campaign for Zack Snyder's Justice League, and that is that moving the DCEU away from Snyder's influence has been far easier said than done. Between the vocal support of Snyder's fans and actors such as Jason Momoa, growing support among fans for #RestoreTheSnyderVerse, and Warner Bros. drawing upon unused story elements from Snyder's DC movies, it is clear the influence of Snyder's original plan is going nowhere any time soon.
