[Spoiler alert for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.] Four years after Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) dethroned his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) as the king of Atlantis, Aquaman sired a son with Mera (Amber Heard): Arthur Jr. The half-Atlantean/Xebelian, half-human prince is heir to the throne of Atlantis and the distant descendant of Atlantis’ first ruler, King Atlan (Vincent Regan) — a royal bloodline that the vengeful Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) seeks to end in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
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When the mercenary pirate resurfaces in Aquaman 2, it’s with the Black Trident: the mythical weapon wielded by Atlan’s brother, the accursed Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), king of the long-lost undersea nation of Necrus. Only royal blood can free the undead king from his frozen prison and unleash his full powers, so the Kordax-possessed Black Manta kidnaps Arthur Jr. to sacrifice Aquaman’s infant son and become powerful enough to destroy the sea and surface worlds.
In the end, Aquaman, Orm, their mother Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Mera, Xebel king Nereus (Dolph Lundgren), the Brine King (John Rhys-Davies) and their aquatic allies — the octopus Topo (Tactical Observation and Pursuit Operative) and the seahorse Storm — save Arthur Jr. and defeat Manta and Kordax, preventing an apocalyptic orichalcum-caused global meltdown. The DC Extended Universe ends on a hopeful note for the Aqua-fam, but in the original DC comics, “Aquababy” suffers a tragic fate in the pages of 1977’s Adventure Comics #452.
After the sea king’s son is seemingly kidnapped by Topo, Aquaman follows his octopus pet to a treacherous canyon deep beneath the sea. Aquaman encounters the Idylists — purple-eyed pacifists who seek Aquaman’s teen sidekick, Aqualad — as they flee from the scuba diver soldiers of the usurper who seized their kingdom. The usurper is revealed to be Aquaman’s archenemy Black Manta, who captured Aqualad and the City of the Lost Tribes: the Idylist colony that power-hungry Manta would make the base for his new empire.
Black Manta then reveals he forced Idylist biologists to conduct gill experiments that would give surface dwellers the ability to breathe underwater like Atlanteans and that Arthur Jr. and Topo are his prisoners. Through his telepathic connection with Aquaman, Topo sensed that Aqualad was in danger and “abducted” Aquababy to make Aquaman follow the octopus to the hidden city.
Unfortunately, this enabled Black Manta to kidnap Aquaman’s son and encase him in a glass globe that would fill with air, suffocating Arthur Jr. Manta then pit Aquaman against Aqualad in gladitorial combat to determine whether he replenished Jr.’s water supply.
As Aquaman battles Aqualad to save his son, he telepathically links with Topo and hurls his trident to free Arthur Jr. from his prison… only to discover that Aquababy suffocated. Disillusioned that his mentor and partner would try to kill him, Aqualad parts ways with Aquaman as the sea king seeks out Manta alone to avenge his murdered son.
The story continues in 1977’s Aquaman #57, which sees a raging Aquaman summon aquamarine life to combat Manta’s army of robotic drones. Manta almost kills Aquaman in an underwater mine field, but the tide turns as the fight is on Aquaman’s turf. He beats Manta into submission and threatens to rip his high-tech suit’s airhose so that he’ll “die like Arthur Jr. died — choking and in agony.”
But when Manta begs for mercy, Aquaman spares his life to face justice. Aquaman then steels himself for the hardest task he’s ever faced: “Telling a mother that her only child is dead.” Fin.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is now playing only in theaters.
