The future of Warner Bros.’ DC Comics superhero universe has changed over the course of the last few years, with the success of Aquaman and Wonder Woman shifting the studio’s focus.
While there were plans for a Flashpoint movie, it sounds like the project has changed if not scrapped altogether. But some remnants of those ideas still remain, as seen in the mid-credits scene for Aquaman.
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Warning: Minor spoilers for Aquaman below.
At the end of the film, Black Manta is rescued and nursed back to health after his body is recovered by Dr. Stephen Shin, who was previously shown to be obsessed with conspiracy theories involving the kingdom of Atlantis.
While the two make plans to locate the secret society so Black Manta can get his revenge on Aquaman, we get a glimpse of Dr. Shin’s workspace. The walls and white boards are covered with references and newspaper clippings that he believes are all pointing toward the existence of Atlantis.
According to Neil Daly, who organized test screenings for Aquaman, explained on the Fire and Water podcast that one specific newspaper clipping was meant to tie into Flashpoint‘s infamous alternate earth storyline.
“There was another one, that one of the newspaper headings said ‘Wonder Woman Nixes Aquaman Dating Rumor,’ which most people are just going to take that as tongue-in-cheek and think it was funny,” Daly said, in reference of the two heroes’ rapport in Justice League. “But at the time of the filming, that was when they were still talking about going ahead with Flashpoint being the Flash story that they were going to do. And so there was a reference to Aquaman and Wonder Woman dating.”
While this may have been meant to set up future DC Comics films, director James Wan made it clear that he was allowed to make his own, stand-alone film. There’s a reason why no other member of the Justice League appears in the new film.
“I just feel like this is his stand-alone movie, just let it be about Aquaman,” Wan told the Huffington Post. “I feel like all the other characters have had so many movies; audiences have known all the other characters in all the other movies, all these different projects. Let this be Aquaman’s time in the spotlight.”
Aquaman is now playing in theaters everywhere.
