‘Aquaman’: 10 Things We Want In The Sequel

Aquaman has already earned over a billion at the box office, and now attention turns towards the sequel, which we already have a wishlist for.

Thankfully movement is already gearing up for an Aquaman sequel, with scripts being perused now for approval by director James Wan. Warner Bros.is certainly hoping to entice him to direct the sequel, as this film will soon be the highest grossing DC movie ever. Fans are hopeful the director will make a return as well, but at least we know that Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, and most of the cast will be returning if a sequel does happen…at least we hope that’s the case.

In any event, we do have a few ideas of what we’d like to see in an Aquaman sequel, and Wan knows there are plenty of other stories to tell in the world of Aquaman.

“There’s definitely stories, even within the world we’ve created, that you can actually see other storylines [spinning off from] as well,” Wan said. “There’s the Aquaman story, but then there’s the stories of the seven different kingdoms as well. I think those would be very fun to explore.”

Black Manta actor Abdul-Mateen II is excited for the future as well, as there’s plenty of Black Manta left to discover.

“Well, yeah, I mean, this character, he’s all over the canon.” Abdul-Mateen II said to reporters. “He’s in Suicide Squad, we see him in the cartoons, we see him in Young Justice. Yeah, I mean, he’s all over the place, in way that he can get to his means to an end. Right, if you see Aquaman in Justice League, then you know, it’ll make sense for Black Manta to say, ‘Hey! What you doing?’ Pop his head in, wherever he is, he can justify making it his business. I’m looking forward to living long within the DC world, and create a little bit of chaos.”

With that said, we’ve got some ideas of our own, so here are 10 things we want to see in Aquaman 2!

Murk Becoming Like The Comics

Ludi Lin brought the character of Murk to life in Aquaman, but admittedly he didn’t look much like the character we know from the comics, at least in his armor.

When debuted though his face is sporting some weird scars, and by the film’s end his hand is severed thanks to that amazing attack from Mera. He only survives by sticking his head in a toilet, so odds are when we see him next time he’ll be sporting a different look and a new hand. Fans would be pleased if that hand would be sporting a thick blade as it does in the books.

Mera As Queen

Aquaman just became King of Atlantis, so it would probably be much too soon to see him give up the throne. That said, as we’ve seen in more recent comics, things can happen to push him off the throne, and if that happens seeing Mera occupy the throne would be a wonderful way to show another aspect of her character.

You could also theme the story around some of the Jeff Parker run on the character when Aquaman and Mera were trying to fight Chimera. In that story, Mera had to take over ruling Atlantis while Arthur was fighting Chimera on a different front, and this would be a great way to bring back in Xebel andKing Nereus, who see a chance to take the throne while Atlantis is in chaos.

King Shark

King Shark is one of those characters that is so easy to get wrong, but if anyone can make him work, it’s James Wan.

There’s two ways he can be implemented into the Aquaman movie mythos without too much hassle. In recent stories, Shark is a member of the Ninth Tride, one of the ignored districts of Atlantis and one that is mostly ruled by thugs. At one point though, an exiled Aquaman has to lead a rebellion against the tyrannical throne and King Shark and his henchmen end up as part of that rebellion. He’s the perfect amount of comic relief and sheer power, and it could lead to some amazing sequences.

He could also be a part of a team put together by Black Manta to try and kill Arthur and Mera as he did as part of the Hunt Team. In this way, you could give Manta some backup and have an Aquaman vs King Shark fight that would at least look amazing from a visual perspective, though we like the idea of the previous theory better.

Aquaman Punching Superman

At one point during the Rebirth run the surface world was goaded into believing Atlantis was waging war on them, turning Aquaman, Mera, and the rest of the city into enemies of the state. That meant an eventual confrontation with Superman, and it was amazing.

Before that though things are already high octane, as Aquaman and Mera are making their way out of Washington D.C. against wave after wave of the U.S. military, where we really see how powerful these two are alongside each other. Eventually, Superman enters the fray to try and stop them, and Aquaman and Mera just give him a whooping that has to be seen to be believed.

We know this probably won’t happen, but it doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be awesome if it did.

Black Manta Running N.E.M.O

We know Black Manta is going to be the main antagonist for the sequel (at least we expect that to be the case), but he’s not going to be going to battle aline we imagine, and N.E.M.O could be the perfect way to bolster his chances of winning.

During Dan Abnett’s run on Aquaman, we discover an organization manipulating things behind the scenes called N.E.M.O. Despite the very on the nose and lame name, the group has considerable power, and at one point Black Manta ends up killing the group’s leader and taking over the operation.

With a secret organization at his disposal, Black Manta goes from a lone ranger wanting revenge to a threat that can alter the situations of nations, and this would be a perfect way for the villain to come back even better in the sequel.

Aqualad

It’s always good to introduce a new character in a sequel, and for Aquaman 2 few hold a higher profile than Aqualad.

That said, you could go a few different ways with this, as there have been several takes on the character. The longest running one is Garth, who would become Aquaman’s sidekick as Aqualad and eventually become his own hero Tempest and a founding member of the Teen Titans. This Aqualad has the normal powers you expect from an Atlantean, but he also commands magical abilities that allow telekineses, travel between dimensions, and telepathy.

The most recent Aqualad goes by Jackson Hyde, though his real name is revealed to be Kaldur-ahm. Kaldur’s mother was taken to Xebel while she was pregnant and experimented on, and while those experiments killed his mother he gained powers to control water. Kaldur was originally created for Young Justice, but Geoff Johns liked the creation and included him in Brightest Day as a result.

Having Kaldur’s version makes more sense in an Aquaman sequel, as you could introduce a new character experimented on by Xebel to tip the balance in their favor. Mera already has ties to Xebel, and this could result in a full war between Atlantis and Xebel with the surface caught in the middle. Having the new Aqualad as their weapon first and then switching sides to be on Aquaman’s side could work, especially if it is Mera who eventually gets through his programming thanks to her time living in Xebel.

Harpoon Hand

One of the character’s most memorable moments came during the Peter David era when the fish that Aquaman commands turned on him and cost him his hand.

Well, turning on him might be inaccurate. The incident happened thanks to the villain Charybdis, who took away Arthur’s ability to command sea life. After he did this he stuck Arthur’s hand in water surrounded by piranhas, who looked at his hand as a late night snack and only left the raw skeleton of his hand remaining.

He would eventually replace this hand with a harpoon that also acted as a grappling hook, and later it would be replaced by a water hand. We aren’t sure if the movie would actually go as far as to have Momoa’s Aquaman lose his hand in a sequel, but then again they could at least give homage to it at some point, and fans would be pretty happy with that as well.

The Others

 

The first Aquaman introduced fans to the seven kingdoms of Atlantis, but the sequel could introduce some new concepts with the reveal of The Others.

Fans of Geoff John’s run on Aquaman (referenced a lot on this list) will remember this storyline for revealing that Aquaman had a prior team before joining the Justice League. They resurface after some time has passed, and end up guarding the ancient artifacts of Atlantis, which could also be introduced in a sequel if the studio so chooses.

If there’s a way to implement them into the story, even if we don’t get to meet them all, they could be immensely entertaining. The Others include Aquaman (the group’s leader), Ya’Wara, The Operative, Kahina the Seer, Vostok-X, Sky Alchesay, Sayeh, and Prisoner of War. Introducing these characters would definitely shake up the power pool, as Ya’Wara can command jungle cats and Sky can communicate with the dead. Each member has their own specialty and seeing how Arthur and Mera deal with them could make for some amazing sequences.

Mera and Ocean Master Team-Up

During the recent Mera series she ended up having to approach Xebel about allying themselves with Aquaman’s forces to overtake Corum Rath, and during that mission, she ended up teaming up with the Ocean Master.

As we know from the movie, Orm survives the film and is taken into custody after seeing his mother alive. This means we could very well see him in Aquaman 2, and having him pair up with Mera (who he was supposed to marry) would make for some interesting sequences since he probably resents her and we know she doesn’t love him.

It would also allow Orm a chance to try his hand at being on the right side for a chance, though he could double-cross Mera at any point, providing the necessary tension to keep things lively. Seeing Mera and Orm square off at some point would be fantastic, but so would seeing them attempt to work together.

Vulko Controls The Trench

We all want to see The Trench make another appearance in the sequel, and the Throne of Atlantis storyline could be the perfect answer.

This storyline involves Ocean Master and Aquaman at odds with one another, but the movie could switch it up with someone else (possibly like Corum Rath) as the opposition. Essentially to draw Aquaman back to the throne Vulko finds a way to control the Trench and has them attack the surface world.

It would give Willem Dafoe a much meatier part to play as Vulko than he had in the original, and they could even twist this a bit to have Vulko do it out of a sense of bringing out a better and stronger king from Arthur. If that’s the case, he could also work with Black Manta, meaning Arthur, Mera, and Atlantis would go to war with Black Manta and his army of The Trench. Yeah, you can sign us up now.