Aquaman is a 2018 American superhero film based on the DC character of the same name. Co-produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sixth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by James Wan from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall. It stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman, who sets out to lead the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and stop his half-brother, King Orm, from uniting the seven underwater kingdoms to destroy the surface world. Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nicole Kidman appear in supporting roles.
Development began in 2004 but did not gain traction until Man of Steel was released in 2013. In August 2014, Beall and Kurt Johnstad were hired to write competing scripts. Wan signed on as director in April 2015, and in July 2016, the film moved forward with Beall's screenplay. The main cast was confirmed through 2016 and early 2017. Principal photography began in Australia in May 2017, taking place at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, with additional production teams in Canada, Italy and Morocco. Filming concluded the following October. Several vendors provided visual effects, ranging from high-detail hair simulations to the creation of CGI animals and locations.
Aquaman premiered in London on November 26, 2018, and was released in the United States on December 21. While the film received mixed reviews from critics, it grossed $1.152 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing DCEU film, the highest-grossing film based on a DC Comics character, the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2018, and the 20th highest-grossing film of all time. An animated miniseries set after the film, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, aired from October 14 to October 28, 2021, while a live-action sequel film, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, is set to be released on March 22, 2024.
Plot
In 1985 Maine, lighthouse keeper Thomas Curry rescues Atlanna, queen of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, during a storm. They fall in love and have a son named Arthur, who has the power to communicate with sea creatures. When Atlantean soldiers sent by King Orvax (the ruler of Atlantis) arrive for Atlanna, who fled her arranged marriage, she is forced to leave her family to protect them from her people. She promises to return when it's safe and goes back to Atlantis, entrusting her advisor, Nuidis Vulko, to train Arthur. Becoming a skilled warrior, Arthur rejects Atlantis upon learning that Atlanna was executed by Orvax for loving a human and having a half-breed son.
In the present, Arthur has become known as the metahuman dubbed as the "Aquaman" by the public. One year after Steppenwolf's defeat, Arthur confronts pirates hijacking a Russian Akula-class submarine. Their leader, Jesse Kane, is killed, leading his son David to vow revenge. King Orm Marius, Orvax's son (now Atlantis's new ruler) and Arthur's younger half-brother, convinces King Nereus of Xebel to help unite Atlantis and destroy the surface world for polluting the oceans. If Orm unites all four kingdoms, he will receive the title of Ocean Master, commander of the most powerful force on the planet.
Nereus' daughter Mera, betrothed to Orm, refuses to aid them and requests Arthur's help. Arthur accompanies her to Atlantis after Orm sends a tsunami that nearly kills his father. Vulko urges him to find the Trident of Atlan, a powerful artifact of Atlantis' first ruler, to reclaim his rightful place as king. They are ambushed by Orm's men, and Arthur is captured. Orm blames him for Atlanna's death and nearly kills him in a duel before Mera rescues him. Arthur and Mera journey to the fallen Kingdom of the Deserters hidden under the Sahara, where the trident was forged, and unlock a holographic message that leads them to Sicily, Italy, where they retrieve the trident's coordinates.
Orm gives David an Atlantean battle suit to kill Arthur, imprisons Vulko, and coerces the Kingdom of the Fishermen to pledge their allegiance to him by killing their king. It is revealed that Orm hired David and his father to hijack the Russian submarine to win Nereus's support. An armored David rechristens himself Black Manta but Arthur defeats him. Arthur and Mera fend off amphibious monsters of the Trench, and a wormhole transports them to an uncharted sea at the center of the Earth. They are reunited with Atlanna, who was sacrificed to the Trench for Arthur's illegitimate birth 20 years ago. She had survived however, and escaped to the uncharted sea, unable to find her way back.