Aquaman

Aquaman is a 2018 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Aquaman and distributed by Warner Bros. Entertainment. It is the sixth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is directed by James Wan, from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall, and is based on a story written by Geoff Johns, Wan and Beall. Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as the title character, with Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nicole Kidman in supporting roles. It is the third live-action theatrical film featuring Aquaman, following Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017), and the first full-length feature film centered around the character. In the film, the titular character learns he is the heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and must step forward to lead his people against his half-brother, Orm, who seeks to unite the seven underwater kingdoms against the surface world.

Development of an Aquaman film began in 2004, with several plans falling through over the years. In August 2014, Beall and Kurt Johnstad were hired to write two competing scripts and the film was officially announced in October 2014. Wan signed on as director in April 2015 and in July 2016 it was announced that the film would move forward with Beall's screenplay, although Wan, Johnstad, Johns and Johnson-McGoldrick all performed various rewrites. The main cast was confirmed through 2016 and early 2017. Principal photography began in Australia on May 2, 2017. Most of the film was shot at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast, Queensland (with lighthouse scenes shot at the New South Wales coastal village of Hastings Point), with production also held in Canada, Italy and Morocco. Filming ended on October 21, 2017.

Aquaman had its world premiere in London on November 26, 2018, and was released in the United States in Real D 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX and IMAX 3D formats on December 21, 2018. The film grossed over $1.1 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing DCEU film as well as the highest-grossing film based on a DC Comics character, surpassing The Dark Knight Rises; it was also the fifth highest-grossing film of 2018 and 21st highest of all-time. It received praise from critics for its adventurous tone and Wan's direction but received criticism for its dialogue, runtime and convoluted plot. An untitled sequel is set for release on December 16, 2022, and a spin-off, The Trench, is also in development.

Plot
In 1985 Maine, lighthouse keeper Thomas Curry rescues Atlanna, the queen of the underwater nation of Atlantis, during a storm. They eventually fall in love and have a son named Arthur, who is born with the power to communicate with marine lifeforms. Atlanna is forced to abandon her family and return to Atlantis, entrusting her advisor, Nuidis Vulko, with the mission of training Arthur. Under Vulko's guidance, Arthur becomes a skilled warrior but rejects Atlantis upon learning that Atlanna was executed for having a half-breed son.

In the present, several months after Steppenwolf's invasion, Arthur confronts a group of pirates attempting to hijack a Russian Akula-class submarine. Their leader, Jesse Kane, dies during the confrontation while his son, David, vows revenge. Meanwhile, Orm, King of Atlantis and Arthur's half-brother, attempts to convince King Nereus of Xebel to help him unite Atlantis and attack the surface world for harming the oceans. Nereus points out that if Orm succeeds in uniting Atlantis he will receive the title of Ocean Master, commander of the most powerful force on the planet. Their meeting is interrupted when another Russian Akula submarine attacks the meeting place, apparently in retaliation for the previous submarine's sinking. Orm succeeds in destroying it and the attack convinces Nereus to join forces with Orm to defend the oceans. He swears allegiance to Orm's cause, but his daughter Mera, who has been betrothed to Orm, refuses to aid them and journeys to the surface to ask Arthur for help, earning his trust by saving Thomas from a tsunami sent by Orm. Arthur reluctantly accompanies Mera to a rendezvous with Vulko, who urges Arthur to find the Trident of Atlan, a magic artifact that once belonged to Atlantis' first ruler, in order to reclaim his rightful place as king. They are ambushed by Orm's men and Mera and Vulko escape unseen, while Arthur is captured.

Arthur is chained and presented before Orm, who blames Arthur and the surface for Atlanna's death. He offers Arthur an opportunity to leave forever, but Arthur instead challenges him to a duel in a ring of underwater lava. Orm gains the upper hand and nearly kills Arthur before Mera rescues him. Together, Arthur and Mera journey to the Sahara desert where the trident was forged and unlock a holographic message that leads them to Sicily, Italy, where they retrieve the trident's coordinates. Meanwhile, Orm meets David, revealing that the submarine that had attacked them previously was in fact the same one David hijacked and that Orm had hired him to hijack the Russian nuclear submarine so that he could stage a false flag attack from the surface, making it seem like Orm's cause for war is justified and causing King Nereus to side with him. Orm provides David with a prototype Atlantean battle suit to kill Arthur, imprisons Vulko after revealing knowledge of his betrayal, and coerces the Atlantean Kingdom of the Fishermen to pledge their allegiance to him and his campaign against the surface.

After modifying Orm's technology, a fully armored David rechristens himself as Black Manta and ambushes Arthur and Mera in Sicily, grievously injuring Arthur before being thrown off a cliff to his apparent death. Mera nurses Arthur's wounds as they journey to the trident's whereabouts, and encourages him to embrace his destiny as a hero. Arriving at their destination, Arthur and Mera are attacked by the Trench, amphibious monsters, but manage to fend them off and reach a wormhole that transports them to an uncharted sea located at the center of the Earth. There, they are unexpectedly reunited with Atlanna, who was sacrificed to the Trench for her crimes but managed to escape and reach the uncharted sea, where she has been stranded ever since.

Arthur faces Karathen, a mythical leviathan and keeper of the trident, and voices his determination to protect both Atlantis and the surface, proving his worth and reclaiming the trident, which grants him control over the seven seas. Orm and his allies lead an army against the crustacean forces of the Kingdom of the Brine with the intent of completing Orm's surface battle preparations. As Orm declares himself Ocean Master, Arthur and Mera, with the assistance of Karathen and the Trench, intervene and lead an army of marine creatures in a battle against him. Orm's followers renounce their obedience to him and embrace Arthur as the true king upon learning he wields the trident. Arthur defeats Orm in combat but chooses to spare his life and Orm accepts his fate after discovering Arthur has found and rescued Atlanna. Atlanna returns to the surface to reunite with Thomas while Arthur ascends to the throne with Mera by his side.

In a mid-credits scene, David is rescued by Dr. Stephen Shin, a scientist and conspiracy theorist obsessed with the Atlanteans, and agrees to lead Shin there in exchange for his help in his revenge on Arthur.