First look at Jason Momoa in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Jason Momoa is back as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, the half-human/half-Atlantean King of the Seven Seas. The first Aquaman movie came out in 2018 and is, to date, the most successful DC movie ever. And I don’t just mean the most successful movie in the loosely conglomerated network of films sometimes referred to as the DCEU, which kicked off in 2013 with Man of Steel and has been in varying states of spinning out ever since. I mean that Aquaman is the most successful film ever to feature a character from DC Comics, having taken home $1.14 billion at the box office.

This is fairly wild to me, because when you think of iconic DC superheroes, Aquaman — who’s powers include swimming fast and talking to fish — probably isn’t the first name that comes to mind. So what accounts for the huge success of the first movie? It might be star Jason Momoa, who sweats charisma and bleeds star quality. Ever since he played Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones, fans have known there’s something special about him, and now Warner Bros. Discovery is banking on that something to carry them to another windfall.

That said, the DCEU has diminished greatly since the days of Aquaman. The latest entry, Blue Beetle, hasn’t even made back its production budget yet. Before that, The Flash movie skittered against the pavement and crashed into a brick wall. Can Aquaman and the Last Kingdom get people excited about DC yet? Take a look at the teaser trailer below and decide for yourself:

Is Amber Heard in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?

I’m usually loathe to highlight these trailers for trailers — like, just give me the trailer or don’t bother me — but I am interested in seeing if Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom can come anywhere close to the success of the first film. Just how much is Jason Momoa’s star power worth?

The movie itself will pit Aquaman against the villain Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who wants revenge on Aquaman for the death of his father in the first film. Patrick Wilson will return as Aquaman’s brother and Nicole Kidman as his mother.

And then there’s Amber Heard as Mera, Aquaman’s wife. Her presence could present some complications. Since the first movie, she went through an extremely public defamation trial involving her ex-husband Johnny Depp. The backlash was messy. Afterwards, there were rumored that Heard’s role in the new movie was being cut back or even eliminated, although her representatives have dismissed these reports.

We’ll see for sure when Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom comes out in theaters on December 20. We’ll also get a full trailer this week.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels