'Aquaman's' biggest surprise is the fate of the villains
Note: Major ‘Aquaman’ spoilers are below. Don’t take a deep dive unless you’ve seen the movie.
Of all of “Aquaman’s” surprises — including that it was a DC movie that was bright and fun, has the power to make viewers forget about “Justice League” and does not include anyone who has a mother named Martha — perhaps the biggest eye-opener was how the villains were handled.
Namely, they survived. Both of them: Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson) and Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). That’s a superhero movie rarity.
Rematches haven’t been a big thing in the era of superhero cinema, in part because a lot of the excitement of these franchises is seeing who the “new” villain will be in each film. Yes, we know Thanos and his snapping fingers will return soon, but we knew “Avengers: Infinity War” would have a part two. Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment could just call the next “Aquaman” “Round 2.”
Ocean Master spends most of the film planning the demise of both the surface world above water and his bastard brother Aquaman/Arthur Curry, who represented his biggest threat to the underwater throne of Atlantis. He has multiple CGIheavy battles with the brother he never loved and yields in the final battle between the two. He eventually begs Aquaman to kill him for his failure to be victorious in battle.
But Aquaman refuses, giving his dethroned brother the chance to lay eyes on the longlost mother (Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna) they both thought to be dead. Ocean Master realises not only that his mother was still alive but that the brother he thought responsible for her death actually rescued her. In that moment, he seems defanged. With his mother alive, the rage that guided Ocean Master his entire life appears to be put at bay. He’s hauled to an Atlantean prison while Aquaman tells him he’s ready to talk it out and bro hug it up if the time ever comes.
Aquaman isn’t likely to be as forgiving of Black Manta. “Aquaman’s” post-credit scene reveals that the villain survived their battle at the midway point of the movie, after he’s found drifting in the water by Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park), the Atlantis-obsessed television pundit who could be the closest thing to a “new” villain in a potential “Aquaman” sequel.
Black Manta’s rage and Dr. Shin’s obsession seem like the perfect team-up. Could they use Black Manta’s abilities to navigate any depth of the seas and break Ocean Master out of prison in Atlantis to help take down Aquaman? Or will Ocean Master be rehabilitated after being reunited for his mother and fight for Atlantis and the free world beside his newly crowned brother?
Perhaps director James Wan and his team realised that it would be better to bring back two bad guys that look fantastic on the screen (seriously, Ocean Master’s mask alone is a cinematic achievement), than to try to dive into the remains of a rogue gallery that is otherwise severely lacking. You know how superhero movies are so big now that even the bad guys like Venom and the Joker are getting their own movies? Well, don’t expect “Aquaman” to produce such spinoffs. Unless you’re that one fan just dying to see the Marine Marauder.
Setting it up to bring these bad guys back for the next adventure in this franchise was the right call.—