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Aquaman 2 doesn’t look much like the other entries in the DCEU. It has been set up as the finale of Warner Bros.’s troubled cinematic superhero universe, but it would look weird played next to any random entry. The film deviates in setting and scale, but that isn’t the most peculiar element of the outing. Aquaman 2 looks considerably weirder than its franchise-mates, but that isn’t a bad thing. It’s time for superhero movies, especially in the grim and gritty DCEU, to cut loose and get silly.
Aquaman 2 is the Perfect Silly Superhero Movie
Let’s be honest; Aquaman is no one’s favorite DC superhero. He’s lived as a punchline to casual comic book fans since the days of the Superfriends. Warner Bros. can slap his name on Jason Momoa all they want, but he’s still a bit of a joke. The DCEU has struggled to deliver a variety of tones in their work. The early days, dominated by Zack Snyder’s particular preferences, were wall-to-wall angst with occasional breaks for heavy-handed religious symbolism. Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman weren’t much lighter. Shazam and The Suicide Squad eventually broke the mold, but Aquaman was always an outsider among superheroes.
Aquaman 2 looks like a superhero movie that’s miles from its surrounding universe. We know the setting couldn’t be more different, but its presentation is far more interesting. Aquaman rides a seahorse, fights a mechanized crab, and strikes a dramatic pose in his comically shiny armor. These are not out-of-character activities for Aquaman. They are his bread and butter. Every story featuring Aquaman has had to choose one of two paths. They must either represent this silly superhero as he appears in the original comics or bend over backward to change him. Do they let the man stay hilarious or give him a hook for a hand? It’s hard to imagine early DCEU giving him his seahorse mount.
Superhero Movies Must Stop Burying Their Silly Elements
Superhero movies didn’t always embrace their source material. They still drop the ball from time to time, but they used to be actively ashamed of their origins. Remember when the early 2000s X-Men movies put the most iconic superhero team of the era in black leather outfits because yellow spandex was too embarrassing? Imagine if Aquaman 2 had come out during the time of shameful superhero movies. He’d be decked out in a black wetsuit, armed with a tactical black trident, and only ever photographed next to sharks. Though it may be ridiculous, Aquaman 2 can stand as a bulwark against one of the worst notions of superhero cinema.
There’s an infuriating urge of fans and filmmakers to push everything toward the grim and gritty edge of the spectrum. Batman is the most obvious suspect and victim. Every new outing for The Caped Crusader has attempted to deliver a darker tone than its predecessor. The one-time Batman went silly, he was severely punished. Hollywood doesn’t often learn lessons, but it’s still reeling from the rebuke of Batman & Robin. The studios aren’t entirely to blame. A certain subset of fans demands their favorite media “grow up with them” by incorporating more sex and violence with every iteration. This grim march forward has only resulted in the slow death of fun as a virtue. Surely, these comic book movies should put entertainment first. We would argue that coming across as something designed for kids isn’t a bad thing. Aquaman 2 boldly stands in front of its superhero movie compatriots and demands they add some color and chaos.
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Aquaman 2 is a superhero movie that knows where to put its priorities. Not everything needs to be a rainy city, a metaphor for religion, or a quest to save a million lives. When Aquaman first appeared in the DCEU, as a brief trailer in Lex Luthor’s infamous flash drive montage, he looked like an undersea cryptid. James Wan, of all people, had the bright idea to bring the character to the screen with his absurd presentation intact. Even Jason Momoa, the action star who seems to radiate masculinity, fits into this strange little undersea epic without issue. The rest of the DC Universe should take a lesson from Aquaman.
