Aquaman (2018) was an enormous hit. It grossed over $1 billion at the global box office and received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the charisma of Jason Momoa and the stylish direction of James Wan. A sequel seemed as though it would be a simple proposition, but the more time that’s passed, the more Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom appears to be a struggle.
Some light has recently been shed on the film’s production. Most of the reasons are predictable, like reshoots and nonstop test screenings, but one is not. It turns out that Batman has become a bigger point of concern for the film’s producers than Aquaman himself, due to the constant changes within the DC continuity, per The Hollywood Reporter. Not only is Batman scheduled to appear in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but two different Batman actors shot scenes!
It started in 2022. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom wrapped production in January, but shifting executives and a desire to bolster the film’s appeal led to reshoots being done during the summer. It was during this time that former DC president Walter Hamada decided to make Batman (Michael Keaton) the DC equivalent of the MCU’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and serve as a veteran who could appear in different films to connect the dots. The decision made sense at the time; Keaton had just wrapped production on Batgirl, and seemed interested in reprising the character a second time.
Then the complications occurred. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was originally supposed to open a few months before The Flash, but additional reshoots led to it being pushed to December. Keaton plays Batman in The Flash, but let’s just say that his ability to help others gets compromised by the end of the film, which meant that it wouldn’t make sense for him to appear in the aforementioned Aquaman sequel.
Is Batman in Aquaman 2?
Enter Ben Affleck. The actor also appeared in The Flash, but in a much smaller role, so producers thought bringing him into the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom would be an easy way to smooth over plot holes. Affleck redid a scene that Keaton had already shot, but once again, changes to The Flash meant changes to the Aquaman film. The ending scene for The Flash, which was a last minute addition, saw Affleck’s Batman get wiped from the DC Extended Universe timeline and replaced with George Clooney’s version of the character. More plot holes.
The latest cut of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has neither Keaton nor Affleck. The producers couldn’t figure out a way to include them without impeding on the events of The Flash, and DC co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran were leery about teasing a shared universe that would never be expanded upon in future films. One DC source put it nicely: “It was pretty chaotic.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom still has a Dec. 20 release date, and will mark the end of the DCEU that started with Man of Steel in 2013. Despite all of the drama surrounding the film, Wan assures fans that it’ll be worth the wait. “[It’s] a fun action-fantasy movie,” he noted. Let’s hope he’s right.