The DCEU · Connected
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
The final DCEU film; Arthur allies with his imprisoned brother against an old weapon.
One scene during the credits
Availability changes by country and by week, so this searches JustWatch rather than guessing.
Can you skip Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?
Yes, on a first watch. It is self-contained, and nothing in the main DC story depends on it. What it does leave behind is one scene during the credits. In chronological order, reaching it takes about 34h 45m of essential viewing across 16 titles. Show only the DC essentials.
Skippable, and it is the last DCEU film, released into a continuity that had already been publicly cancelled. Everybody involved knew it, and it shows in a film that gestures at consequences it is not allowed to have.
The good idea is the pairing. Arthur has to break his brother out of prison and work with him, which turns the film into a reluctant buddy picture, and the two leads are considerably more fun together than either was apart. Patrick Wilson gets the best material he has had in the role.
Everything around that is diminished from the first film. The budget is on screen in fewer places, the colour and invention that made Atlantis worth looking at are largely gone, and the villain is a man with a trident and a grudge who is possessed by an older and duller one. A long sequence involving an ancient kingdom is exposition delivered by a hologram.
The production was reported as heavily reshot across a long period, and the result has no momentum. It is the quietest possible ending for a universe that began with Man of Steel, and nothing in the DCU acknowledges it.
DC guides
Where it sits in the DC order
- Release order
- #37 of 52
- Chronological order
- #37 of 52
- Released
- 20 December 2023
- In-universe era
- The DCEU
What to watch next
In release order