James Gunn might be planning to wipe the slate clean and pretty much destroy the DCEU as we know it, but he’s been a good sport about promoting the DC movies still to come out that were made before his era in charge began. He had kind words to say about Shazam! Fury of the Gods (being one of the only ones, but still) and he’s hyped up The Flash something chronic. Conversely, he’s hardly said a peep about this December’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
While Jason Momoa remains confident that his personal friendship with Gunn’s co-CEO of DC Studios Peter Safran will ensure he’ll have permission to come aboard the rebooted DCU, the odds aren’t looking good for his future in the franchise after increasingly dire discussion surrounding Aquaman 2. Following talk of Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav having no faith in the film, it’s coming out that the underwater sequel is being sent to test screenings over and over again after repeatedly receiving awful scores from early audiences.
In fact, these test screening ratings are so low that Aquaman 2 is the latest superhero movie from the last couple of years that’s being called one of the worst comic book flicks ever made. Those who get a cruel kick out of DC continually falling flat on its face might be entertained by this turn of events, but studio bosses are no doubt going into panic mode as they hope to avoid another disaster of Shazam-ic proportions. Luckily for Gunn, it seems he may already have a back-up plan in place if Lost Kingdom fails.
It’s long been rumored that Momoa could be due to pack up his trident and switch Aquaman for a different DCU role, most likely Lobo. Even if Aquaman 2 does end up stinking out the ocean of superhero cinema, a contingency might already be in place — even if James Gunn is keeping mum on the topic for now.