‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ still has no trailer, but evidence suggests DC’s next bomb is clinging to its dead-weight release date

To get the clearest picture of the downfall of the DCEU, just look at the differing releases of 2018’s Aquaman and its upcoming sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The first outran mixed reviews to swim past the coveted $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, becoming the most successful entry in its franchise. The second, meanwhile, is coming out in just over 100 days and it doesn’t even have a trailer yet.

Obviously, a lot of what’s stacked up against Aquaman 2 is beyond its control — the strikes, Amber Heard’s legal drama, the lingering effects of the pandemic on cinema — but, regardless, it seems like the world is far less hyped for a sequel to a record-breaking, globally popular superhero blockbuster than it should be. With Dune Part Two already vacating this year’s slate in order to be given more room to breathe in 2024, you’d think Warner Bros. might give The Lost Kingdom the same treatment. But, nope, that’s apparently not the plan.

via Warner Bros.

As you may have seen, Aquaman 2 action figures are already beginning to hit shelves in various international territories, so the rollout of the merchandise tie-ins highly indicates that the studio is fully prepared to stick with its planned Dec. 20 release date, even if the movie seems doomed to sink rather than soar given how things are going. We’re living in an improbable time when toys — that curiously look nothing like Amber Heard — are releasing before a trailer.

Without any new DC movies coming in 2024, as James Gunn’s DCU doesn’t kick off until 2025, it wouldn’t cause too much of a kerfuffle to the long-term plans to push Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom into next year, when its cast can actually promote it and the hype levels have risen a little. And yet WB appears dead-set on sticking to this dead-weight release schedule.

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Taika Waititi has more ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ crimes to answer for after junked LGBTQ+ romance rumors

Although Thor: Ragnarok was showered with near-universal praise, one element that was criticized was the removal of any hint at Valkyrie’s bisexuality. Once upon a time, it looked like this was all set to be fixed in Thor: Love and Thunder when Tessa Thompson announced to the whooping Comic-Con crowd back in 2019 that the four-quel would see Valkyrie on the search for “her queen,” now that she was king of New Asgard. Well, needless to say, the absence of such a plotline was one of LAT‘s many drawbacks.

Fresh details on what may have been planned have now emerged, however, pointing to which familiar character from Thor lore might’ve become Valkyrie’s queen in earlier versions of the film. First of all, recently unearthed storyboards depict a deleted scene in which Lady Sif was rescued by Valkyrie from Gorr’s attack on New Asgard. Valkyrie would’ve then taken Sif to the infirmary, establishing a friendship between the two women.

New storyboards from a deleted Thor: Love and Thunder scene show Valkyrie and Sif (re)uniting during the Battle of New Asgard!

Valkyrie was supposed to grab Sif out of battle and take her to New Asgard’s infirmary, but this sadly got deleted. pic.twitter.com/6JFOCBPLqu

— Thor Updates (@ThorUpdate) September 4, 2023

According to scooper MyTimeToShineHello, though, this friendship would have developed into something more of a junked subplot, with Sif “supposed to be [Valkyrie’s] girlfriend and then queen.”

Image via X/Twitter

When speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 2022 about Valkyrie’s lack of love interest in Thor 4, Thompson admitted the team “had lots of conversations about it” but argued that making the character’s journey about “trying to learn how to love… herself” was preferable as Thompson even argued that defining her by a romance would be “minimizing her humanity” and equates to negative queer representation. “I think that’s just a stronger message, no matter what your orientation,” she said, on the importance of Valkyrie being single.

While Thompson raises interesting points, the fact that she proudly proclaimed one thing on stage at San Diego only for the finished film to depict something entirely different makes it plain that Love and Thunder underwent some huge story shifts during production. Sif becoming queen of New Asgard would’ve been a neat nod to her Norse myth origins, in which she is Thor’s queen, and finally given Alexander something more to do as the warrior. Sadly, a Valkyrie-Sif romance wasn’t to be, however. But, hey, if Taika Waititi really wants to make Thor 5 then that’s one thing he can belatedly deliver.

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South Africa Wicketkeeper-Batter Quinton de Kock to Retire from ODIs After World Cup 2023

After making his ODI debut in 2013, Quinton de Kock has played 140 matches, amassing 5966 runs at an average of 44.85, with 17 tons and 29 half-centuries.

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Asia Cup 2023: Sri Lanka Opt to Bat First Against Afghanistan; Both Teams Unchanged

Both the teams have gone unchanged for this crucial Group B clash.

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