Aquaman 2 teaser reminds us what we’re missing out on from LEGO

The first teaser trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has arrived, reminding us exactly what we’re missing out on under the current direction of the LEGO DC theme.

LEGO DC is a bit of a misnomer in 2023, as the neglected superhero theme has essentially reverted to 2006’s LEGO Batman. Four new sets debuted under the DC banner this summer, including the theme’s biggest to date in 76252 Batcave – Shadow Box, but the other three were all similar takes on a Bat-vehicle, Batman and the Joker. Anyone hungry for other DC characters has pretty much starved to death by this point.

That’s despite a DC cinematic slate that’s still chugging along, if not going strong, with multiple movies debuting in cinemas in the past 12 months – including Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash – and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on the horizon. None of these films may ‘matter’ to the wider DC Extended Universe, which will be fully rebooted in 2025 with James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, but they still have value as their own stories.

What they seemingly don’t have is merchandising value, or at least according to Warner Bros. and the LEGO Group. It’s impossible to know which of the two partners in that relationship is making the final call to ignore these movies, but the first teaser for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is just another reminder that we’re missing out on what could be some cool sets and characters.

The teaser – which has dropped online ahead of a full first trailer arriving on Thursday, September 14 – re-introduces Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta, who will face off in a sequel that could offer closure for this era of the DCEU. The footage shown off so far includes plenty of fascinating sea creatures, awesome Atlantean architecture and shots of Aquaman looking distressed.

All of that could have served up something very different for LEGO DC (there’s not a Batmobile in sight), but in the absence of any rumours or reveals, it looks like the LEGO Group and Warner Bros. are once again passing up the opportunity to cash in on any hype around a new DC movie. Presumably the two companies are saving all their best material for Superman: Legacy. (We can dream.)

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom arrives in cinemas on December 20, 2023. If you do want a LEGO Jason Momoa fix, his Aquaman minifigure – which debuted in 2017’s 76085 Battle of Atlantis alongside Justice League – is readily available on BrickLink. Black Manta minifigures are a little more expensive, and neither of the two produced so far are specifically based on the DCEU version of the villain.

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