Aquaman gets the How It Should Have Ended Treatment, and it includes a surprise twist with Batman becoming the king of Atlantis instead of Arthur Curry. The first and only DCEU movie to come out last year, the James Wan-directed flick marked Warner Bros.’ return to the superhero film arena after taking more than a year hiatus following Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

Serving as Arthur’s origin story, the film’s events take place after he joined the World’s Finest in their quest to stop Steppenwolf in Justice League. He travels to his mother’s place of origin, Atlantis, to claim the throne in the hopes of stopping his half-brother Orm from waging war on the surface world. The film was a huge success, becoming the highest-grossing DC flick to date. But it turns out, there are better ways to end the film, as suggested by a new video.

How It Should Have Ended on YouTube released their latest video, which tackles Aquaman. Offering a couple of options on how the film should’ve wrapped up - including Tom successfully convincing Atlanna to stay in the surface world instead of returning to Atlantis and Orm tracking Arthur and Mera before they even got out of the water - they then pull out a huge twist for the finale by involving the Justice League. Turns out, Batman could’ve easily sneaked inside the secret hiding place of the Trident of Neptune and got the weapon instead, effectively making him king of Atlantis. The clip also pointed out how Arthur should’ve called for help from the League, considering that they’ve officially become a team before the events of his solo movie rolled out.

As funny as that proposed ending is for Aquaman, the best part of the video is arguably the cafe interaction with Arthur and his co-DC heroes, Batman and Superman. Pointing out how his film made a billion dollars and seeing the reaction from the generally more popular characters was hilarious. At the same time, it also highlights how different Aquaman’s narrative is from Batman and Superman, especially when it comes to having the privilege of still having both his parents around. Obviously, the bit was included because it’s funny, but it might also explain people’s interest in Arthur and his journey, as it’s something that hasn’t really been told on the big screen before.

Sure, Arthur could’ve easily reached out to his other hero friends for help in Aquaman, especially since the fate of the world hung in the balance, but it also makes sense that he would want to deal with the issue himself given that it involves his family. Even if he had never met Orm before his initial visit to Atlantis, perhaps, he was still hoping that they could’ve resolved it internally. It’s doubtful that the League could’ve done something to stop Atlanteans waging a war on the surface world without totally destroying Atlantis - something that Arthur wouldn’t have wanted.

More: Aquaman is a Sequel to Snyder’s Justice League, not Whedon’s

Source: How It Should Have Ended

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