While Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman is technically a prequel within the grander scope of the growing DC Extended Universe -- primarily set during the events of World War I -- what has remained unclear is exactly how the franchise's in-development projects will fit into the timeline post-Justice League. After all, given the established history of the characters within the canon, there are plenty of opportunities to tell stories set both in the future and in the past. In most cases, the settings of upcoming projects remain a mystery, but I can now confirm that James Wan's Aquaman will be set in the aftermath of Zack Snyder's superhero team-up film. Executive producer Charles Roven told me recently,
Aquaman will make reference [to Justice League]. There will be some reference of something that preceded Aquaman that will be in Aquaman. I believe that is the intention.
The DC Extended Universe timeline was one of the many subjects that I had the opportunity to discuss with Charles Roven at the Los Angeles press day for Wonder Woman earlier this month. We were talking about the franchise and how the solo movies will play off of each other going forward, and Roven revealed that Aquaman will not only be set after Justice League, but have story elements that tie directly back to the November 2017 blockbuster.
Of course, we won't know exactly what part of Justice League will wind up impacting Aquaman until we see Zack Snyder's movie later this year... but it's not hard to see why the film will play a role. After all, not only do Amber Heard's Mera and Willem Dafoe's Nuidis Vulko join Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry in the team-up film, but it's also been confirmed that Atlantis will possess one of the Motherboxes that are key to Justice League's plot. These elements seem to suggest a good bit of Atlantean/human contact, and in the comics, that has sparked some of Aquaman's best stories.
Further discussing possibilities in the future of the DC Extended Universe, Charles Roven also noted that the comic book movie franchise most definitely isn't accepting any limitations when it comes to setting. While it's true that Aquaman will take place after all of the movies we've seen so far, there is still exploration on the table for the many, many years we haven't seen portrayed on the big screen just yet. Said Roven,
James [Wan] definitely knows where he's going with [Aquaman], and that movie takes place in a world where Justice League happened, and Man of Steel happened, and Wonder Woman obviously takes place before Man of Steel -- except for the bookends we have. So that's where we have the most ability to freeform. We could do a movie that takes place after Justice League, we can do a movie that takes place after Batman v Superman... well not really. You can't do a movie in between Batman v Superman and Justice League, but we can do movies that take place after Justice League and we can do movies that precede Justice League.
What do you think will happen in Justice League that winds up affecting the events of Aquaman? Which upcoming DC Extended Universe projects would you like to see set in the past, and which ones should be set in the future? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts, and get ready for Wonder Woman to hit theaters this Friday, June 2nd.
