Although it may seem like a lifetime ago, it's actually been less than three years since director Zack Snyder revealed the first look at Jason Momoa as Aquaman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Released in February 2015, the image of the Game of Thrones actor as DC Comics' grim Sea King was emblazoned with the slogan "Unite the Seven," which immediately ignited speculation about who those seven might be: Might Green Lantern join Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg in Justice League, officially announced just four months earlier?

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Momoa's Aquaman, Ezra Miller's The Flash and Ray Fisher's Cyborg had only the briefest of cameos in Batman v Superman, which included no sign of a Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, John Stewart or otherwise. And by the time the marketing began to ramp up for Justice League, "Unite the Seven" was all but forgotten by everyone but fan artists, replaced first on posters by "Unite" and then, briefly, by "Unite the League." That, of course, raises the question of why Warner Bros. abandoned "Unite the Seven."

Aquaman Unite the Seven promo

We might theorize that the slogan was too esoteric, holding little meaning to anyone beyond DC Comics fans, who would know there were seven founding members of the Justice League of America (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter). Or that the studio, or Snyder, changed plans for the film or the larger DC Extended Universe, dropping Green Lantern before production began.

But there's another, far more likely, option: "Unite the Seven" never had anything to do with the Justice League; instead, it was always about Aquaman.

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The clearest indication of that arrives in a recent interview in which Momoa offered broad details of director James Wan's film. “In the story, we’re going to see a couple different younger versions of me," the actor said. "And even before I was born, so you’ll know where my mother came from, Atlantis. We’ve got to establish seven different kingdoms and the threat.”

It's that final sentence that's most pertinent, of course, as it's presumably a reference to DC Comics' seven ancient kingdoms of Atlantis -- also known as the Seven Seas -- four of which were destroyed centuries ago when the grief-stricken King Atlan sunk the fabled land in the midst of a civil war. Only Xebel, the Trench and Atlantis itself remained, each evolving separately, with the inhabitants of the first two awaiting the return of their "true" ruler. That day arrived when Atlan was inadvertently awakened centuries later in Antarctica by Aquaman, and arose as the Dead King, determined to reclaim his throne.

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It's part of a secret history of Atlantis introduced in 2013 by writer Geoff Johns just before he left DC's Aquaman. Aided by Mera and their allies, Aquaman defeated the Dead King and took back the crown. However, in the closing pages of Aquaman #25, King Nereus of Xebel sought out Aquaman's brother Orm (aka Ocean Master) to pledge his loyalty and share the location of the Seven Seas, whose seven kings would once again rule the world.

From Aquaman #25 (2013)

Those revelations were intended by Johns to lay the groundwork for "Rise of the Seven Seas," a planned crossover that would require the assistance of the Justice League. "It’s too big for him to handle alone," Johns said, "so the Seven Seas, the seven members of the Justice League — it’s all going to be a nice, big story.” However, despite an announcement from Johns in November 2015 that he and artistic collaborators Ivan Reis and Joe Prado had begun work on the project, it's yet to materialize. It's entirely possible that Johns, DC Entertainment's president and chief creative officer, borrowed some of those elements for the Aquaman film's story, which he developed with Wan. The casting of Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus in the 2018 film may add credence to that. There's also that matter of Graham McTavish's "secret" role, which we could wildly speculate is that of Atlan, whether in flashback or as the Dead King returned for his throne.

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“Surpassing Justice League, this moment in time is his [Aquaman's] call to become king," Momoa said in that interview. "The only thing that can save Atlantis is me fighting my own brother. There’s a big battle, and there’s an epic [fight]. It’s also a big road movie, because we travel all over the world. It’s got that Star Wars quality of gigantic ships and guys riding sharks. It’s going to be this whole world you’ve never seen before. You’re going to see him start as this guy who probably rides bikes, works on cars. You get to see him this one way as kind of a dirty, dark, drunkard, and then turn into this regal king.”

The arc, as Momoa relates it, could foreseeably carry echoes of DC's "Secret of the Seven Seas" storyline, only with Momoa's Aquaman only ascending the throne after embracing his Atlantean heritage and coming to the aid of an undersea kingdom once again in peril. Whether that might be at the hands of Atlan, Nereus or simply Ocean Master and Black Manta remains to be seen.

Whatever the case, we can likely expect "Unite the Seven" to resurface soon, just not for Justice League 2.


Opening Friday nationwide, Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.

Arriving Dec. 21, 2018, director Jame Wan's Aquaman stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman/Arthur Curry, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Amber Heard as Mera, Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, Temuera Morrison as Thomas Curry, Dolph Lundgren as Nereus, Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, Ludi Lin as Murk, and Michael Beach as Jesse Kane.