History Fridge / Aquaman2018

* Why did Orm fight Arthur outside of water were Arthur had the advantage? Because now that Arthur has the trident and can command all of the sea creatures along with the Karathen, there's no way he could win underwater. The fact that Orm tried to instigate a one-on-one fight shows that he acknowledges that he can't beat Arthur even with his armies underwater so he had to risk fighting Arthur on the surface in spite of the disadvantage.

* Mera doesn’t wear her crown throughout the film, mirroring her conflict with royalty about its decision and drive to wage war on the surface. It’s not until Arthur proves himself worthy of the trident that she wears her crown with pride, siding with a member of Atlantean royalty who actually means well for all.

* Analyzing King Nereus after the film’s done actually paints a compelling picture of him as a surprisingly cunning and savvy politician, far more so than Orm. While Orm is using all of his skills at [[SmugSnake political theater and manipulation]] to try and forge his alliance, none of it ever tricks Nereus, even the FalseFlagOperation, as pointed out by Mera. Nereus shares Orm’s vision of turning the might of Atlantis upon the surface world, but is content to allow Orm to be the public face and main pressure behind the uniting of the kingdoms and to officially fall for his charade of a surface world strike, putting all the risk and blame on Orm. He’s sliding into the KingmakerScenario casually and at Orm’s invitation, with his daughter’ engagement to Orm securing his family’s ascension to the throne of a united Atlantis through her... until she runs away to help Arthur.
** The one manipulation of Orm’s that he does seem to fall for is Orm’s promise to spare Mera, when he fully intends to kill her... unless he knows that a possibility, and is merely ensuring that Orm’s word is on the record in case his ActionGirl of a daughter (who he, at minimum, knows was capable of tossing Orm around with her powers) manages to return to him; with Orm’s ‘’official’’ will being to spare her, all he has to do is publicly assert he’s satisfied with her return, and he’s got a decent chance of preventing her murder.
** And notice, when Arthur arrives at the final battle and turns the tide with the trident of Atlan, Nereus is able to disentangle himself from his alliance with Orm toot-sweet, leaving Orm on his own to suffer the consequences of his failure. And while Nereus clearly didn’t plan for his daughter to fall for Orm’s rival for the throne... that still happened, and he’s still in the same political position he wanted in the first place, though his goal of attacking the surface world has been sacrificed in exchange.

* Orm being a better fighter in the sea and Arthur a better fighter on the surface is actually incorporated into the choreography of their fights with each other. Arthur really, *really* wants to use leverage and his superior strength to throw Orm around, which Orm can easily evade in water, where his greater finesse in swimming allows him to outmaneuver his brother. When fighting underwater, it’s noticeable that Arthur early on tries to grab Orm, only for Orm to easily dodge and begin dominating the fight. When fighting above water, Orm is clearly driven back at Arthur’s leisure.

* Mera eating a rose makes sense when you consider that for people who live under the sea, the diet is bound to be raw meat or plants, since you can’t cook underwater.

** The Fisherman King’s trident is encrusted with jewels, but it’s far too pretty to be used in a fight.
** The Brine King’s trident is a bare trio of metal spikes, but it is a good weapon.
** The tridents used by the normal humans combine functionality and design. Especially Atlan’s trident, which is simple but made of gold, and Nereus's trident, which has a secret blaster weapon.
* Arthur being the first atlantean in millennia to be able to talk to the ocean creatures may seem strange because he's only half atlantean but it actually makes sense. The atlanteans changed drastically over time into 7 different forms. It's likely that even the human looking atlanteans were different from the atlanteans of King Atlan's time and remember that it was during his time that Atlantis sank beneath the oceans. Since atlanteans are really just offshoots of humanity or another branch of humanity, by being a mix of land human and ocean human, Arthur was probably the closest the what the atlanteans were during King Atlan's time.

** The tridents used by the normal humans combine functionality and design. Especially Atlan’s trident, which is simple but made of gold.

** It is so much worse than that. That was a US supercarrier. They're nuclear. They better hope that reactor stays contained or it might render half the city uninhabitable.

** It is 'so' much worse than that. That was a US supercarrier. They're 'nuclear'. They better hope that reactor stays contained or it might render half the city uninhabitable.

* How did Atlanna survive the Trench? By getting to the shores/jungles of the Hidden Kingdom. Atlanteans can breathe underwater, but only their royal members can breathe on the surface. Any normal Atlantean would be stuck in the Trench with no way out, while royal members like Atlanna, Arthur and Mera made it to the Kingdom's shores, though they'd be trapped with no way out.

* How did Atlanna survive the Trench? [[spoiler: By getting to the shores/jungles of the Hidden Kingdom. Atlanteans can breathe underwater, but only their royal members can breathe on the surface. Any normal Atlantean would be stuck in the Trench with no way out, while royal members like Atlanna, Arthur and Mera made it to the Kingdom's shores, though they'd be trapped with no way out.]]
* Orm gives Mera a bracelet, saying it was his mother's. [[spoiler: As it was a tracking beacon, he may have been telling the truth, because how did the Atlantean guards track down Atlanna at the lighthouse? And while she had switched to wearing human clothes, the bracelet was stored with her Atlantean things somewhere.]]

* The film is mainly concerned with the dynasty of the Atlantean monarchy, but Black Manta is from a dynasty of pirates, starting with his grandfather, who was a frogman in World War II nicknamed "Manta" for his stealth and turned pirate after he was mistreated in the U.S. Black Manta's destiny to be a great supervillain born of this dynasty is right there [[MeaningfulName in his name]]: he's David Kane, son of Jesse Kane. In the Bible, David, son of Jesse, became a great king of Israel.

* The film is mainly concerned with the dynasty of the Atlantean monarchy, but Black Manta is from a dynasty of pirates, starting with his grandfather, who was a frogman in World War II nicknamed "Manta" for his stealth and turned pirate after he was mistreated in the U.S. Black Manta's destiny to be a great supervillain born of this dynasty is right there [[MeaningfulName in his name]]: he's David Kane, son of Jesse Kane. In TheBible, David, son of Jesse, became a great king of Israel.

* Crossing over with Fridge Horror: Why don't any other members of the Justice League investigate or help Arthur against the threat? Probably because Orm sent tsunamis against coastal cities around the world, so Superman and the others are likely too busy trying to help save victims of that attack.

* Nicole Kidman, at 5'11", is typically filmed, costumed, or arranged on sets such that she appears not to be taller (and often looking shorter) than her shorter male co-stars. In this film, they make no attempt to hide the fact she's significantly taller than Temuera Morrison (who is just under 5'8"). Which makes perfect sense; in their relationship, Atlanna is physically superior and the warrior compared to Thomas Curry, and her being tall helps explain why Arthur, at 6'4" is so much larger than his father.

** Neither Arthur nor Mera are never shown coughing out water from their lungs whenever they go back into the air, but this is more fridge brilliance. Arthur was practiced at moving between land and sea, so perhaps he developed a method to quickly expel both air and water from his lungs when moving between. Mera, while seemingly not fond of the surface, has been shown to move between both sea and surface on at least a few occasions, such as when she summons Arthur. Orm, however, has been in the sea his entire life.

* The Trench are silent and deadly. [[spoiler: Stealth matters to fish-like predators with light-sensitive vision who rely on sound/sonar to navigate.]]