History YMMV / Aquaman2018

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Starring the most infamous MemeticLoser in comics (mostly [[AudienceColoringAdaptation for people not familiar with recent comics]]), and coming off the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', many thought ''Aquaman'' was doomed going in, although the lack of TroubledProduction news, the choice of Creator/JamesWan to direct and his proactive approach on social media throughout the production time gave a fair chunk of hope. When the movie released, it became a box office juggernaut that quickly outgrossed ''Justice League'' globally, and now has become the highest grossing film ''in the entire franchise''. And its critical reception is warm enough to invoke this as well.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Starring the most infamous MemeticLoser in comics ([[AudienceColoringAdaptation for people not familiar with recent comics]]), and coming off the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', many thought ''Aquaman'' was doomed going in, although the lack of TroubledProduction news, the choice of Creator/JamesWan to direct and his proactive approach on social media throughout the production time gave a fair chunk of hope. When the movie released, it became a box office juggernaut that quickly outgrossed ''Justice League'' globally, and now has become the highest grossing film ''in the entire franchise''. And its critical reception is warm enough to invoke this as well.

* CaptainObviousReveal: Queen Atlanta [[spoiler: actually being alive all this time]] becomes incredibly obvious because the characters [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial won't shut up about how she's totally dead]], she's shown to be a badass in the movie opening and it seems strange such a competent fighter could be so easily killed off, and thirdly she's played by Nicole Kidman - no way they were only going to use her for ten minutes. Plus the MissingMom trope is so overdone in superhero movies that audiences are understandably sick of it.

** Speaking about a misguided younger half-(adopted) brother with a narrow clean-shaven face, slicked back hair and [[https://imgur.com/a/0LGLyVg stylish costumes]] who has picked up FantasticRacism and a pole weapon from his father, loves his mother, holds the throne for a while, serves as a primary antagonist, lies and schemes, uses a secondary villain as a pawn, tries to murder his elder heroic brother, wants to die after he is defeated but lives, is imprisoned for his crimes and may have a shot at redemption further down the line... Orm's and [[Film/{{Thor}} Loki's]] stories echo each other as well. Orm's actor [[https://www.fandom.com/articles/aquaman-villain-thanos-loki acknowledged it]] as well.

** Speaking about a misguided younger half-(adopted) brother with a narrow clean-shaven face, slicked back hair and stylish costumes who has picked up FantasticRacism and a pole weapon from his father, loves his mother, holds the throne for a while, serves as a primary antagonist, lies and schemes, uses a secondary villain as a pawn, tries to murder his elder heroic brother, wants to die after he is defeated but lives, and may have a shot at redemption further down the line... Orm's and [[Film/{{Thor}} Loki's]] stories echo each other as well.

** Queen Atlanna shares a lot in common with [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp Janet van Dyne]], both being loving mothers of one of their film's main protagonists [[spoiler:who are initially believed to have died years before the film, but are revealed to be still alive; alone and trapped in nightmare worlds, but surviving through sheer badass effort]]. Meta-bonus that both are played by [[Creator/MichellePfeiffer veteran]] [[Creator/NicoleKidman actresses]] who each starred in a Batman movie.

** Queen Atlanna shares a lot in common with [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp Janet van Dyne]], both being loving mothers of one of their film's main protagonists [[spoiler:who are initially believed to have died years before the film, but are revealed to be still alive; alone and trapped in nightmare worlds, but surviving through sheer badass effort]]. They also are played by [[Creator/MichellePfeiffer older]] [[Creator/NicoleKidman actresses]] who starred in a Batman movie.

* CaptainObviousReveal: Queen Atlanta [[spoiler actually being alive all this time]] becomes incredibly obvious because the characters [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial won't shut up about how she's totally dead]], she's shown to be a badass in the movie opening and it seems strange such a competent fighter could be so easily killed off, and thirdly she's played by Nicole Kidman - no way they were only going to use her for ten minutes. Plus the MissingMom trope is so overdone in superhero movies that audiences are understandably sick of it.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Starring the most infamous MemeticLoser in comics ([[AudienceColoringAdaptation for people not familiar with recent comics]]), and coming off the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', many thought ''Aquaman'' was doomed going in (although the lack of TroubledProduction news, the choice of Creator/JamesWan to direct and his proactive approach on social media throughout the production time gave a fair chunk of hope). When the movie released, it became a box office juggernaut that quickly outgrossed ''Justice League'' globally, and now has become the highest grossing film ''in the entire franchise''. And its critical reception is warm enough to invoke this as well.

* UnexpectedCharacter: [[spoiler:Topo, Aquaman's faithful octopus friend, has a cameo as Wan's nod to the goofier parts of the Silver Age. And not even his more modern form of a giant Kraken-like beast -- he's just a friendly octopus playing the drums.]]

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Starring the most infamous MemeticLoser in comics (for people not familiar with recent comics), and coming off the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', many thought ''Aquaman'' was doomed going in (although the lack of TroubledProduction news, the choice of Creator/JamesWan to direct and his proactive approach on social media throughout the production time gave a fair chunk of hope). When the movie released, it became a box office juggernaut that quickly outgrossed ''Justice League'' globally, and now has become the highest grossing film ''in the entire franchise''. And its critical reception is warm enough to invoke this as well.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Starring the most infamous MemeticLoser in comics (for people not familiar with recent comics), and coming off the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', many thought ''Aquaman'' was doomed going in (although the lack of TroubledProduction news, the choice of Creator/JamesWan to direct and his proactive approach on social media throughout the production time gave a fair chunk of hope). When the movie released, it became a box office juggernaut that quickly outgrossed ''Justice League'' globally, and is now set to become the highest grossing film ''in the entire franchise''. And its critical reception is warm enough to invoke this as well.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Starring the most infamous MemeticLoser in comics, and coming off the BoxOfficeBomb of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', many thought ''Aquaman'' was doomed going in (although the lack of TroubledProduction news, the choice of Creator/JamesWan to direct and his proactive approach on social media throughout the production time gave a fair chunk of hope). When the movie released, it became a box office juggernaut that quickly outgrossed ''Justice League'' globally, and is now set to become the highest grossing film ''in the entire franchise''. And its critical reception is warm enough to invoke this as well.

* AwardSnub: The news that the film would not be nominated for a Best Visual Effects [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] caused a minor controversy, especially since even the film's detractors generally admit it had spectacular CGI work. There's some suspicion that it was payback for the highly controversial win of ''Film/SuicideSquad'' in the same category.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Both Aquaman and, to a lesser extent, Black Manta were thought of as jokes for decades. The film takes great effort in showing both at the tops of their games.

* AwardSnub: The news that the film would not be nominated for a Best Visual Effects [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] caused a minor controversy, especially since even the film's detractors generally admit it had spectacular CGI work.

** Queen Atlanna shares a lot in common with [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp Janet van Dyne]], both being loving mothers of one of their film's main protagonists [[spoiler:who are initially believed to have died years before the film, but are revealed to be still alive; alone and trapped in nightmare worlds, but surviving through sheer badass effort]]. They also are played by [[Creator/MichellePfeiffer older]] [[actresses Creator/NicoleKidman]] who starred in a Batman movie.

* IncestYayShipping: Arthur/Orm is disturbingly popular on Archive on Our Own. They're even the FandomPreferredCouple on that site, having 130 stories while the official couple, Arthur/Mera only has 41.

** Queen Atlanna shares a lot in common with [[Film/AntManAndTheWasp Janet van Dyne]], both being loving mothers of one of their film's main protagonists [[spoiler:who are initially believed to have died years before the film, but are revealed to be still alive; alone and trapped in nightmare worlds, but surviving through sheer badass effort]].

** Likewise, fans of this movie also enjoy ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' and vice-versa since both movies offer diverse representation of non-white and female comic book heroes.

** The appearance of Creator/JulieAndrews, Film/MaryPoppins herself, as a sea creature becomes this since the film opens against ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'', in which Andrews declined to appear.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: A hero of mixed heritage and played by an actor of Polynesian descent being discriminated by a society whose members are played by ([[Creator/LudiLin mostly]]) white actors, in a story whose major theme is about how the two heritages are part of the same world, not two separate ones, and should play nice with each other. At this point, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that the movie is an immigration allegory.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: China ''loves'' this film; in its opening weekend alone it outgrossed ''any'' previous Warner Brothers film, had the largest December opening in Chinese history and is now on its merry way to surpass the already ridiculously successful (and also much more warmly received there) ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'' as the second most successful superhero movie in the country after ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' -- and it got an extension for its screenings there until February 2019 on top of this, which is a rare thing for foreign movies playing in the country. It got [[https://www.weibo.com/p/100120179340 very positive reviews]], with [[https://movie.douban.com/subject/3878007/ Douban]] (China's equivalent to Rotten Tomatoes) giving it an 8.1/10, with hundreds of thousands of viewers giving it an average rating of 4/5 stars.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** Sticking to Creator/JamesWan's expressed deliberate GenreThrowback to old-school adventure films where Arthur and Mera are on a treasure hunt against Black Manta instead of having the movie be about a fairly generic TheChosenOne plot would've most likely made it stand out among other superhero films.
** While it allowed the movie to be more standalone, the film failed to take advantage of the golden opportunity to tie into the New Gods MythArc ''Justice League'' established by having [[ETGaveUsWiFi Atlantis's technological advancements be related to the Mother Box under their possession]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Sticking to Creator/JamesWan's expressed deliberate GenreThrowback to old-school adventure films where Arthur and Mera are on a treasure hunt against Black Manta instead of having the movie be about a fairly generic TheChosenOne plot would've most likely made it stand out among other superhero films.

* {{Narm}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhfnTs0RZLs "Ocean to Ocean,"]] Music/{{Pitbull}}'s song for the movie. That it covers "Africa" by Music/{{Toto}} is an...interesting choice, and the use of the song is rather jarring when it appears in the actual film (set to a slow-mo walk, no less).