Aquaman director James Wan talks about the Atlantis plot hole in Justice League

Now that Aquaman has proven to be a real winner for the DCEU, many fans have questions about what they consider to be inconsistencies in the story.

In 2017, audiences were more fully introduced to some DC characters such as The Flash and Aquaman thanks to Justice League. And now we have been treated to Aquaman’s solo movie, which gave us a whole new world to appreciate.

However, with the introduction of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, many people are asking questions about what they see as a plot hole from Justice League, which saw Arthur Curry’s hero head under the water to meet with people from Atlantis and some of the other underwater kingdoms. Fans have been asking how Arthur could be so in awe of Atlantis if he had already been there before.

As Heroic Hollywood points out, the answer is very simple (and we agree). It’s because in Justice League, Aquaman never actually made it to Atlantis. As James Wan, the director of the solo movie explained, in Justice League, “It wasn’t Atlantis. I spoke with Zack [Snyder] early on, and Zack mentioned that the location that Aquaman swims to in Justice League is an outpost,” Wan said in an interview with the Huffington Post.

Having seen both movies, it makes perfect sense that the location seen in Justice League is not actually in Atlantis. In fact, the scene from Justice League looks a lot like the location in Aquaman where King Orm met with King Nereus to discuss the dangers of the people on land. Clearly in Aquaman, this location was outside of Atlantis, and acted as a meeting place for different kingdoms.

For James Wan, this was important because he wanted Arthur to be able to enter Atlantis for the first time in his solo movie. It was a chance to show the wonder and awe of the kingdom from different perspectives. And with our hero seeing the beauty of this kingdom for the first time with us, it makes the entire scene more impactful.

According to Wan, “It wouldn’t be the same if Arthur goes to Atlantis and he’s been here before and he’s kind of jaded about it. There’s nothing impressing him.”

And it makes perfect sense, because his wide-eyed wonder made it that much more intense in the scene. We are getting the chance to see not only this wonderful kingdom that has never been seen before, but we are watching someone who is destined to rule Atlantis see it for the first time. It was a scene that really was awe-inspiring.

Based on what James Wan has to say and what we saw in these two movies, this Justice League plot hole really does not exist. And while we can’t say that there are no other plot holes in Aquaman, this is one we never even considered.