A Sea of Blood

"Aquaman: The 8th Sea"

Arthur Curry: King of Atlantis, Aquaman of The Justice League, Husband of Mera, and Greatest Superhero in The Seven Seas. King Arthur has been ruling the kingdom of Atlantis for about a year and he's gotten pretty used to it. Arthur's days revolve as such: wake up next to his beautiful wife Queen Mera, eat breakfast with his wife, meet with his council to discuss law, education, work and all manor of subjects regarding his kingdom, then some healthy sparring with assistant Kaldur/Aqualad, he and Mera then walk among Atlantis and interact with it's citizens, Arthur then converses with the JL's agent Maxwell Lord to keep tabs on the League now that Arthur is so busy, he has his grand dinner with all his associates, checks up on former advisor Valko in the prison cells, and then joins his wife for sleep. This is Arthur's life as king. Little does he know, he is being lied to.

On the surface, Queen Mera and Kaldur are attending a UN meeting on Arthur's behalf. As they leave the meeting, a blizzard blows past them and the frozen corpses of soldiers ambush them. The two of them are overpowered and Mera is kidnapped, when she awakens she is being dragged across an ice path over the ocean towards The Bermuda Triangle (also called "The 8th Sea" by Atlanteans) by "The Dead King", the revived body of Atlantis' first king who seeks a realm called Xebel. Mera escapes The Dead King and opens the realm of Xebel, freeing its soldiers. The Xebel leader Nereus greets his to-be-lover with a kiss, but Mera pushes him away and explains The Dead King's desire to find The Xebels. Nereus questions why it took so long for Mera to free them, that the plan called things differently. He is angered to learn she is Queen of Atlantis. Before Nereus can strong-arm Mera, The Dead King arrives.

Back in Atlantis, Kaldur returns weakened by battle and tells Arthur what happened. Arthur goes to Valko and asks about The Dead King. As Valko tells the tale: The Dead King was the first king of Atlantis and responsible for its segregation as Atlantean's with natural magic abilities were deemed "Xebel" and recognized by their red hair. Worried their power where succeed his own, The King tried to imprison them, but a brave Xebel managed to place a curse on The King that would solidify him in ice for as long as the brave Xebel lives. Too weak to kill the Xebel, The King used his own magic powers to create another dimension for the Xebel and lock them away for good. The King was then frozen in the deepest part of Atlantis. Arthur is confused as to what role Mera plays in this and he uses his telepathy with sea-life to find out where Mera is being held. Arthur and Kaldur travel to the Bermuda where Mera and the Xebel people are being held in ice. After freeing them all, The Dead King prepares to kill Arthur and Kaldur, but Mera rallies the Xebel. To her surprise, Nereus and the Xebel agree to side with The Dead King, respecting his rulership to remain even after centuries.

Arthur, Mera and Kaldur fight and escape the Xebel and flee to Atlantis where Arthur prepares his army for war with The Dead King and Xebel. The Dead King and The Xebel's magic are too powerful for Arthur and The Atlantean army and Arthur is forced to use his powers to summon The Kraken from below the city. The Kraken takes out a large portion of the Xebel, but The Dead King is strong enough to kill the beast. The strength needed to control the Kraken weakens Arthur, the combined strength of the Xebel create a current to push the Atlantean army out of the kingdom and Arthur holds onto his kingdom's edge with one hand, but Nereus cuts his hand off and Arthur falls unconscious, leaving The Dead King to take over Atlantis.

Arthur's fever dreams involve the monstrous Trench, the savage Black Manta, the envious Ocean Master, and the overbearing pressure of The Justice League. He hears his father's voice and wakes up in his old bedroom at his father's lighthouse (now with a beard and long hair). During "Aquaman: Throne of Atlantis" the lighthouse was destroyed and sent down the cliff it sat on, but Arthur had asked some Atlantean builders to repair the lighthouse and set in on the cliffside. Valko sits next to Arthur and explains to him that he was in a coma for three months. When Arthur looks at his hand, he sees a golden cap with a ball in the center and a gold brace replacing his hand. He discovers what remained of his army is recovering in the lighthouse, with Kaldur and Valko helping in caring for injured soldiers. Kaldur is especially torn, as his beloved Tula was killed during the war. The Xebel scientist Arion has also joined Arthur's ragtag army, claiming he never wanted to take over Atlantis with Nereus, he simply wanted the Xebel to integrate with them. Arion also built Arthur's Xebelion Hand. This hand can control and shape water in the same way the Xebel can naturally control water, tools like the Xebelion Hand are created to help struggling Xebel practice their powers. After creating a solid-water hand, Arthur also notices that Arion designed two Xebelion Wands for Kaldur to create solid-water weapons. Arthur wants the truth about Mera's place in all this. Arion claims Mera was raised alongside Nereus and was betrothed to him. When a small breach opened in Xebel, Mera was sent out to sneak into Atlantis, take over and release the Xebel to rule Atlantis, but Mera fell in love with Arthur and saw the error of her plans.

Knowing they are underpowered and the involvement of The League would only lessen Arthur's effectiveness as a king, Arthur and his group plan a sneak attack. Atlantis has been set back to the old ways of rulership, where crimes and heresy are solved with executions. The Dead King has reassumed his throne, elected Nereus as his prince, Ocean Master/Orm as his advisor, and locked Mera up until she agrees to marry Nereus. Arthur, Kaldur, Valko, Arion and about twenty Atlantean soldiers split into groups and enter Atlantis from all sides, using disguises to fit in. The Dead King has used his magic to remove all the water from his castle and prevent Mera's powers, so Arthur goes solo and uses his water hand as a harpoon to grapple up the castle wall. He goes to free Mera, but Nereus spots him and sets off an alarm. Kaldur leads the soldiers to release imprisoned troops as they take back Atlantis from the inside. Arthur creates a sword from his Xebelion Hand and swordfights with Nereus. Arthur defeats Nereus, but he doesn't kill him, he instead frees Mera from the cage and Mera uses her regained powers to use Arthur's Xebelion Hand to aim a knife at Nereus' throat. She too refuses to kill him as proof of her devotion to Arthur. Arthur, Mera and Kaldur gather to fight The Dead King, but he is yet again too powerful. As the fight goes on, Valko and Arion use Atlantis' alarm system to rally both The Atlanteans and The Xebel together to help defeat The Dead King, claiming his rule is not for the needs anyone but himself. The Atlanteans and The Xebel-Nereus and Orm included-help fight The Dead King by attack him and/or cheering Arthur on. During the fight, Arthur senses something below Atlantis awakening from the sound of battle. He ventures below, seemingly retreating, but he returns riding the child of the Kraken. Mera hands him his trident and Arthur commands the Kraken's child to constrict The Dead King. By combining their magical powers, The Xebel seal The Dead King into the realm he trapped them into. Arthur then uses his trident to apply the final lock on the realm, sealing The Dead King away forever. Arthur's only folly is the death of many Atlanteans, including his brother Orm who instills hope in Arthur before dying.

Atlantis welcomes the Xebel immigrates and their societies learn each other's ways and customs. Nereus insists he be imprisoned, and Mera tells him that when his time is done she will appointment him one of Arthur's highest generals. Mera also confirms that she only saw Nereus as a childish crush and that Arthur is the only man she's ever loved. Queen Mera than goes to King Arthur and reveals that she has been pregnant for four months with his child, Atlantis' new prince. In celebration, Arthur holds a cross-kingdom banquet for all the Atlanteans and the Xebel. After the credits, Kaldur stands by a beach as a man walks up to him, this man is revealed to be David Hyde/The Black Manta. We learn that Kaldur and David have been meeting up to talk ever since "Aquaman: Throne of Atlantis" because Kaldur is actually David's half-brother. David's father-before his death-slept with "a mermaid" on his travels, but everyone believed he was just drunk. This mermaid was an Atlantean and Kaldur's mother, who died from a raid on Atlantis. Kaldur claims he cannot meet with him anymore, that despite their relation Black Manta is still an enemy. David gives his sympathy regarding Tula and then leaves Kaldur to look towards the sea.

I hope you enjoyed this movie pitch, thanks for reading! "Green Lantern: The Spectrum War" comes next!

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