The quest to connect the people of Oceania in Moana 2 is only the beginning of the adventures for Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) and her friends. Along with Maui and the rest of the crew on her latest big-screen journey, Moana has discovered that their path is barely charted and filled with more powerful foes than they can imagine. And they’re going to need all the help they can get.
Things are going to get shiny after the curse is broken in Moana 2—a curse that not only separated humans but also the godlike figures of lore that were tethered to the elements. It makes sense why Matangi (Awhimai Fraser), the mischievous bat goddess, decided to place her bets on Moana to succeed: it freed her. And, we can also surmise based on the movie’s post-credits scene, it also freed the film’s storm god Nalo (Tofiga Fepulea’i), who almost killed Moana and briefly made Maui human.
No longer constrained to the skies, Nalo is none too pleased with Matangi and re-chains her as punishment to see where her loyalties really lie. Matangi turning heel and diving deeper as an anti-hero is something we gotta admit we love. Nalo makes his claim to continue to thwart Moana, who defeated him and might have come away with some demi-god powers, as humanity’s reconnection is a threat to the discord he and the other gods want to sow.
So he begins to enlist more baddies—including Matangi and, yes, we get the return of our favorite shiny crab god Tamatoa (Jemaine Clement), who’s ready to team up for a league of evil and theme song.
This means Moana could one day return to take on the forces of darkness in a future film or other Disney project—and she won’t be alone. Now with Maui, her crew, more wayfinder friends, and the Kakamora warriors, she’s got a good start. And hopefully also a Hulk—er, Tefiti (got my green superheroes mixed up), who should awaken from her nap to help and maybe cranky enough to bring out her volcano form Te-Kā to play.
Moana 2 is now in theaters. Watch Moana on Disney+.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
