Could contemporary concepts of "dark matter" and "quantum soup" effectively serve the function of the nineteenth century physics concept of "aether"?

One of the most attractive and appealing aspects of Einstein's concept of the curvature of space-time and Special Relativity, was that it allowed physicists to dispense with the nineteenth century concept of "aether" in space, a kind of medium in a vacuum, that allowed light particles to traverse space in wave form. I was just wondering if the new concepts of "dark matter" and "quantum soup" in the apparent vacuum of space might allow us to reintroduce the concept of "aether" in space, and dispense with space-time curvature, and Special Relativity? Don't like that idea much, do you?