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Black Manta Is Aquaman’s Nemesis In Standalone Film: Here’s What You Need To Know

By Oliver VanDervoort
Published on: 05:23 PST, Aug 11, 2016

The villain who will be appearing opposite Jason Momoa in Aquaman has finally been revealed. The character of Black Manta is going to be the main villain, and the choice of the antagonist makes quite a bit of sense.

Black Manta has long been one of Aquaman’s greatest foes. The Wrap reports the villain was first introduced in 1967, but the character has undergone quite a few changes since that first incarnation. As is the case with most comic book characters, it can be a bit hard to keep track of just which Black Manta character we’re going to see.

In fact, it’s still not clear what kind of Arthur Curry we’re going to see in Aquaman. The studio has said fans of the comic are going to like this version of Black Manta because it will adhere to the story’s lore.

The question is which Black Manta lore we’re going to see in the film. With that in mind, there are some widely accepted storylines that fans of Aquaman should be looking out for when talking about the big bad in the upcoming film.

He Was Or Is Autistic

One of the most interesting storylines involving Black Manta in Aquaman comics is that of a young man who was autistic. There are now a couple of different branches to this story.

The first branch has the young boy who would grow up to be Black Manta go through some treatments that are geared towards helping him. Unfortunately, those same experiments are seriously harmful and make him quite insane.

Another chapter in the lore of the autistic Black Manta in Aquaman is that he was serving as a simple crewman on a ship. He was apparently taken hostage by the crew and during his captivity, he saw Aquaman and tried to get his attention.

The boy who would become Black Manta was not able to get Aquaman’s attention, and he held the superhero accountable for his continued tribulations. At some point, he managed to find a way to channel his hatred into becoming the nemesis we’ll meet on the big screen when the film launches.

He’s Not An Alien or Superhuman

Back when Black Manta was first introduced, his interesting look led many Aquaman comic book readers to wonder if he was from another world. Those who watched the old Justice League cartoons noticed he had a rather odd voice.

It turns out Black Manta is just a man in a suit. Obviously, he has a rather high tech suit, which includes the ability, in most iterations, to shoot laser beams out of his rather large eyepieces in his mask.

The rest of the suit is a well built deep sea diving suit. He needs this suit to take on Aquaman as the hero has actual super powers. Manta is apparently very physically fit, but he’s not a superhuman.

He Has An Interesting Tie To Aquaman

One storyline in the Aquaman comics has the hero and Black Manta tied together in an interesting way. The second Aqualad is actually the son of this villain. In the comics and the animated series that have been done, this has created some drama as Aqualad has attempted to figure out to whom he should be loyal.

There hasn’t been any mention as to whether or not Aqualad is going to be a part of the Aquaman film. There has also been very little word about who will be in the film other than Jason Momoa, Willem Dafoe, and Amber Heard.

With the revelation that Black Manta is going to be one of the big villains, could other characters be coming soon? Sidekicks aren’t normally loved in the comic book movie universe, but the inclusion of Aqualad or a character like him could bring a unique confrontation to Aquaman.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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