While Aquaman will have his hands full with the villainous Orm in his standalone movie, Black Manta will be presented as a “B Story” with major potential for future films.
Collider visited Aquaman‘s Australian set in July, getting a look at Black Manta’s fully spot-on comic-accurate costume but also hearing about how he factors into the next DC Comics movie. Played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the character will likely emerge as a fan-favorite, as his feud with Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry is only just setting sail.
A classic supervillain from the comics, Black Manta (whose real name is David Hyde) uses a specially designed underwater suit to do battle with Aquaman on his own turf – the highlight of which is a helmet capable of blasting rays from its eyes. Black Manta will play a secondary villain role in Aquaman, with Ocean Master serving as the movie’s main villain, but you can expect to see Black Manta return in the DCEU.
“Man, that thing is just badass,” Abdul-Mateen tells Collider on the Australian set of the film. “We have our ideas about what the character’s going to be, so I bring all of that stuff to it but then you put that thing on, and you see yourself in the mirror, and all of a sudden, I’m 10 feet taller in that thing and I feel like I could bust through a wall! I talked about wanting to run through walls, and just break shit in my meeting with Peter (Safran, the producer), when I auditioned for the job. And, I put on that suit, and everything’s just coming full circle.”
“We meet Black Manta at a time where, it’s just him and his dad, and he’s riding on high, you know,” Abdul-Mateen II said. “He’s just come off of his wind, and there’s a changing of the guards, so to speak. And then, this guy, Aquaman, comes in, and crashes the party.” The relationship, like much of the Aquaman movie, will follow its DC Comics roots.
If Abdul-Mateen II were to use one word to describe his character, “Relentless” is the only one to cover it. “He’s so relentless,” Abdul-Mateen II said. “And so, in a fight, he’s never down, and he’s never out. And you think that he’s done, but he comes back. And it’s like, ‘Hey, I finished you! I proved my point! I’m stronger than you. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Why are you still here?’ You know?”
Aquaman will swim into theaters December 21.
Source: Collider
