What we’ve seen of Aquaman so far looks stunning, from the underwater vistas to the excellent costuming. For one, Black Manta appears as if he’s just walked off a comic book page. The villain’s one of the most popular in DC’s library and hopefully he’ll be a great addition to James Wan’s solo movie for the King of Atlantis.
We’re primed to expect Black Manta to be more of a supporting antagonist, though, as Arthur Curry’s power-hungry brother Orm AKA Ocean Master will take on the role of the main villain. While that might disappoint fans of David Hyde, at least there’s a very good chance that this movie won’t be it for his career on the big screen.
Actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II seems pretty confident that he’ll get to play Black Manta again in future films. He made a good point to the press that the character occupies such a crossover role in DC lore that he can easily show up elsewhere.
“Well, yeah, I mean, this character, he’s all over the canon. He’s in Suicide Squad, we see him in the cartoons, we see him in Young Justice. Yeah, I mean, he’s all over the place, in way that he can get to his means to an end. Right, if you see Aquaman in Justice League, then you know, it’ll make sense for Black Manta to say, ‘Hey! What you doing?’ Pop his head in, wherever he is, he can justify making it his business. I’m looking forward to living long within the DC world, and create a little bit of chaos.”
Going by the post-credits scene of Justice League, a recurring role for Black Manta in the DC Extended Universe – sorry, Worlds of DC franchise – would be easy to imagine, as Lex Luthor was revealed to be forming his Legion of Doom with Deathstroke. Manta has been a major member of the organization since Super Friends, so he’d clearly be a natural to join the team.
However, rumors say that Warner Bros. isn’t looking to pursue this avenue anymore due to the overall restructuring of the franchise towards quality standalone films instead of a closely connected shared universe. Still, at the very least, if an Aquaman 2 happens – which we imagine it will – Abdul-Mateen II will likely get to don the helmet once more.