TheAquamantrailer may secretly expose Black Manta ’s origin story .   ThefirstAquamantrailermade the next entry in the DCEU themost - discussed movie from SDCC 2018on Twitter , although it separate viewers   due to confutable redaction and CGI .

However , irrespective of the advert itself , the trailer revealed or corroborate a spate of the most importantAquamanplot points , particularly those in the film ’s first deed . It   showcased most of Arthur Curry ’s backstory , and even showed clips from the scene in which Mera approaches him , asking him to head to Atlantis for stop a state of war between the seven tribes and the surface - dwellers . A highlight was Black Manta , the film ’s secondary villain . Played by Yahya Abdul - Mateen II , Black Manta is one of Orm ’s primal agent . The actor issigned up for a multi - picture peck , so he ’s intended to be a fall back foe for Aquaman .

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At first glance , the trailer seemed to only give brief glimpse of Black Manta . He ’s presented as a savage foe , an enemy who can image withering push blasts that make even a hero like Aquaman to run for his life , but not much more . However ,   it ’s potential the trailer bring out a lot more than most viewers have noticed - it may even on the QT   show Black Manta ’s entire origin taradiddle .

The Many Comic Origin Stories of Black Manta

Black Mantawas created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy back in 1967 . When he was enclose , he was a simple , fairly one - government note Aquaman villain ; improbably , Haney did n’t even write out Black Manta ’s backstory , and a definitive origin for the baddie was n’t presented until 1993 . Writer Shaun McLaughlin revealed that   the young Black Manta was enslaved on a plagiarist ship , and grew to hate the sea . In McLaughlin ’s tale , the youth encounter Aquaman swimming by with dolphins , and urgently cried out for avail . Aquaman did n’t listen , and to Black Manta he became a symbol of the ocean ’s emotionlessness to humanity . Black Manta at long last relinquish himself , killing the pirates who had kidnapped him , and dedicated himself to killing everything he hate - particularly Aquaman .

That stemma story did n’t stick , though . In 2003 , Rick Veitch presented an alternating rootage for Black Manta , suggest he was a child who was born with major developmental abnormalities in his nervous system . As an infant , he experienced the soft touch of cotton fiber bed sheet as excruciating pain in the ass , and freezing cold water system as " empyreal ecstasy . " Suffering from terrible autism , the child was send toArkham Asylumfor treatment , where he underwent experimental procedures that give Black Manta a greater academic degree of societal cognizance - and a deep blood - lust . He pop the Doctor and broke out of Arkham , obsess with Aquaman after watch him on the news .

improbably , in 2010 DC publishedanotherorigin story for Black Manta . InBrightest Day#16 , Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi revealed that Black Manta was a hunting watch who , along with his wife , sought hoarded wealth in the Bermuda Triangle . The duad were captured by the Xebellians , who subjected Manta ’s wife to dire experimental procedures . Although Black Manta escaped from Xebel , his married woman died . In Johns ' interpretation , this was the reason for Black Manta ’s hatred of all the seven clan .

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The origin stories may differ , but there ’s been one constant thread : Black Manta ’s inscrutable , passionate hate of Aquaman and all that the King of Atlantis stands for . He has a deep - take root desire to destroy Atlantis , to kill all its citizens , and to see Aquaman become flat at his hand .

The Aquaman Movie Origin of Black Manta

Perhaps because of the level of mix-up over Black Manta ’s comic book origin , DC Films has chosen to just create a fresh account for the movie .   Black Manta has been reinvented as a pirate captain , one who suffer a very personal passing due to Aquaman ’s interference .   " He ’s rally on high,“Abdul - Mateen explained in an interview , " and at the culmination , he loses his beginner . " Black Manta loses the only someone he ’s ever loved , and the only one who ’s ever eff him . acrid and furious , he swears vengeance against Aquaman , and this advertize him into an coalition with King Orm aka Ocean Master . As little as Orm likes surface - dwellers , in Black Manta he presumptively determine a perfect weapon to be used against Arthur Curry ; Orm is the informant ofBlack Manta ’s distinctive costumeand engineering science in the film .

It ’s a very different rootage to any of the ones find in the funnies , and it remains to be seen whether or not element of the character ’s comic book account will be used ; perhaps there will be hints at Black Manta ’s autism ? Whatever the case may be , this is a smart rewrite in that it gives Black Manta a thematic tie to the other characters . Aquaman must acquire to embrace his inheritance   and to honor his mother ’s memory by prevent the war between the seven tribe and the Earth’s surface earth . Black Manta , in contrast , wishes to avenge   his father ’s memory by killing Aquaman . It makes perfect sense from a thematic perspective .

Page 2 of 2:What Aquaman’s Trailers Reveal About Black Manta’s Origin

What The Aquaman Trailer Shows

TheAquamantrailer includes a phone number of shot from early on in the picture show , most notably a sequence in which Arthur Curry set on a submarine full of armed , cloak pirates . He walk out like a sub , lame the submarine sandwich by demolish its locomotive engine . Then , with the sub ineffective to fight down itself , Aquaman kindle it to the airfoil . Once the sub is expose to air , Aquaman breaks through the airlock , and invites himself on - board . He effortlessly defeats the pirates , tossing them around like rag bird .   It ’s out of sequence in the house trailer , but put together promises a stunning scene , a tremendous demo of Aquaman ’s crude strength

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to boot , though , this view involves Black Manta . At one point ,   Yahya Abdul - Mateen II is seen hire off one of these   distinctive pirate mask , and can even be glimpsed bracing from Aquaman ’s attack . give the clothes Aquaman is bust , it appear to be earlier in the film , before Arthur Curry has even been set about by Mera .   It seems fairish to assume that this is the first meeting between Black Manta and Arthur , making this the minute that start the scoundrel ’s spiral : Aquaman attack Black Manta ’s pirate ship , crippling it , and continue to knock off his forces ; for some reason , something Aquaman does in this sequence leads to the decease of Black Manta ’s Church Father ,   inspiring the baddie ’s biting vendetta against Arthur Curry .

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Black Manta May Be More Important Than The Trailers Suggest

It ’s in reality quite interesting to note how many scene in the trailer seem to link to Black Manta . He may only beAquaman ’s   secondary villain , but the trailer suggest he ’s a crucial one . That ’s graspable ; in the comics , Black Manta goes on to become one of Aquaman ’s most grave foes , even kill Aquaman ’s own have it off ones in brutal acts of retaliation . He amount close to overthrowing Atlantis time and again , whether by draining the air from Atlantis ' protective domes   or allying with other kinship group in order of magnitude to have civil war beneath the waves . In one notable example , Black Manta in reality used Scarecrow flatulency to turn the Atlanteans against one another   and leave them vulnerable to a potentially annihilating flak .

Given Black Manta ’s grandness in the strip , it ’s no coincidence Warner Bros. has contract   Abdul - Mateen up for a multi - film deal . ShouldAquamanprove to be a box office success , he ’ll no doubt hark back as a major foe .

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