| NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Black Manta from the DC Extended Universe film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Black Manta (DC). |
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| “ | I'll show you the same mercy you showed my father. And gut you like the fish you are! | „ |
| ~ Black Manta expressing his hatred to Aquaman. |
| “ | Ok, Doc. You want to know my plan so bad? Here it is. I'm gonna kill Aquaman and destroy everything he holds dear. I’m gonna murder his family and burn his kingdom to ash. I will avenge my father, even if I have to make a deal with the Devil to do it. | „ |
| ~ Black Manta to Stephen Shin. |
David Kane, also known as Black Manta, is the secondary antagonist of the 2018 DC Extended Universe superhero film Aquaman and the main antagonist of its 2023 sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
He was a ruthless treasure hunter, pirate and a high-seas mercenary with a flair for creating deadly technological innovations. He came into conflict with the being known as Aquaman after the latter refused to aid him in saving his father Jesse Kane during one of the assaults they committed, thus becoming the arch-nemesis of Aquaman.
He was portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who also played Doctor Manhattan in the Watchmen HBO series and Candyman's form of Anthony in Candyman.
Biography[]
Aquaman[]
David Kane grew up and trained to become a pirate/ocean hijacker like his father, Jesse, who is the leader of a group of pirates. He helped him in hijacking a US navy stealth sub to aid in their pirating career. At some point, they were hired by King Orm Marius to take over a Russian nuclear submarine, with David executing its captain, so they could use it to stage a fake attack on the Council of Kings. They were successful in their goal and as they were celebrating their apparent victory, Jesse gifts David with a knife. Though the latter dismisses it as a piece of "junk", his father soon reveals to him that it belonged to Jesse's father (who is also David's grandfather), who served as one of the US navy's first "frogmen" during WWII and was codenamed "Manta" for his stealthiness before eventually becoming the first "Black Manta" when he turned to a life of piracy.
When Arthur Curry/Aquaman suddenly arrives and invades the sub, David engages him in a brief fight but was easily defeated, as his weaponry are useless against Aquaman. When Jesse ambushes him, he seemingly killed Aquaman only for the latter to recover after a few seconds. Shocked, Jesse tries to attack again only for Aquaman to impale him with a pipe. After Jesse inadvertently shoots the sub's pipes, when he tried to retaliate against Aquaman for wounding him, this caused an explosion that caused the sub to begin filling with water while a torpedo toppled over Jesse, crushing his legs.
David desperately tries to free his father but in vain and he begs Aquaman for help but was rebuffed, due to Aquaman's reason that David and his father had killed innocents and should not expect mercy from the ocean. David was ultimately forced to leave his father behind, as Jesse activates a bomb to sink the sub. While fleeing, he hears the bomb explode and he knew his father is dead, causing him to develop a bitter grudge against Aquaman. Later, David managed to salvage the sunken sub and used it to stage the planned "attack", in which he attacked the Council of Kings, which drove King Nereus, the ruling monarch of Xebel, to immediately ally with King Orm in his war against the surface world.
David later meets King Orm, who pays him for the staged attack, but the former, seeking revenge against Aquaman for his father's death, reports to him of Aquaman's interference, but Orm shrugs it off and assures that his half-brother is not one of them. This caused David to protest, saying that Aquaman had killed his father (refusing to accept the fact that Jesse was forced to kill himself to sink the sub). After being given his pay, David demands that he wants the half-breed Atlantean.
The next day, on an island in the Indian Ocean, David was met by Orm's elite commandos, who arrived with a chest filled with equipment. King Orm introduces David to what he provided for him; a suit of prototype Atlantean armor meant for the next generation of Atlantean infantry, a combat dagger created from Atlantean steel and a plasma cannon that converts water to powerful beams of plasma energy. David was also provided with a squad of Orm's finest elite commandos to aid him in his hunt for Aquaman.
After testing out the plasma cannon, David knew that he'll now have an advantage against Aquaman. As he himself is also a skilled engineer, he retrofitted the equipment given to him for his own use; he modifies his diving suit by merging with it with the armor plates of the prototype battle suit, which he spray paints black. He even outfitted his new suit with thruster packs, giving him the ability of limited flight. David also created a helmet which he installs with parts of the plasma cannon, giving it the ability to fire plasma bursts from the eyes. Unfortunately, the helmet he made was too small to contain the plasma beams, so he has to remake it into a bigger one. In addition to the helmet, he includes additional weaponry, such as a retractable Atlantean steel blade and an electrified cable hook and harpoon cable.
With his new armor and weaponry, David proceeded to call himself "Black Manta" in honor of his grandfather and his family legacy. All set to defeat his arch nemesis, he confronts Arthur and Mera in Sicily, Italy, with Murk and the elite commandos. Because of his armor and new/enhanced weaponry, David was mostly able to be a match for Aquaman and to the point where he even managed to dominate him, as Aquaman not only has to contend with David's new-found Atlantean weapons and powerful armor, but also has to protect the civilians. However, in the end, Manta was ultimately overpowered by Aquaman's combat prowess and own tremendous superhuman physical abilities, as he has slammed away several feet with enough force to damage David's jetpack after just having been stabbed by the oceanic mercenary's Atlantean blades and Aquaman proceeded to throw a pair of chained balls at him, successfully heavily damaging his armor by the reflection of his blast and the subsequent fall. David is rescued by Dr. Stephen Shin, a scientist obsessed with finding Atlantis, and agrees to lead him there in exchange for his help in getting revenge on Aquaman.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom[]
Kane resurfaced from his injuries and preserved his suit. He is shown working with Dr. Shin along with other researchers in Antarctica and fell through into the ravines, followed by the researchers who had been dragged into the cave. Kane and Shin lead a team further down into the ocean over the melted cave. Kane leaves much of his team to be attacked by a Kaiju octopus, where he fuses the two pieces of the black trident and was spoken through by Kordax in a vision who manipulates him into seeking vengeance towards Aquaman in exchange for more power. After this experience, Kane's eyes shone green with power as Shin finds him.
Kane repairs his suit and soon tracks down Aquaman during a conference and attacks. Engaging in a battle with Aquaman, he then retreats after injuring Mera through his ship. Eventually after Aquaman and his brother Orm go after his base after forcing an imprisoned crime lord named KingFish into revealing his whereabouts, Black Manta confronts his enemies after Orm reveals his plans to let their guard down as Manta sends his team to attack the brothers. However, as both Aquaman and Orm defeat Manta's forces, their foe appears out of the smoke and easily forces Orm away towards Aquaman. Manta then launches the black trident towards Aquaman, but it misses and almost strikes Orm, who would attempt to touch the trident and learns of Kordax's plot and collapses. Aquaman takes his brother away to shore to learn how to destroy the trident.
Later, Manta approaches Aquaman's house and his father, Tom Curry, as he stands silently in front with eyes emitting red, as he begins to set the house on fire and taking Aquaman's son while leaving Tom in the inferno to tell his son about the event. Black Manta retreats back to his base and plans to reach Necrus to release Kordax from his imprisonment in his kingdom and prepares his men to set fleet. Kane stands as his ship tears through the ice barriers of Antarctica and requests that his men would take Arthur's child to Kordax. Manta's ships arrive at Necrus after destroying the Necrus kingdom to access Kordax's imprisonment which Manta drives his pot towards the caves of the prison, leaving his ships overwhelmed by Aquaman and his race, including his brother.
As the latter confronts Manta who attempts to sacrifice the child to release Kordax, it goes into a sudden confrontation as Manta greatly overpowers his foe with the black power of the trident and attempts to land the killing blow, only to be stopped by Mera who hurls Manta away and knocks him down. He attempts to kill both Mera and her and Arthur's son with the black trident when seeing them running away, but Orm was able to save them which results Kordax to transform into from Manta's body to his. While Aquaman witnesses his brother being possessed, Manta attempts to attack him again but only for him to dodge his moves at the right time and knocks him unconscious. After the destruction of Kordax, including the trident, Kane awakens and hangs onto the rupturing floor as, despite Aquaman's reluctance to save his life, instead of accepting this act of heroism and filled with grudging resentment since he has failed at killing Aquaman, Manta decides to commit suicide by letting himself fall to his death along with the destruction of Necrus falling, ending his threat towards Atlantis once and for all.
Personality[]
As a pirate, David Kane is a ruthless individual who does not hesitate to kill those who stand in his way. Loving fighting, he is ready to fight whatever enemy even if said enemy is stronger, as seen with Aquaman. Initially obsessed with treasure like a typical pirate, David conspired with King Orm and helped him to declare war with the surface as long as he was paid, showing he was greedy. He makes no reservations about his profession and was perfectly aware what he does is not moralistic by any means. Despite his cold nature, however, Kane greatly appreciates his family lineage, as he immediately cherished his grandfather's knife after hearing about it and was protective of his father Jesse. When the latter was trapped by his own torpedo, Kane desperately begged his nemesis Aquaman to save him and initially refused to leave his father behind, trying to save him. Because of Aquaman's refusal and his father's death, Kane became vengeful and lived only to kill Aquaman and avenge his father.
Kane is pragmatic, ready to continue working with Orm despite not caring about the Atlanteans, as he knew he would get powerful weapons from them. He later agreed to work with Dr. Stephen Shin, knowing his knowledge would help him find Aquaman and get more powerful equipment.
Upon becoming Black Manta, Kane became more bloodthirsty and heartless than he was before, being completely dedicated to murdering Aquaman at all costs and not caring if other humans die in the process. Kane was brave, as observed when he continuously attacked Aquaman until a hit was landed, leaving the Atlantean-hybrid on the defense through most of their battle and relentlessly attacking Arthur ignoring the damage his suit had taken during the battle. When having the upper-hand on Aquaman, Manta often taunted his mortal enemy. One taunt he addressed to him was directly from Lovecraft, proving he is somewhat sophisticated.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Black Manta Suit: Kane possesses an armored suit that gave him a number of abilities:
- Enhanced Strength: Kane's armor grants him immense physical strength, allowing him to kick Aquaman off his feet, successfully headbutt him, kick him out of a house, and with the help of his jetpack, is capable of ramming him off a building.
- Enhanced Durability: Kane's armor grants him incredible durability, allowing him to survive tremendous underwater pressures, withstand, albeit not unscathed, mighty blows from Aquaman and survive a direct explosion followed by a large fall off a cliff.
- Energy Beams: The helmet of Kane's Black Manta suit fires thick beams of red laser energy from its eyes. They are so intense, that Aquaman was sent flying an immense distance by them, with his body left slightly blackened. His second suit would possess even more powerful beams that caused severe burns to both Mera and Orm.
- Flight: Kane's suit incorporates the firing mechanism of the plasma cannon onto its back and legs, allowing him to fly and hover in mid-air as well as to cover immense distances rather quickly.
- Black Trident Empowerment: Kane discovered Kordax's Black Trident in Antarctica, which granted him numerous dark magic-fueled enhancements. However, it came at the cost of Kordax slowly possessing him. Kane would lose these abilities when Kordax chose Orm as his next puppet when he picked up the Black Trident.
- Physical Augmentation: The power of the Black Trident gave Kane enhanced physicality, giving him enhanced strength, reflexes, and resilience to stand toe-to-toe with Aquaman.
- Advanced knowledge: Kordax, through the trident, was able to teach Kane about Orichalcum and how to operate Necrus's technology.
Abilities[]
- Genius-Level Intelligence: Kane has been a skilled pirate and tactician in his youth along with his father that they managed to steal difficult vehicles. When employed by Ocean Master, Manta was able to become adaptable to Atlantean technology that he was able to learn to modify his suit following his first defeat with Aquaman, even creating advanced weaponry to ambush Aquaman's kingdom.
- Marksmanship: He is skilled at aiming his weapons, as demonstrated with Stephen Shin when he threw a knife at a picture of Aquaman during his recovery.
- Master Tactician and Strategist: To be added
- Combat Proficiency: To be added
- Swordsmanship: Kane made use of both a handheld sword as well as a blade integrated into his left gauntlet on his pre-Manta and first Manta armors and was shown to be skilled with both.
- Leadership: To be added
- Master Engineer: Kane quickly mastered Atlantean technology, which is centuries more advanced than anything produced by humans up to that point.
- Pilot Skills: Kane was able to pilot both his stolen stealth submarine and a Necrus-made Octobot with high skill.
- Weapon Proficiency: Kane became very skilled with the Black Trident, able to stand equal to and even nearly defeat Aquaman.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Allies[] |
Enemies[]
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Quotes[]
| “ | I'll make you a deal. I don't tell you how to captain and you don't tell me how to pirate. | „ |
| ~ Black Manta killing the Russian Captain. |
| “ | I waited a long time for this. | „ |
| ~ Black Manta first meeting Aquaman. |
| “ | Orm: (through a water projection activated by one of his Atlantean commandos shortly after the latter and his three cohorts arrived before Black Manta at their meeting point carrying a chest full of new prototype Atlantean equipment which they then opened) You were defeated the last time because your surface weapon failed you. Ours will not. (watches as Black Manta walking past his hologram for a closer look on equipment presented to him and giving the sword inside experimental swings) It's prototype armor for the next generation Atlantean soldier. Revenge is something we Atlanteans understand. You will lead my finest commandos as your personal army to hunt down the half-breed abomination. I cannot touch them, but you can. He's fled to your world. Kill him and the woman he's with, and you will be rewarded. Black Manta: Killing him is my reward. Orm: (refers to Atlantean plasma cannon Black Manta picks up) The crown jewel. Still experimental. Converts water into beams of energized plasma. (one of Orm's commandos pours a conch of water into the weapon, activating it and allowing Black Manta to blast a rock formation a distance away into smithereens) Orm and Black Manta: (exchange acknowledging smile, cementing their deal) |
„ |
| ~ Manta being entrusted by Orm Marius with his finest commandos and new prototype equipment for next generation Atlantean army, ensuring the latter's rise of power as Black Manta. |
| “ | Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. | „ |
| ~ Manta quoting H.P. Lovecraft. |
| “ | Aquaman: You're the guy from the sub. Black Manta: That's right! But now I have Atlantean steel. Call me, Black Manta. |
„ |
| ~ Manta introducing himself to Aquaman. |
| “ | You can't run. You owe me blood! | „ |
| ~ Black Manta to Aquaman |
| “ | Your blood will do just fine. | „ |
| ~ Black Manta about to fight Aquaman. |
| “ | Never. | „ |
| ~ Black Manta's last words before falling to his death while refusing to grab Aquaman's hand. |
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Black Manta was the primary archenemy to Aquaman and a member of Lex Luthor's supervillain teams. Unlike this version, however, he has no redeeming traits at all.
- James Wan revealed that Black Manta was planned to be the main protagonist in the cancelled film The Trench.
- James Gunn revealed that Black Manta was originally considered to be featured in The Suicide Squad as part of the team's lineup but later opted out of the idea, feeling his power set wouldn't be useful to his story.
- The Lovecraft quote he recites is a foreshadowing to the consequences his actions in the sequel almost had on the world, and to the plot point of Kordax being imprisoned in the deep.
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 Villains
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