Aquaman: Five things to know about Black Manta

Credit DC Entertainment Warner Bros Animation

1. Fatherhood doesn’t suit him

In the comics, there are a couple of backstories for Manta’s son. Manta fathered a son with a woman named Lucia. Lucia was part of the underwater civilization the Xebel. She fell in love with Manta after meeting him on one of his missions.

Manta wanted a powerful artifact, the Black Pearl and Lucia wanted to help until she realized who he was. Lucia gave him a fake map and the angered Manta beat her.  She barely escaped with her life. Unbeknownst to Manta, Lucia was pregnant. Fear forced her to leave Xebel for the surface world, New Mexico. Lucia renounced her identity and her powers.

One arc has Lucia dying after being experimented on. She then gave Jackson to a human who kept who kept his parent’s identities a secret. Manta would eventually learn of his son. So, like any loving father, Manta tried to kill Jackson’s adoptive father. Fortunately, Jackson stopped him.

Of course, it wasn’t over and Manta tried to kill Jackson’s father once more. Only this time Aquaman stopped him. They battled and Black Manta finally had Aquaman on the brink of death. In poetic fashion, he was once again stopped by Jackson.

Naturally, Manta blamed Aquaman for his son’s corruption. Jackson would layer on become the second Aqualad. Further driving the dagger into Black Manta’s heart. However, on the DC Universe series Young Justice, we see Aqualad and his father united.

As it stands he is easily the most recognizable Aquaman villain among casual fans. In the upcoming film, we’ll see the origin story of Black Manta. Let’s hope it’s only the beginning. We can see Black Manta in Aquaman Dec. 21, 2018.