Kevin Michael Richardson, Khary Payton and others have provided the character's voice in media ranging from animation to video games.įictional character biography Black Manta first revealed without his helmet in Adventure Comics #452 Art by Jim Aparo.īlack Manta had no definitive origin story until #6 of the 1993 Aquaman series. The character has been adapted in various media incarnations, having been portrayed in live-action by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the 2018 DC Extended Universe film Aquaman and its upcoming 2023 sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. A black armored suit and a large metal helmet with red eye lenses serve as Black Manta's visual motif.

Despite these different versions of his past, Black Manta is consistently depicted as a ruthless underwater mercenary who is obsessed with destroying Aquaman's life. Created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy, the character debuted in Aquaman #35 (September 1967), and has since endured as the archenemy of the superhero Aquaman.īlack Manta has had numerous origin stories throughout his comic book history, having been a young boy kidnapped and enslaved by abusive pirates on their ship an autistic orphan subjected to unethical experiments in Arkham Asylum and a high-seas treasure hunter caught in a mutual cycle of vengeance with Aquaman over the deaths of their fathers. Artificial gills for underwater breathingīlack Manta is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.Skilled swordsman and hand-to-hand combatant.

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