Although we got a glimpse of Aquaman in Batman v Superman and we’ll be seeing him a bit more in Justice League, Jason Momoa has bigger fish to fry in his own solo movie. As revealed by the Wrap Wednesday, the main villain will be Black Manta.
Black Manta was created by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy in “Aquaman” #35 in 1967, and though the character fought the King of Atlantis for decades, it wasn’t until the 1990s that he was finally given an origin, which has since changed over the years since. Originally Black Manta was a child abused by a ship’s crew that he was a member of, seeking revenge against Aquaman as an incarnate of the sea, but recent iterations of the character have seen him blaming Aquaman for his father’s death and seeking to kill the hero for revenge.
“The kind of filmmaker that I am, even my darker horror films generally are still very fun and I think that’s important for me and the kind of films I make,” Aquaman director James Wan told IGN in March. “Aquaman is a character that a lot of people have made fun of over the years and I just think it’s fun to actually show a really different, cool, badass side to this character but, at the same time, let’s not forget to have fun with it.”
For Aquaman, Momoa will be joined by Amber Heard as Arthur Curry’s Atlantean love, Mera. The film is being written by Will Beal (Gangster Squad) from a treatment by DC Comics Chief Creative Officer and President of DC Entertainment Geoff Johns. The film is due in 2018.
RIP fish jokes.
