Suicide Squad is out and kicking butt at the box office despite withering reviews. Wonder Woman is in post-production and expected to be one of the big blockbusters of next summer. Justice League is still filming and hopes to pack theaters and reap riches the following November. Next on deck is Aquaman, which has yet to begin filming under the direction of James Wan (The Conjuring, Furious 7) but is locking up a fine cast headed by star Jason Momoa (who makes his screen debut as DC Comics’ Atlantean warrior king in Justice League).

Now it has been revealed which villain Aquaman will oppose in his first big screen solo adventure: Black Manta, one of Arthur Curry’s greatest foes. More below.

Manta made his debut in the pages of Aquaman #35 in September 1967 and has been a consistent pain in the oceanic superhero’s posterior ever since. According to his origin in DC’s “New 52” rebooted comics line, Black Manta’s father was killed by Aquaman in retaliation for a murder committed by the young Manta, who has since vowed to have his revenge.

Over a decade earlier, his background was that as an autistic child he had been imprisoned in Arkham Asylum, where he was mistreated by an uncaring staff that didn’t know how to deal with him. At one point Manta was an inmate of Belle Reve Prison, where Amanda Waller attempted to recruit him into the Suicide Squad. When Common joined the cast of the Suicide Squad movie last year, speculation became rampant that he was playing Manta. That turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking once it was revealed the actor and hip-hop musician was actually playing Joker cohort Monster T.

Will Beall, the screenwriter responsible for Gangster Squad and an early version of Justice League that was discarded in favor of a fresh take scripted by Oscar winner Chris Terrio (Argo), is writing Aquaman with a treatment by Wan and DC Extended Universe overseer Geoff Johns.

Aquaman co-stars Amber Heard and Willem Dafoe and opens in theaters on July 27, 2018.

[Source: The Wrap]