| Black Manta | |
|---|---|
 Black Manta, with other villains of the DC Comics Universe as seen in Justice. Art by Alex Ross. |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Aquaman # 35 (Sept 1967) |
| Created by | Bob Haney Nick Cardy |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Unknown |
| Team affiliations | The Society Injustice League O.G.R.E. |
| Abilities | Enhanced strength; Water breathing ability (through artificial gills) ; high tech equipment, Laser beams |
Black Manta is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in DC Comics, primarily as the archenemy of Aquaman.[1]
Contents |
Fictional character biography
Background
His first origin was given in #6 of the 1993 Aquaman series. In this origin, the boy who would become Black Manta grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and loved to play by the sea. As a youth he was kidnapped and sexually abused on a ship for an unspecified amount of time. At one point he apparently saw Aquaman with his dolphin friends and tried to signal him for help but was not seen. Finally, he was forced to defend himself, killing one of his tormentors on the ship with a knife. Hating the emotionless sea (and Aquaman, whom he saw as its representative), the boy was determined to become its master.[2]
A second origin was given in #8 of the 2003 Aquaman series. In this origin, the boy who would become Black Manta was an orphan who has autism and was placed in Gotham City's Arkham Asylum. He felt comfortable in freezing cold water, while cotton sheets were excruciatingly painful. Because the attendants at Arkham didn't know how to deal with autism, they would end up restraining him to the bed as he struggled and screamed whenever they tried putting him there. The boy was also fascinated when he saw Aquaman on television.
The boy would end up being subjected to experimental treatments. One treatment seemed to clear the boy's head, but left him violent as a result; he killed the scientist who had administered the treatment and escaped from Arkham.[1][3]
Nemesis
As an adult, the man who would become Black Manta designed a costume (primarily a black wetsuit with bug-eyed helmet that was able to shoot blasting rays from its eyes) and fashioned a high-tech submersible inspired by manta rays. Taking the name Black Manta, he and his masked army became a force to be reckoned with, engaging in at least one unrecorded clash with Aquaman prior to his first appearance as a rival to the Ocean Master (and before joining the short-lived Injustice League in the retcon Silver Age third week event).
The fearsome Black Manta and Aquaman battled repeatedly over the next several years. During one of these clashes,[4] it was revealed that Black Manta was actually an African American, whose stated objective at one point was for black people to be dominant in the ocean after having been oppressed for so long on dry land (though this goal was revealed to be a ruse he used to trick Cal Durham into following him, and this objective was not at all evident in either his earlier or later appearances). During most of his appearances, his main goals were defeating Aquaman and gaining power for himself through the conquest of Atlantis. Finally, Manta kills Arthur Curry, Jr., Aquaman's son, which left Aquaman obsessed with revenge.[1][4]
Black Manta was later transformed into a Manta/Man hybrid. After a while he went back to wearing his original outfit, which covered his new appearance. At one point he took to drug smuggling from his new base in Star City, where he was opposed by a returning Green Arrow and Aquaman.
In a later confrontation, Aquaman, sporting the Lady of the Lake's Healing Hand, reverses the alterations to Black Manta, and rewired Manta's afflicted brain, making him normal for the first time in his life. Unfortunately, Manta remained a violent criminal, lulling Aquaman into a false sense of partnership and almost killing the Sea King in the process.
In later events, Black Manta was used as a test subject to make water breathers, using genetic manipulation. This succeeded and since then Black Manta has returned to the oceans to face Aquaman once again.
After Black Manta caused a disturbance in Sub Diego in which Captain Marley was severely injured (Aquaman v4 #39). Aquaman summoned various predatory sea-life to attack Black Manta and left him for dead. It was later revealed that he was able to survive by generating an electric charge with his suit.
One year later, he took over Sub Diego but was forced to flee when King Shark bit off his face (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #52-53).
He can be seen as a member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains.
Powers and abilities
Black Manta's suit is specifically designed to adapt him to an oceanic environment. It allows him complete resistance to the cold and pressure of deep sea conditions and thus grants him a level of superhuman durability, and strength (allowing Black Manta to lift/strike with the force of 5 tons), the ability to breathe normally underwater (whether this is due to a hidden oxygen supply or its ability to extract oxygen from the water like the gills of a fish is unknown), jet boots which function in or out of water, a telepathic scrambler (used to temporarily strip Aquaman of his aquatic telepathy), and an array of weapons. Such weapons include blades, electric blasts from wrist gauntlets, miniaturized torpedoes, and energy beams from his helmet. He also has a limited degree of expertise in mechanical engineering (as he was able to manufacture his suit, weaponry, and vehicles) and some amount of hand-to-hand combat training.
Black Manta oftentimes utilizes unique vehicles such as a modified, manta ray shaped, submarine.
At some point Black Manta was transformed by the demon Neron into a Manta hybrid. In this form he was completely at one with the water and could dive to extreme depths and survive. He had natural weaponry, a tail that he could use as a weapon. The process has since been reversed by Aquaman.[1]
Other versions and notable appearances
- Black Manta appeared in animated style in Justice League Unlimited #26. He is aided by Felix Faust in an attempt to conquer Atlantis. Because of Felix Faust's appearance, the issue is out of continuity.
- Black Manta appeared as one of the major villains in the 2005-2006 Justice miniseries by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger.
Other media
1960's and 70's Cartoons
- Black Manta appeared as a regular villain on the Aquaman cartoon in the The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, where he was voiced by Ted Knight.
- Manta also appeared on The All-New Super Friends Hour, where he was referred to simply as "Manta" and his suit color was now olive brown.
- Black Manta also became a part of the Legion of Doom in Challenge of the Super Friends, where he was voiced by Ted Cassidy.
Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
- Black Manta was originally supposed to make an appearance in an early Justice League episode "The Enemy Below, Part 1." He was intended to be the one that Orm hired to assassinate Aquaman. They changed it to Deadshot, however, since it wouldn't have been suitable for Manta's character.[5]
- In Justice League Unlimited a character named Devil Ray, voiced by Michael Beach, debuted as a member of the Secret Society (based on the Legion of Doom). Devil Ray is closely based on Black Manta, right down to helmet and a suit that allowed him to breathe underwater and withstand deep-sea pressures. It was also equipped with rocket boosters that enabled him to fly and navigate underwater, and two wrist-mounted guns. The guns in his gauntlets allow him to shoot poisonous or explosive stingers or laser bolts at his targets, and also an array of venomous or explosive trident-shaped stingers. The suit itself heavily resembles the suit Black Manta wore in the Filmation Aquaman cartoons. Devil Ray appeared in major roles in "To Another Shore" and "Dead Reckoning" (the latter of which saw him accidentally killed by a Deadman-possessed Batman). Devil Ray may very well be the "DC animated universe" version of Black Manta. According to writer Dwayne McDuffie, the reason behind the name change is because the rights to Aquaman characters were not available at the time, as they were being used for the Aquaman TV pilot.[6] Within mainstream comics, in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #52, the new Aquaman (Arthur Joseph Curry) inquires if Black Manta is the name of a cartoon character, and is corrected "...wasn't he called Devil Ray?", a reference to the character in Justice League Unlimited.
Batman the Brave and the Bold
- Black Manta appears in the third episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. This interpretation of him shows him as a sociopathic assassin, hired by Orm in order to kill Aquaman. When Orm succeeds in capturing Aquaman and becomes "Ocean Master", Black Manta betrays him and imprisons him. He plans to use a machine to destroy and plunder Atlantis, but was stopped by Aquaman, Ocean Master, and Batman. He was arrested and locked in Iron Heights. He appears again in the episode "Enter the Outsiders!" where he is robbing an armored car only to be defeated by Batman and B'wana Beast. Black Manta appears again in "Game Over for Owlman" where he teams with Owlman and a group of villains to kill their respective enemies, but is stopped by Batman and his many parallel universe counterparts. Black Manta makes a brief cameo appearance in "Night of the Huntress", where he is seen amongst other inmates in Blackgate Penitentiary. In "Deep Cover for Batman", it's revealed that Black Manta has a heroic conterpart in a parallel universe, who somewhat resembles Aquaman. In "Mayhem of the Music Miester" Black Manta along with Gorilla Grodd and Clock King are mindcontrolled by the Music Miester. It was also revealed, when in Iron Heights, he is put in a giant fish bowl.
Film
- Black Manta has a cameo appearance in the animated film Justice League: The New Frontier. He is seen during the famous speech by John F. Kennedy.
- Black Manta appears in the animated movie Superman/Batman: Public Enemies where he is one of the many supervillains trying to collect the bounty on Superman.
Video games
- Black Manta appears as the main villain in the video game Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis for Xbox and GameCube. He is also an unlockable character in the game.
- Black Manta is set to appear in the upcoming video game DC Universe Online.
Spoofs and parodies
- A parody of Black Manta called Black Eel appeared in the Duck Dodgers episode "Till Doom Do Us Part" voiced by Jim Cummings. He was one of the villains assembled by Agent Roboto to form the Legion of Duck Doom in order to defeat Duck Dodgers (despite the fact he was the only villain in the episode who had never met him before and had no idea who he was). He's also the enemy of Seaman.
- Popular Venture Bros. antagonist The Monarch is said to have been partially based on the Manta (the creators developed his voice by imagining a skit in which Manta and Aquaman were college roommates, only to discover later that the voice used in Super Friends was radically different than they'd remembered).[citation needed] The Manta was also mentioned in one episode where Jefferson Twilight believed him to be Aquaman's sole villain, a suggestion proved wrong by Dr. Orpheus.
- Black Manta appears in the Robot Chicken episode "But Not In That Way" voiced by Tom Kane. In a segment that parodies Arkham Asylum in the style of The Shawshank Redemption, Black Manta narrates about the Joker's life in Arkham and how he became friends with him. His voice and role parody is that of Morgan Freeman's character from that film.
- SpongeBob SquarePants features a spoof villain called "Man Ray", who's directly inspired by Black Manta, including a similar appearance and many of the same powers. In the spoof, he's even named the most dangerous of the villains the Aquaman spoof ("Mermaid Man") has ever faced. In his later appearances, however, he's portrayed as only being evil when he feels like he's being mistreated.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d Greenberger, Robert (2008), "Black Manta", in Dougall, Alastair, The DC Comics Encyclopedia, London: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 52, ISBN 0-7566-4119-5
- ^ Aquaman vol. 4, #6, 1993, DC Comics, writer Shaun McLaughlin
- ^ Aquaman vol. 6, #8, 2003, DC Comics, writer Rick Veitch
- ^ a b Adventure Comics #452, 1977
- ^ "The Enemy Below"
- ^ Justice League - TWoP Forums
References
- Biography of Black Manta
- Black Manta's profile A humorous and cynical analysis of Black Manta's character in the Super-Friends cartoon
- Alan Kistler's Profile On Aquaman
- Bio for Devil Ray
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