Black Manta

For the black project spyplane, see TR-3A Black Manta

Black Manta
Black Manta Art by David Finch
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Aquaman #35 (September 1967)
Created by	Bob Haney Nick Cardy
In-story information
Alter ego	David (last name unknown)[1]
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 supervillain appearing in DC Comics, primarily as the archenemy of Aquaman.^[2] The character debuted in Aquaman #35 (September 1967).

Fictional character biography

For most of his publishing history, Black Manta had no definitive origin story. The first 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.^[3]

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 did not 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.^[2][4]

Black Manta, without his mask. Art by Jim Aparo.

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,^[5] 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.^[2][5]

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.

Black Manta caused a disturbance in Sub Diego in which Captain Marley was severely injured.^[6] 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.^[7]

He can be seen as a member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains.

During the Brightest Day storyline, Black Manta is next seen working in a fish market. When the local news and his customers revel in the return of Aquaman, Manta leaps over the counter and kills them with his knife. Black Manta is later seen burning a shorefront house to the ground and walking into the ocean. He immediately leaps out wearing his Black Manta costume and yelling Aquaman's name.^[8]

Black Manta is seen later at Thomas Curry, Aquaman's father's tombstone, where he is approached by Siren and her Death Squad after demolishing the tombstone. The Death Squad began fighting Black Manta but before the fight can get too far along, Siren stops them. She tells Black Manta that they need to work together to find his son, as she makes a hard water image of Jackson Hyde.^[1] Black Manta and Siren track down Jackson and attempts to kill his foster father. Jackson (using his ability to create hard water constructs) defends his foster father, but cannot stop Black Manta from shooting a trident-shaped dart at his foster father. Aquaman then arrives on the scene blocking and crushing the dart. Black Manta prepares to face his old nemesis again.^[9] During the battle, Aquaman pulls Jackson and his foster father to safety from Black Manta and Siren.^[10]

After Jackson learns the truth behind his origin, Aquaman and Jackson (now calling himself Aqualad) are ambushed by Siren and the Xebel soldiers. The fight continues onto the beach where innocent citizens get caught in the crossfire. As Aquaman was about to strike back at Siren, Black Manta sprung from the water and severed Aquaman's right hand.^[11] Jackson attacks his father and berates him for siding with the people who killed his own wife, only for Black Manta to throw Jackson to the ground and coldly states that both he and his mother mean nothing to him. When Black Manta is about to impale his son with one of his blades, Mera arrives with Aquagirl, who saves Jackson by strike Black Manta's square in the face. Jackson and Mera are able to work together to seal Black Manta, Siren and the rest of the invaders away in the Bermuda Triangle, Black Manta vowed to get his son, Jackson.^[12]

Powers and abilities

Black Manta's suit is specifically designed to adapt to an oceanic environment. It allows him complete resistance to the cold and pressure of deep sea conditions (It is unknown at this time how far down the suit can travel underwater and still function) 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 a large, varying array of weapons. Such weaponry have included blades, electric blasts from wrist gauntlets, miniaturized torpedoes, and energy beams emitted from the eye lenses in his helmet. It is also not known how this suit is powered or how long it can function before needing recharging or if it, indeed, even needs to be. Black Manta is highly intelligent, 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. For the most part, Black Manta generally relies more on technology and strategic planning than physical confrontation when it comes to his exploits.

Black Manta often utilizes unique vehicles such as a modified, Manta Ray shaped submarine for traveling.

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 allowing him to dive to extreme depths and survive. He had natural weaponry, such as a tail that had offensive capabilities. The process has since been reversed by Aquaman.^[2]

Other versions

Justice

Black Manta appeared as one of the major villains in the 2005-2006 Justice miniseries by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger. However despite being shown in a group of villains defeated by Hal Jordan and Green Arrow, it was later claimed he was defeated in another event.

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Black Manta was an inmate at the Doom prison before the prison break.^[13]

In other media

Television

• Black Manta appeared as a regular villain on the Aquaman cartoon in The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure 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 voiced by Ted Cassidy.

• 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, but was later changed to Deadshot as it would have been "inappropriate" for Manta's character.^[14]

"Devil Ray" from Justice League Unlimited

• 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 laser bolts at his targets, and also an array of venomous or explosive trident-shaped stingers. 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). 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.^[15] Within mainstream comics, in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #52 (July, 2007), 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?"

Black Manta as he appears in 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 is revealed that Black Manta has a heroic conterpart in a parallel universe, whose costume's color scheme somewhat resembles Aquaman's. In "Mayhem of the Music Meister" Black Manta along with Gorilla Grodd and Clock King are mindcontrolled by the Music Meister. It was also revealed that, when in Arkham Asylum, he is put in a giant fish bowl. In "Bold Beginnings," a flashback showed that Batman had having his first encounter with Aquaman when it came to fighting Black Manta, his henchmen, and his trained great white sharks.

• Black Manta appears in the Young Justice episode "Downtime" voiced by Khary Payton. He and his men attempted to steal a large starfish creature frozen in ice in Atlantis Science Center led by Prince Orm. He is later revealed to be reporting to the Light (Project Cadmus' Board of Directors) when he mentions of obtaining a sample of the starfish creature. It has been confirmed by producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman that the new Aqualad in the animated series will be Black Manta's son just like the comics.^[16]

• Black Manta (addressed only as Manta) appears the Smallville episode "Prophecy," but his actor is uncredited. He is assigned by Toyman to kill Aquaman.

Film

• 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.

Miscellaneous

Black Manta vs. the Justice League.

• 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.

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 the episode "Fallen Arches" where Jefferson Twilight talks with Doctor Byron Orpheus about what it is that Aquaman actually does, wherein Doctor Orpheus states, "I thought he fought Black Manta."
• 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 appears to be inspired by Black Manta, including a similar appearance and many of the same powers. In the episode "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy III", he's even named (next to the "Dirty Bubble") as the all-time greatest archnemesis of the Aquaman spoof ("Mermaid Man"). In his later appearances^{[episode needed]}, however, he's portrayed as only being evil when he feels like he's being mistreated.
• In one episode of the Super Friends, an undersea villain named "The Sculpin" wears an outfit identical to Black Manta with the exception that it was colored green.
• In the Family Guy episode, "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One" Lois convinced the town in a press conference that the Legion of Doom is conspiring with Adolf Hitler to assassinate Jesus. The scene then jumps to the Hall of Doom where Lex Luthor shouts "How did she discover our plan?!". Solomon Grundy admits he "kind of dropped the ball on that one." Almost all of the original Legion is portrayed, except for the Riddler. Black Manta was attending the meeting although he did not have any speaking lines.
• In the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Peanut Puberty," the headquarters for the Legion of Doom was used for a club called the "Legion of Dance." Black Manta makes an appearance as a background character.
• The Legion of Doom was referenced in the animated series South Park episode "Krazy Kripples" featured Christopher Reeve (who portrayed Superman in the movies) forming his own version of the Legion of Doom, complete with the Hall of Doom as their headquarters; its main goal, according to Reeve, was to kill Gene Hackman (aka Lex Luthor in the movies: as a news reporter said "if irony were made out of strawberries, we'd all be drinking a lot of smoothies right now"). It included both parodies of actual LoD villains (Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, and Black Manta), at least two Marvel villain parodies (Doctor Octopus and Doctor Doom) and villains from the South Park universe (such as Professor Chaos, General Disarray, David Blaine and Saddam Hussein, as well as Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong Il).
• A Cartoon Network bumper featured The Powerpuff Girls saving Aquaman and Wonder Woman from the Legion of Doom's clutches. It can be seen here on YouTube. Black Manta attends their meeting and attempts to fight the Powerpuff Girls, but he is soundly beaten along with the rest of the Legion of Doom. At the end they all share a hearty laugh villains and heroes alike, when Bubbles says that she wants to become as "developed" as Wonder Woman.
• In 2003, Cartoon Network Latin America aired the spoof series The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour that starred Aquaman as a children's television show host and the Legion of Doom as his bankrupt villains. Black Manta is also a present member of the Legion of Doom.

See also

• List of black supervillains

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Brightest Day #9 (September 2010)
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Greenberger, Robert (2008). "Black Manta". In Dougall, Alastair. The DC Comics Encyclopedia. London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 52. ISBN 0-7566-4119-5 
3. ^ Aquaman vol. 4, #6, 1993, DC Comics, writer Shaun McLaughlin
4. ^ Aquaman vol. 6, #8, 2003, DC Comics, writer Rick Veitch
5. ^ ^{a b} Adventure Comics #452, 1977
6. ^ Aquaman vol. 4 #39
7. ^ Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #52–53 (July-August 2007)
8. ^ Brightest Day #1 (May 2010)
9. ^ Brightest Day #10 (September 2010)
10. ^ Brightest Day #11 (October 2010)
11. ^ Brightest Day #19 (February 2011)
12. ^ Brightest Day #20 (February 2011)
13. ^ Flashpoint: Legion of Doom #2 (July 2011)
14. ^ "The Enemy Below". Jl.toonzone.net. http://jl.toonzone.net/episode3/episode3.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-26. 
15. ^ "Justice League - TWoP Forums". Forums.televisionwithoutpity.com. 2005-09-24. http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=2615400&view=findpost&p=3660878. Retrieved 2010-12-26. 
16. ^ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (2010-07-23). "Comic-Con 2010: Young Justice". UGO.com. http://www.ugo.com/tv/comic-con-2010-young-justice. Retrieved 2010-12-26. 

External links

• World of Black Heroes: Black Manta Biography
• 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
• Black Manta on DC Database, an external wiki, a DC Comics wiki
• Bio for Devil Ray