'Aquaman' Trailer Shows First Look at Black Manta's Powers

The explosive first Aquaman trailer surfaced online earlier today thanks to the massive Warner [...]

The explosive first Aquaman trailer surfaced online earlier today thanks to the massive Warner Brothers Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con and in it, we were lucky enough to see Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in action as Black Manta for the first time.

Although the trailer largely focused on Arthur Curry's (Jason Momoa) battle with his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson), we caught a glimpse of Black Manta in a handful of clips, once unmasked and two more during a battle with Curry in a desert-based set piece.

From what we saw in the trailer, the character appears to be ripped straight from the world of Aquaman comics. While he's not a metahuman per se, David Hyde created a high tech battle-suit that grants him enhanced strength, speed, and durability in addition being able to project optic blasts through his helmet, much like we saw in the trailer.

On a recent visit to the set of Aquaman, ComicBook.com sat down with Adbul-Mateen II to talk about the Black Manta costume and the preparation behind taking a role as archenemy to Aquaman.

"That thing is just badass, man," Abdul-Matten II said. "We have our ideas about what the character's going to be, and so I bring all of that stuff to it. But then you put that thing on, and you see yourself in the mirror, and all of a sudden, I'm 10 feet taller in that thing, and I feel like I could bust through a wall! I talked about wanting to run through walls, and just break s--- in my meeting with Peter, when I auditioned for the job. And, I put on that suit, and everything's just coming full circle."

Aquaman director James Wan takes pride in crafting unique moments and designs in his films. Black Manta, the secondary villain of this film, is no exception.

"I think like most fans I love the really sort of strange design of Black Manta, and I see this guy, and I think what we all love about him is he's kind of scary, he's really badass to look at it," Wan said. "But there's just something kind of slightly off, right? The big giant head, these big two red glowing eyes. And so I didn't want to shy away from that. I'm going to take what's best about the design, and kind of bring my sensibility to it. And ultimately he's a human character, and he has to go up against someone like Arthur/Aquaman, who is a superhero. And so I have to tweak the outfit slightly to give him the power."

Aquaman hits theaters on December 21, 2018.

1comments