Aquaman Casts Its Black Manta

11/03/2017 09:06 pm EDT

ADC Films has officially cast Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta in the Aquaman movie. Abdul-Mateen starred in The Get Down, the Baz Luhrmann production released on Netflix. He will be playing Aquaman's nemesis opposite former Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa as the DC Comics King of Atlantis himself, Arthur Curry.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. went through a series of tryouts with multiple actors over the past few weeks but put an official offer for Abdul-Mateen on the table over the weekend.

Aquaman is the next DC Comics movie on the Warner Bros. production schedule. Filming is expected to begin in April 2017.

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Aquaman is being directed by James Wan, from a screenplay written by Will Beall, based on a story treatment created by Wan and Geoff Johns. In addition to Momoa as Aquaman and Abdul-Mateen as Black Manta, Aquaman also stars Amber Heard as Aquaman's wife, Mera, and Patrick Wilson as Aquaman's treacherous brother, Orm the Ocean Master.

Aquaman is scheduled to open in theaters on July 27, 2018.

Momoa debuted as Aquaman with a brief cameo in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He'll reprise the role for Justice League in 2017.

In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League opens Nov. 17, 2016.

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