Aquaman 2 Director Reveals Black Manta's Powered Up Villain Role

Aquaman introduced Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Black Manta to the live-action big screen but kept his role smaller than some long time DC Comics fans might have expected. Black Manta is, after all, one of Aquaman's most iconic foes. Now, James Wan's master plan is coming together as Black Manta returns in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom to take down Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry, once and for all. With Aquaman having bested Black Manta in their first encounters from Aquaman, Wan and the newly released trailer for the December film are promising the villain as a more imposing and present threat in The Lost Kingdom.

"If you're an Aquaman fan or know the world, Aquaman, you obviously know that Black Manta is a big nemesis of Aquaman, Arthur Curry himself," Wan explained. "And my plan with the first movie was always to kind of set up the relationship with him. He was kind of like a glorified side character in the first one but that was going to be okay because we knew that the second movie was where we're ultimately going to go into with him in a much bigger role."

As seen in the first photos from Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and the official trailer, Black Manta is powered up by possessing what is referred to as the "Black Trident." It seems to be the perfect foil to Aquaman, who will be the King of Atlantis and ruling after acquiring his proper trident in the first Aquaman film.

"Manta basically, at the end, after the first movie, he is on this relentless quest to basically want to kill Arthur Curry or just destroy everything that Arthur has built," Wan recalled, before teasing what is to come. "And so he's been searching nonstop for ways to do that. And in his search, I mean, without giving too much away here in his search to try and fix the power suit that he had in the first movie that was all banged up and destroyed, he stumbles across something much bigger. And I'll just leave it at that."

In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which arrives in theaters on December 20th, when an ancient power is unleashed, Aquaman must forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will see the return of Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Patrick Wilson as Orm, Amber Heard as Mera, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta, and Randall Park as Stephen Shin. Jani Zhao will play new character Stingray, Indya Moore will play Karshon, and Vincent Regan will play Atlan, who was previously portrayed by Graham McTavish in Aquaman. Pilou Asbaek has also joined the cast in a mystery role.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is directed by James Wan, with a script from David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Producers include Wan and DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran.