The DC Extended Universe has come to a close. This past December, Warner Bros. released Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a sequel to the box office juggernaut Aquaman (2018) and the final canonical installment into the DCEU. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom continued the story of Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry as he assimilated to the Atlantean throne and clashed with longtime rival Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Aquaman and Black Manta’s bad blood began back in the first film, as the water-based hero is responsible for his father’s death, consequently leading Manta to vow vengeance.
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Aquaman 2’s Cancelled Flashback Plans Revealed
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom nearly included more exploration into Black Manta’s backstory.
Speaking to ComicBook, Michael Beach, who portrayed Black Manta’s father Jesse Kane in Aquaman (2018), revealed he was pitched a return for the sequel but scheduling got in the way.
“They actually talked to me about shooting a couple of scenes in Aquaman 2, obviously flashback things, but we weren’t able to do it because of scheduling and stuff,” Beach revealed. “Instead, they just put a couple of clips from the first one in there to remind the audience as to why Black Manta hates Aquaman so much.”
Beach appears in Aquaman (2018) in one of the film’s opening scenes, leading a raid on a submarine. Aquaman eventually interferes and Jesse is killed in the process, sparking Black Manta’s quest for revenge.
“Even though my character doesn’t have a whole lot of screen time, I think the setup of Manta’s hatred for Aquaman has to be shown in my relationship with him. I think we pulled that off in the little time that we had,” Beach added. “We have to build this relationship in order for the hatred to carry us through to not only the first film but the second film.”
That relationship is both told and shown. One of the pair’s first encounters sees Jesse gift his son a knife that belonged to his father before him, a man that fought in World War II and was nicknamed “Manta.”
“The scene where I actually give him the knife, that was not in the original script,” Beach continued. “James wrote it maybe two or three days before we shot it.”
Despite being unavailable for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Beach looks back at his time in the DCEU fondly.
“It was a lot of fun. It’s such a huge movie. To see how big it was and how much detail goes into building the sets,” Beach continued. “It was a great experience. [Director] James Wan, who I worked with once before, he’s like a child when it comes to that kind of stuff. He really puts himself into it, and he’s got so much energy that it was exciting to be a part of such a big film.”
Beach can be seen in , which is currently airing new episodes every Sunday on Paramount+.
