With the premiere of Aquaman all but a few weeks away, the marketing and public relations teams at Warner Brothers are working overtime to publicize the upcoming DC Extended Universe flick all they can. Earlier today, the team released a photo of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II‘s Black Manta alongside actor Michael Beach, who’s been revealed to play Manta’s father Jesse Kane.
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The image itself doesn’t show much, but Manta and Kane can be seen looking towards the back on the ship, almost as if an unwanted visitor has boarded.
Though Beach’s role in the film has been kept under wraps, his character can be seen in the same style of suits as Mateen’s Manta. It should be noted that in The New 52 iteration of Aquaman, Arthur Curry is responsible for the killing of Black Manta’s father, the event that causes the villain to become Aquaman’s nemesis.
Previously speaking with ComicBook.com during a visit to the set of Aquaman, Mateen II was ecstatic about being able to put on the comic-accurate Manta costume.
“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 agrees. Remaining comic-accurate, Wan thinks the suit portrays a sense of instability for Manta.
“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 swims into theaters December 21st, 2018.
