‘Aquaman’: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Says Black Manta Can Appear in Other DC Films

Aquaman still has a few months before it makes its big screen debut, but it sounds like one of the film’s cast members could have a bit of staying power.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who plays Black Adam in the upcoming DC Extended Universe venture, was asked about the possibility of him appearing in other films. As Abdul-Mateen II pointed out, there’s certainly a narrative reason for that to happen, considering the path that Manta has within DC Comics.

“Well, yeah, I mean, this character, he’s all over the canon.” Abdul-Mateen II explained. “He’s in Suicide Squad, we see him in the cartoons, we see him in Young Justice. Yeah, I mean, he’s all over the place, in way that he can get to his means to an end. Right, if you see Aquaman in Justice League, then you know, it’ll make sense for Black Manta to say, ‘Hey! What you doing?’ Pop his head in, wherever he is, he can justify making it his business. I’m looking forward to living long within the DC world, and create a little bit of chaos.”

While fans have only seen brief glimpses – and a bit of creative trolling – around Manta’s role in the film, that hasn’t stopped people from getting pretty excited about his big-screen tenure. And apparently, that excitement extends behind-the-scenes as well.

“Listen, we love Manta,” producer Peter Safran explained to reporters. “From the early days of developing the screenplay, he’s just such a great antagonist and he’s such a fan favorite. And, the response every time people hear that he’s in the movie or that it’s confirmed that he’s in the movie, they’re thrilled about it. So, we always wanted to give him his storyline and if Orm is the primary antagonist, then Manta is certainly is a very strong secondary antagonist. And there is a connection between Orm and Manta that will be revealed that that helps make him a more integral part of the story.”

“We certainly have every intention that Manta plays a very large role in the DC universe.” Safran continued. “He has to. He’s just too great. And we give him his origin story in this movie. We do show how Manta that we see in the comic books, became that character.”

Are you excited to see Black Manta make his big screen debut in Aquaman? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Aquaman hits theaters on December 21st.