DC’s Aquaman is poised to be one of the bigger releases of holiday movie season 2018, and as New York Comic-Con kicks off, we’re seeing some new Aquaman promotional materials drop. One piece that has definitely caught a lot of fans’ eyes is no doubt this new promo poster featuring Aquaman nemesis, Black Manta!
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As you can see, this piece of promo art that popped up on Reddit is getting notice for its unique Rorschach Test-style design concept. The pictures of Black Manta is made out of mirroring images of the nautical technology at his disposal – which includes his signature “Manta Sub” vehicle. There’s a tagline listed on the Reddit post, which reads: “A war is coming to the surface, and I am bringing the wrath.” That’s not a confirmed line of dialogue or even an official tagline, but it sure is a cool one.
The image is completed by an ominous red wave surging in the background – perhaps a tease of the bloody violence Black Manta will commit in his vendetta against Aquaman and Atlantis. We’ve already seen that Aquaman‘s climatic battle will be an all-out war scenario, with Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson) trying to invade the surface world, while Aquamn (Jason Mamoa) and his queen Mera (Amber Heard) try to defend the surface world. How Black Manta will fit into the battle (and where his loyalties lie) remains to be seen.
The Get Down star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is playing Black Manta in Aquaman, and although the details of his storyline in the film are being kept close to the vest, he did tease a little bit of what the rivalry between Black Manta and Aquaman is all about, when we visited the Aquaman set:
“We meet Black Manta at a time where … he’s riding on high. He’s just come off of his wind, and there’s a changing of the guards, so to speak. And then, this guy, Aquaman, comes in, and crashes the party…. so, we meet him at a time when he’s just, he’s on top and then, bam, immediately, an event happens, and he’s at the bottom… And then, from then on, you know, “It’s Aquaman’s fault!” He has very little else to live for, and so it becomes that revenge story.”
He’s also dropped hints as to how Manta’s story plays out, teasing that the chance to strike at Aquaman will be a job that brings the villain into his own:
“For Black Manta, it’s not necessarily bad to be given an opportunity to obey, ‘I just got this promotion, let me go prove myself, and step myself up and, you know, step it up once more.’ So, in that confrontation, I’d like to think that Black Manta’s very excited about, ‘Okay, what it going to be like? [Aquaman] This is that guy from around the way, who I’ve been hearing all these things about. And he’s supposed to be a badass, and now is my time to go show him who the real badass is around these parts.’”
The brief footage of Manta in the Aquaman trailer shows that he will indeed be a formidable foe with just his suit – let alone with a full armada of nautical tech behind him, as we see in this poster.
Upcoming DC Extended Universe films include Aquaman on December 21st, Shazam on April 5, 2019, and Wonder Woman 2 on November 1, 2019.
