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Black Manta (real name as David Hyde/Kane) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Aquaman #35 (September 1967) and is the archenemy of the superhero Aquaman. He is the secondary antagonist of the 2018DC Extended Universe film Aquaman, and the main antagonist of its 2023 sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The character made his cinematic debut in Aquaman and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
David Kane was a pirate just like his father, Jesse Kane, who helped him steal a military stealth sub. At some point, they were hired by King Orm Marius to take over a Russian nuclear submarine to help unite the kingdoms of Atlantis and declare war on the surface world, but they are foiled by Aquaman. After a brief battle, Aquaman deflects a rocket from Jesse, which caused a torpedo to topple over, trapping him as the submarine became flooded. Kane begged Aquaman for help but was told that they kill innocents and should not expect mercy from the ocean. Kane was forced to flee, while Jesse perished, and started to bear a deep grudge.
Kane later targets Atlantis at the behest of Orm, who uses the attack as an excuse to declare war on the surface, which he was eventually paid for, but David instead wants weapons to kill Aquaman. Orm later provides David with a high-tech prototype suit of Atlantean armor and plasma rifle, which Kane uses and modifies them into a high-tech suit. He also gains a squad of elite Men-of-War soldiers.
Now calling himself "Black Manta", Kane confronts Arthur and Mera in Sicily, Italy, with Murkand elite Men-of-War soldiers. Manta mostly manages to match and even dominate Arthur, as the king not only has to contend with his new-found Atlantean weapons and superhuman armor, but also has to protect the civilians. However, in the end, Manta was ultimately overpowered by Arthur's combat prowess and own tremendous superhuman physical abilities, as he has slammed away several feet with enough force to damage his jetpack after just having been stabbed by Manta's Atlantean blades and Aquaman proceeded to throw a pair of chained balls at him, successfully heavily damaging his armor by the reflection of his blast and the subsequent fall. In the mid-credits scene, Kane is rescued by Dr. Stephen Shin, a scientist obsessed with finding Atlantis, and agrees to lead him there in exchange for his help in his revenge on Aquaman.
Black Manta returns in the sequel this time as the main antagonist. Kane resurfaced from his injuries and preserved his suit. He is shown working with Dr. Shin along with other researchers in Antarctica and fell through into the ravines, followed by the researchers who had been dragged into the cave. Kane and Shin lead a team further down into the ocean over the melted cave. Kane leaves much of his team to be attacked by a Kaiju octopus, where he fuses the two pieces of the black trident and was spoken through by Kordax in a vision who manipulates him into seeking vengeance towards Aquaman in exchange for more power. After this experience, Kane's eyes shone green with power as Shin finds him.
Kane repairs his suit and soon tracks down Aquaman during a conference and attacks. Engaging in a battle with Aquaman, he then retreats after injuring Mera through his ship. Eventually after Aquaman and his brother Orm go after his base after forcing an imprisoned crime lord named KingFish into revealing his whereabouts, Black Manta confronts his enemies after Orm reveals his plans to let their guard down as Manta sends his team to attack the brothers. However, as both Aquaman and Orm defeat Manta's forces, their foe appears out of the smoke and easily forces Orm away towards Aquaman. Manta then launches the black trident towards Aquaman, but it misses and almost strikes Orm, who would attempt to touch the trident and learns of Kordax's plot and collapses. Aquaman takes his brother away to shore to learn how to destroy the trident.
Later, Manta approaches Aquaman's house and his father, Tom Curry, as he stands silently in front with eyes emitting red, as he begins to set the house on fire and taking Aquaman's son while leaving Tom in the inferno to tell his son about the event. Black Manta retreats back to his base and plans to reach Necrus to release Kordax from his imprisonment in his kingdom and prepares his men to set fleet. Kane stands as his ship tears through the ice barriers of Antarctica and requests that his men would take Arthur's child to Kordax. Manta's ships arrive at Necrus after destroying the Necrus kingdom to access Kordax's imprisonment which Manta drives his pot towards the caves of the prison, leaving his ships overwhelmed by Aquaman and his race, including his brother.
As the latter confronts Manta who attempts to sacrifice the child to release Kordax, it goes into a sudden confrontation as Manta greatly overpowers his foe with the black power of the trident and attempts to land the killing blow, only to be stopped by Mera who hurls Manta away and knocks him down. He attempts to kill both Mera and her and Arthur's son with the black trident when seeing them running away, but Orm was able to save them which results Kordax to transform into from Manta's body to his. While Aquaman witnesses his brother being possessed, Manta attempts to attack him again but only for him to dodge his moves at the right time and knocks him unconscious. After the destruction of Kordax, including the trident, Kane awakens and hangs onto the rupturing floor as, despite Aquaman's reluctance to save his life, instead of accepting this act of heroism and filled with grudging resentment since he has failed at killing Aquaman, Manta decides to commit suicide by letting himself fall to his death along with the destruction of Necrus falling, ending his threat towards Atlantis once and for all.
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