Black Manta: David
It's Friday the 13th which means bad luck. You know what else means bad luck? Black Manta. That's right we're switching the game and calling an audible. Black Manta is a villain in Black Superhero Month. Similar to how Aquaman is one of the most underrated heroes, Black Manta is one of the most underrated villains. Black Manta has 2 different back stories before New 52. It all depends on the writer. Doesn't matter, they're both depressing. The first is that David was autistic and his parents abandoned him on the streets. This lead to him being arrested and sent to Arkham Asylum. Because of his Autism he refused to sleep on or under covers because it irritated him. At the same time Aquaman was his favorite hero and David knew everything about Aquaman. David was a gifted swimmer and loved freezing waters. The staff at Arkham experimented on David and cured his autism but it made him extreamly violent. He no longer worshiped Aquaman but wanted to kill him and replace him. Somehow they thought this was an improvement.
The second Pre-New 52 back story is even sadder. David is from Baltimore and loved swimming on the beach. As a kid he's kidnapped from the beach. He's then taken to a ship where he's beaten molested, and raped for several years. Multiple times he would see Aquaman outside the ship and called him for help. Each time Aquaman ignored him. On one occasion he waved at David then continued his day. This caused David to have an intense hatred for Aquaman. One day he managed to grab a knife and kill all of the men that kidnapped him and thus Black Manta was born. Doesn't matter how many back stories he has, they're all sad.
Black Manta creates his own technology because he's not a slacker and is much more intelligent than Batman who hires Lucas Fox to make his equipment. Black Manta comes out pretty bad after some initial encounters with Aquaman. He uses this as motivation. He quickly becomes ranked as one of the worlds top assassins. He also develops his own unorthodox fighting style that works on land and underwater. This fighting style managed to remove one of Aquman's hands on an occasion. On one occasion he manages to escape prison by killing several guards with nothing but a quarter.
On one occasion Black Manta teams up with Ocean Master to capture Atlantis. Everything was going swimmingly until they decided to have a conversation. Black Manta wanted to kill Aquaman and rule Atlantis.Ocean Master wanted to Kill Aquaman's son and blow up Atlantis. Black Manta is a man with morals, very loose morals, but they're there. The partnership dissolves and the two fight. Aquaman arrives and takes them both out while they're distracted.
After a few more defeats at the hands of Aquaman Black Manta decided there's no harm in going after the family. Black Manta gets his army together and kidnaps Aquaman's son. Aquamn rushes to the rescue with Aqualad at his side and gets beat down by Black Manta's army. When he wakes up he asks Black Manta why he's doing this. Black Manta says he wants to create a kingdom for his people. Aquman tells him surface dwellers already have their own land. Black Manta takes off the mask and says "No, I mean exactly what I said: My people, or have you never wondered why I'm called Black Manta." Aquman doesn't care and just asks about his baby. Initially Black Manta tries to use the child as a bargaining chip. Aquaman refuses so Black Manta forces him and Aqualad to fight to the death or he'll kill the child. The baby is placed in a machine that keeps a forcefield around him while Aquaman and Aqualad fight. Aqualad says "Calm down we can figure this out," and Aquman punches him right in the mouth for trying to be logical. Aquman continues to beat down Aqualad until he realizes what he's doing.
Aquaman instead throws his trident at the machine keeping his son in a force field. This was a dumb move because the trident makes contact and blows the machine up. Sure it took down the force field but also killed his son. However he blames Black Manta for this and Black Manta says "Not today" and gets out of there. Aquaman tells Aqualad they're going after Manta. Aqualad quits because he just took the beating of his life and Aquaman didn't even apologize. This story kind of messed up everyone. Aqualad goes solo, Aquaman becomes depressed and more violent. Black Manta lays low for a few years because he's depressed since killing a child wasn't in his plans. Some of his soldiers leave because of the child killing.
The next time we see Black Manta he makes a deal with the demon Neron. Neron provides Manta with the power necessary to kill Aquaman but turns him into a giant humanoid manta. Aquaman almost loses but learns of Black Manta's back story. (The one where Arkham expirimented on him). He uses the magic water hand to turn Manta back into a human and rewires his brain so that he doesn't want to kill Aquaman anymore. For a while Black Manta goes straight and teams up several times with Aquaman and Tempest (Aqualad who quit). Sadly when they were fighting The Thirst, Black Manta saw a chance to kill Aquaman and went after him to even his own shock. He once again lays low to figure things out.
When San Diego is sunken underwater Black Manta does a semi heroic thing. He rules it like a dictator. But, he does protect the people from undersea villains trying to kill them. Teaches them to survive underwater. His word is final but it's not like he was killing you if you didn't agree. He just ignored you. Everything is swimming along well in the city and people like Black Manta. Aquaman swims in anyway. Aquaman felt he was taking advantage of the people's situation so of course he gives Manta a beating. This time he sends man eating fish at Manta and leaves assuming Manta is dead. Manta used his suit to send out an electric charge and kill the fish. Manta still leads Sub Diego but he's badly injured. King Shark took that moment to take control and kick Black Manta out.
Black Manta gets a job at a fish market and contemplates putting the suit back on again. However he hears Aquaman has died so he buy a house and works as a fisherman. Some time passes included Blackest Night and Brightest Day. When Manta hears Aquaman is back he realizes he's bored and that win or lose fighting Aquaman made him happy. He kills everyone in the fish market. Burns down his house and walks straight into the ocean only to walk back out in his Manta suit. I can only assume he was smiling. He goes to the grave of Aquaman's dad and asks Aquaman "Where's your son at?" Because he got over that. They fight and Black Manta does his evil laugh and leaves Aquaman on the ground while he leaves. Mera's twin sister Siren shows up and tells Manta that he needs to find his son before Aquman does. Black Manta and Siren meet Aquaman in Temecula California. Aquaman has the whole Aquafamily with him but Black Manta is on top of his game and lays them all out before cutting off Aquaman's again. Somehow Mera locks him in the Bermuda Triangle before Manta can finish Aquaman.
In the New 52 Black Manta is searching for Atlantean Artifacts. They're held by Aquaman and his old team The Others. Like Aquaman they're all humans who moved to underwater cities. He's wiping the floor with them. The team however comes together and attack him. Aquaman's trident destroys Black Manta's helmet and causes his scars across his face. Black Manta then joins with Task Force X. Think Suicide Squad.
Abilities and Equipment
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The second Pre-New 52 back story is even sadder. David is from Baltimore and loved swimming on the beach. As a kid he's kidnapped from the beach. He's then taken to a ship where he's beaten molested, and raped for several years. Multiple times he would see Aquaman outside the ship and called him for help. Each time Aquaman ignored him. On one occasion he waved at David then continued his day. This caused David to have an intense hatred for Aquaman. One day he managed to grab a knife and kill all of the men that kidnapped him and thus Black Manta was born. Doesn't matter how many back stories he has, they're all sad.
Black Manta creates his own technology because he's not a slacker and is much more intelligent than Batman who hires Lucas Fox to make his equipment. Black Manta comes out pretty bad after some initial encounters with Aquaman. He uses this as motivation. He quickly becomes ranked as one of the worlds top assassins. He also develops his own unorthodox fighting style that works on land and underwater. This fighting style managed to remove one of Aquman's hands on an occasion. On one occasion he manages to escape prison by killing several guards with nothing but a quarter.
On one occasion Black Manta teams up with Ocean Master to capture Atlantis. Everything was going swimmingly until they decided to have a conversation. Black Manta wanted to kill Aquaman and rule Atlantis.Ocean Master wanted to Kill Aquaman's son and blow up Atlantis. Black Manta is a man with morals, very loose morals, but they're there. The partnership dissolves and the two fight. Aquaman arrives and takes them both out while they're distracted.
After a few more defeats at the hands of Aquaman Black Manta decided there's no harm in going after the family. Black Manta gets his army together and kidnaps Aquaman's son. Aquamn rushes to the rescue with Aqualad at his side and gets beat down by Black Manta's army. When he wakes up he asks Black Manta why he's doing this. Black Manta says he wants to create a kingdom for his people. Aquman tells him surface dwellers already have their own land. Black Manta takes off the mask and says "No, I mean exactly what I said: My people, or have you never wondered why I'm called Black Manta." Aquman doesn't care and just asks about his baby. Initially Black Manta tries to use the child as a bargaining chip. Aquaman refuses so Black Manta forces him and Aqualad to fight to the death or he'll kill the child. The baby is placed in a machine that keeps a forcefield around him while Aquaman and Aqualad fight. Aqualad says "Calm down we can figure this out," and Aquman punches him right in the mouth for trying to be logical. Aquman continues to beat down Aqualad until he realizes what he's doing.Aquaman instead throws his trident at the machine keeping his son in a force field. This was a dumb move because the trident makes contact and blows the machine up. Sure it took down the force field but also killed his son. However he blames Black Manta for this and Black Manta says "Not today" and gets out of there. Aquaman tells Aqualad they're going after Manta. Aqualad quits because he just took the beating of his life and Aquaman didn't even apologize. This story kind of messed up everyone. Aqualad goes solo, Aquaman becomes depressed and more violent. Black Manta lays low for a few years because he's depressed since killing a child wasn't in his plans. Some of his soldiers leave because of the child killing.
The next time we see Black Manta he makes a deal with the demon Neron. Neron provides Manta with the power necessary to kill Aquaman but turns him into a giant humanoid manta. Aquaman almost loses but learns of Black Manta's back story. (The one where Arkham expirimented on him). He uses the magic water hand to turn Manta back into a human and rewires his brain so that he doesn't want to kill Aquaman anymore. For a while Black Manta goes straight and teams up several times with Aquaman and Tempest (Aqualad who quit). Sadly when they were fighting The Thirst, Black Manta saw a chance to kill Aquaman and went after him to even his own shock. He once again lays low to figure things out.
When San Diego is sunken underwater Black Manta does a semi heroic thing. He rules it like a dictator. But, he does protect the people from undersea villains trying to kill them. Teaches them to survive underwater. His word is final but it's not like he was killing you if you didn't agree. He just ignored you. Everything is swimming along well in the city and people like Black Manta. Aquaman swims in anyway. Aquaman felt he was taking advantage of the people's situation so of course he gives Manta a beating. This time he sends man eating fish at Manta and leaves assuming Manta is dead. Manta used his suit to send out an electric charge and kill the fish. Manta still leads Sub Diego but he's badly injured. King Shark took that moment to take control and kick Black Manta out.
In the New 52 Black Manta is searching for Atlantean Artifacts. They're held by Aquaman and his old team The Others. Like Aquaman they're all humans who moved to underwater cities. He's wiping the floor with them. The team however comes together and attack him. Aquaman's trident destroys Black Manta's helmet and causes his scars across his face. Black Manta then joins with Task Force X. Think Suicide Squad.
Abilities and Equipment
- Manta Suit
- Allows for super strength and durability that match Aquaman
- Eye Lasers
- Genius
- Top level hacker
- Great strategist
- Great manipulator
- Army is made up of all black men and Atlanteans
- Black Manta is a genius and creates all of his weapons by himself including
- Manta Sub
- Dual Blade Gun
- Twin swords
- Explosives
- etc
- Top 5 Assassin
- Peak Physical Fitness
- Created his own fighting style
- Master of Stealth
Follow @OriginalKingD
