Manta attempted to kill Jackson's foster father, but Aquaman intervened and brought the two to safety.

However, upon the return of Aquaman, Manta turned back to crime, teaming up with Siren and her Death Squad to find his son Jackson Hyde, the new Aqualad. He later joined Libra's Secret Society of Super-Villains but quit the group when Libra helped Darkseid conquer the Earth.ĭuring Brightest Day, when Aquaman was presumed dead, Black Manta took up a job at a fish market. He later returned and overtook Sub Diego, but was forced to flee when King Shark bit off his face. He was supposedly killed by Aquaman in retaliation, but was later revealed to have survived via generating an electric charge in his suit. He later caused a disturbance in Sub Diego, during which Captain Marley was seriously injured. Manta was later used as a test subject to create water breathers using genetic manipulation. Despite this, Manta remained a murderous criminal. He was later reversed back into a human by Aquaman, using the Lady of the Lake's Healing Hand, and cured Manta's autism. In this new form, Manta indulged in drug smuggling in Star City. Aquaman spared Manta's life, however, and had him arrested instead.īlack Manta later sold his soul to the demon Neron, who mutated him into a manta-human hybrid creature. This left Aquaman obsessed with revenge, and he engaged in another battle with Black Manta, ending with the supervillain defeated. During the clash with Aquaman, Black Manta entrapped Aquaman's son, Arthur Curry Jr., in a globe filling with air, suffocating the infant to death. This was later revealed to be a ruse to manipulate his lieutenant, Cal Durham. Under the moniker of Black Manta, the supervillain and his army would engage in multiple clashes with Aquaman over the course of several years.ĭuring one such confrontation, Black Manta revealed he was African American, and claimed he wished for his people to rule the seas after being oppressed on dry land. As an adult, the man who would become Black Manta created a costume and fashioned a high-tech submersible inspired by manta rays. He finally defended himself against his captors, killing one of them with a knife. This resulted in the boy developing hatred against the sea, and Aquaman, who he saw as its representative. During his time held prisoner on the ship, the boy attempted to call Aquaman for help but was not seen. Once an autistic child who loved to play by the sea, the child who would become Black Manta was abducted and forced to work on a ship for an unspecified amount of time. In the current Brightest Day miniseries, it has been revealed that Black Manta is the father of the new Aqualad, Jackson Hyde, and his true origin may come to light. by trapping him in a chamber that suffocated him, despite Aquaman's best efforts to save him, an act that truly proves that not all sea monsters were animals. But now their war became personal after Manta killed Aquaman's son Arthur Curry Jr. But Manta has proven to be just as heartless as the scientists who tormented him as a boy and frequently fought Aquaman. One such experiment increased his knowledge but made him a sociopathic madman in the process.Įscaping from Arkham, Manta decided to take over the seas, seeing it as a safe haven from the cruelty of the surface world. Manta currently claims that he was an autistic boy who grew up in Arkham Asylum, where he was subject to many unethical experiments. This involves strategic attacks and murders on Arthur's people, specifically his close loved ones.īlack Manta is one of many mysteries of the sea. Out of all of Aquaman's foes, Black Manta is the one that held the strongest grudge against him.īlack Manta's hatred for Aquaman has varied over the years, due to the changes of his origin, but he has consistently gone out of his way to be cruel and sadistic as possible to make his life miserable. I don't hate you for siding with my greatest enemy, Jackson.but I fear that I have become your greatest enemy.ĭavid Hyde, better known as Black Manta, is one of the main antagonists of the DC Universe, and one of the two arch-nemeses (alongside Ocean Master) of Aquaman. The world is afraid of you.and it should be.

You want to bring the land and sea together? You raise this building to your own vain ambition? You're deluded. Y'see, deep down, in my most secret heart of hearts, I'm still a totally depraved sonuvabitch whose main goal in life is to watch you die.

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