Black Manta

Black Manta (David Milton Hyde) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Bob Haney and artist Nick Cardy, the character first appeared in Aquaman #35 (September 1967). He has since endured as the archenemy of the superhero Aquaman. Black Manta has had numerous origin stories throughout his comic book appearances, having been a young boy kidnapped and enslaved by pirates on their ship; an orphan subjected to cruel experiments in Arkham Asylum; and a high-seas treasure hunter caught in a mutual cycle of vengeance with Aquaman over the deaths of their fathers. Despite these different versions of his past, Black Manta is consistently depicted as a ruthless underwater mercenary who is obsessed with ruining Aquaman's life. As Aquaman's nemesis, Black Manta has been part of the superhero's defining stories, including the murder of Arthur Curry Jr.–Aquaman's infant son–and numerous attempts to destroy Aquaman's home kingdom of Atlantis. A black armored suit with a large, bug-eyed metal helmet serves as Black Manta's visual motif. The character has been adapted in various media incarnations. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portrayed Black Manta in the DC Extended Universe films Aquaman (2018) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), while Kevin Michael Richardson, Khary Payton, and others have provided his voice in animation and video games.