8 Things You Didn't Know About DC's Black Manta

Black Manta’s shadowy past was given another retelling in the New 52, this time making his feud with Aquaman extremely personal. In this origin, Black Manta was treasure hunter and mercenary. He spent years discovering undiscovered relics and mystical items. He was eventually was offered a healthy sum of money to deliver a sample of Arthur Curry’s blood to a man trying to prove the existence of Atlantis. Always one to complete a mission, Manta eventually finds a young Aquaman with his father Thomas Curry. After a struggle to defend his son, Thomas succumbs to a fatal heart attack.

Driven to avenge the loss, Aquaman finds what he believes to be the boat of Black Manta and kills the man he blames for his father’s death. Ironically the man he murdered was not Black Manta at all, but Black Manta’s dad, who had accompanied his son on a trip to sea. Black Manta’s sole purpose in life became to murder the man who caused him so much pain, making him vengeance personified. The Devil of the Sea will not stop until the King of Atlantis pays the ultimate price, creating a real blood feud between the characters.