Black Manta's Scrapped Solo Movie Will Live On in Aquaman 2

Earlier in the week, Warner Bros. revealed the first trailer of Aquaman & the Lost Kingdom. When director James Wan talked to the press, he mentioned that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta would serve as the film’s big bad after being more of a henchman to Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson) in the original film. And part of Manta’s story in the film will involve material from a movie he was originally meant to headline.

You may recall a few years ago that Warner Bros. up and announced an Aquaman spinoff called The Trench, based on those nasty-looking undersea monsters during the first movie’s third act. It seemed like a weird gambit, given it wouldn’t have starred anyone from the first movie, but then after said spinoff got canceled alongside Ava DuVernay’s New Gods, Wan revealed that Trench was a smokescreen for what was actually a Black Manta solo film. Wan explained that at the time, they didn’t reveal a movie was in the works for one of the biggest haters in the DC Comics pantheon to surprise audiences. But since it’s now no longer a thing, Lost Kingdom will have what was planned for that movie.

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[via IGN]

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