About
As an adult, the man who would become Black Manta designed a costume (primarily a black wetsuit with bug-eyed helmet that was able to shoot blasting rays from its eyes) and fashioned a high-tech submersible inspired by black manta rays. Taking the name Black Manta, he and his masked army became a force to be reckoned with, engaging in at least one unrecorded clash with Aquaman prior to his first appearance as a rival to the Ocean Master (and before joining the short-lived Injustice League in the retcon Silver Age third week event).The fearsome Black Manta and Aquaman battled repeatedly over the next several years. During one of these clashes, it was revealed that Black Manta was actually an African American, whose stated objective at one point was for black people to be dominant in the ocean after having been oppressed for so long on dry land (though this goal was revealed to be a ruse he used to trick Cal Durham into following him, and this objective was not at all evident in either his earlier or later appearances). During most of his appearances, his main goals were defeating Aquaman and gaining power for himself through the conquest of Atlantis. Finally, Manta kills Arthur Curry, Jr., Aquaman's son, which left Aquaman obsessed with revenge.
Black Manta was later transformed into a Manta/Man hybrid. After a while he went back to wearing his original outfit, which covered his new appearance. At one point he took to drug smuggling from his new base in Star City, where he was opposed by a returning Green Arrow and Aquaman.
In a later confrontation, Aquaman, sporting the Lady of the Lake's Healing Hand, reverses the alterations to Black Manta, and rewired Manta's afflicted brain, making him normal for the first time in his life. Unfortunately, Manta remained a violent criminal, lulling Aquaman into a false sense of partnership and almost killing the Sea King in the process.
In later events, Black Manta was used as a test subject to make water breathers, using genetic manipulation. This succeeded and since then Black Manta has returned to the oceans to face Aquaman once again.
After Black Manta caused a disturbance in Sub Diego in which Captain Marley was severely injured (Aquaman v4 #39). Aquaman summoned various predatory sea-life to attack Black Manta and left him for dead. It was later revealed that he was able to survive by generating an electric charge with his suit.
One year later, he took over Sub Diego but was forced to flee when King Shark bit off his face (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #52-53).
He can be seen as the member of Libra's Secret Society of Super Villains.
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"Hi, Manta-long time, no chat. Say...i was recently challenged to created a hologram of a dead aquaman, and I figure you're the best judge on if I got it right, or what i could do better, so here it is"
((ring creates the pre-programed image in front of you))
"Whatcha think?"