Wave 2 - Black Manta
The evil Black Manta is a super-villain whose criminal roots run all the back to his early childhood. As an autistic orphan living in the Baltimore area, the young Black Manta was kidnapped and forced to work as slave labor on a ship. During this time he was raped and abused by his captors and he came to identify those feelings of torment with the emotionless sea to which he was bound. He eventually slay his tormentors and escaped from the ship.
In adulthood, the Black Manta adopted his villainous moniker and designed a costume fitting his name. It was his childhood hatred for the ocean to inspired him to become its criminal master. His hatred for the sea was his tie to it, and this hatred also extended to Aquaman, whom Black Manta regarded as the ruler of the sea.
Black Manta's hate-driven desire to conquer the ocean led to further degradation of his already fragile mind, eventually leading him to seek out the demon Neron to whom he traded his soul in exchange for more power and to be transformed into a true manta/human hybrid. However, in a battle with his arch-nemesis, Aquaman used his magical healing hand to restore Black Manta to his original human state, and as a side effect of the regression, cured Black Manta's autism. Living for the first time with a 'normal' mind, it was revealed that Black Manta was without redemption as he continued to be a ruthless villain.
Black Manta is a normal human with no super-powers. However, he is a large, muscular man of peak fitness and is prone to bouts of adrenaline-fueled rage. Additionally, he wears a manta-ray helmet that shoots lasers from its eyes and pilots a state-of-the-art submersible that is outfitted with various deadly armaments. Black Manta was the first well-known African-American supervillains and perceived injustices toward his race also factor heavily into his psychosis.
At first glance, Black Manta seems kind of boring. Sure, he has a great sculpt and the DCUC standard articulation, but he’s just an all-black guy with a weird helmet. But once you start really looking at that weird helmet, you’ll realize this another exquisitely detailed figure. The helmet and backpack have a lot going on in terms of paint detail - there’s a subtle wash down in the grooves of the pieces, and there are lots of different spots of red and purple on little accents here and there that really make the pieces pop.
BM also gets treated well in the accessories department. He sports a spear/trident of his own as well as a nifty little laser gun looking thing. Manta’s accessories don’t seem to have any of the paint rub off problems that Aquaman’s did. This is another nice figure and an excellent baddie to complement Aquaman.
