While all hell seems to be breaking loose on the DC Extended Universe properties like The Batman and The Flash, there seems to be at least one of their movies on the horizon that isn’t careening off a cliff. Ironically enough, that film is Aquaman. Perhaps that’s the key to it all: have a character fans aren’t expecting much from, and they won’t get bogged down thinking about everything the movie should be. While the other movies have been slowly collapsing, director James Wan has slowly been making progress as Aquaman has inched its way towards production. 

The latest piece of news comes in the form of movement on the casting front. According to THR, Wan and company have decided on The Get Down’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a good fit for the villain Black Manta, and they have now started early talks with the actor. Now, the interesting part isn’t necessarily the casting itself, but the reveal that Black Manta will, indeed, be in the movie. Back in August, TheWrap reported that Black Manta would be the main antagonist, but Wan was quick to downplay that rumor.

In the time since then, we’ve seen Patrick Wilson sign on as Orm (a.k.a. Ocean Master). It seemed to imply that Ocean Master could be the big bad in this film (though there was always the possibility that DC was saving him for a future movie). However, with this new report, it seems to confirm that that the plot will be Black Manta-centric.

For those unfamiliar, Black Manta is a pretty legit Aquaman villain — one who kills Aquaman’s son and tries to take over Atlantis to claim it for his people. Interestingly enough, the man behind the strange mask isn’t a metahuman at all, but a simple human with a high tech suit. More often than not, Black Manta isn’t a mustache-twirling villain, but a sympathetic antagonist trying to make things better for his people.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out on the big screen.

What do you think of the casting of Abdul-Mateen? Are you looking forward to seeing Aquaman take on Black Manta? Let us know in the comments down below!

Aquaman hits theaters on October 5, 2018.

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: THR