Black Manta
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Real Identity: Unknown
Affiliation(s): The Light
Appearances: Downtime, Alienated, Depths, Darkest, True Colors, The Fix, Complications, and Summit
Appearances (Games): Legacy
Powers/Skills: Above Average Intelligence, Strategy, Above Average Attributes, Armed Combat, and Engineering
Voiced By: Khary Payton
A supervillain named Black Manta amassed a submersible fashioned after his namesake, combat weaponry, and a para-military team of henchmen split into several squads. Black Manta's endeavors often draws him into conflict with his sworn enemy Aquaman whom he always attempts to take down. Black Manta has also vowed to destroy Atlantis.
At some point, Black Manta became an asset of the Light. On August 27th, he led an extraction operation to steal a recently discovered frozen giant echinoderm from Poseidonis. When Aqualad and Garth interfered, Manta was forced to execute Plan B and blasted the sea star with a shoulder-mounted miniature rocket launcher. In the confusion, he fled the city in the Manta Sub and reported to the Light.
In February Team Year Five, Black Manta aided Lex Luthor in an operation at Santa Prisca to excavate a fragment of the Tiamat statue. From deep beneath Atabey's Shrine, Black Manta's Manta Sub and Manta Flyer were utilized for the drilling site using its restoration protocol. Manta viewed the statue fragments as a stepping stones to membership in the Light. When Aquaman was captured and brought to him, Manta relished the opportunity to get his revenge. Just as Luthor procured the fragment, Aqualad and the rest of Alpha Squad appeared. Manta ordered the Manta Flyer to initiate Tactical Offensive System. Alpha managed to disable the Flyer before it could fully power up and moved to free Aquaman. Black Manta ran interference while Luthor left with his fleet of hovercraft vehicles. Alpha successfully destroyed the generators powering the device restraining Aquaman while fending off Manta and his Troopers. While destracted, Manta was kicked into one of the generators by Aqualad. Manta implored Aquaman to tell Aqualad something he kept secret for years. Aquaman quickly reminded Alpha they still had to stop Luthor. Aqualad agreed. Manta wondered when Aqualad would ever think of himself. Then, he passed out.
Aqualad discovered Black Manta was his biological father. After Tiamat was returned to dormancy and the world was saved, Aqualad took a leave of absence to answer some lingering questions. At some point, Nightwing and Aqualad came up with a plan to take down the Light. Kaldur'ahm agreed to a deep cover assignment and infiltrated the Light by working for Black Manta. On January 7th, Team Year Six, Manta learned from the Light that he would be replacing Ocean-Master as one of the seven leaders. On March 20th, 00:00 EDT, Black Mata congratulated his son on the Cape Canaveral mission. Once Kaldur'ahm admitted he had nothing to do with the destruction of the Earth-Mars-Communication-Satellite, Black Manta revealed it was a final test of character to see how he would deal with failure. Day ago, Black Manta arranged for a bomb with an altitude sensor smuggled aboard the rocket. He believed it was time to take Kaldur'ahm to the next level with the Light and their mysterious partner. The Light was not ready and issued one more assignment.
On March 23rd, Black Manta ordered Kaldur'ahm to take a team and capture Blue Beetle. When Kaldur'ahm's mission was a success, Black Manta presented him to the Light. On April 9th, during a meeting of the Light, Black Manta refused to allow Sportsmaster to kill Kaldur'ahm in return for the death of Artemis. Sportsmaster then attacked Black Manta but the Light's new enforcer, Deathstroke, shot down his projectile. Sportsmaster retreated with Cheshire. With his request denied and place in the Light terminated, Sportsmaster was free to kill Black Manta and preserve his tarnished reputation. Black Manta took Vandal Savage and Psimon with him on his return trip to the Manta Sub. Savage promised Psimon would help restore Kaldur'ahm to normal. Tigress managed to drug Psimon but he lashed at her. Black Manta saw them on the security camera and rushed to Kaldur'ahm's quarters. Tigress planted a theory that Miss Martian previously implanted a telepathic virus in Psimon and thus, could done the same to others. She then suggested their only recourse was to bring in Miss Martian. Black Manta agreed but would not send her alone. He dispatched Tigress with Deathstroke.
Black Manta presented his ultimatum to Miss Martian, save Kaldur'ahm or die. If she failed to fix Kaldur'ahm, Deathstroke would activate a trigger from a safe distance in the Manta Flyer and detonate the explosive charge in her Proprietary Collar. Six hours later, Black Manta checked on Miss Martian's progress. After Kaldur'ahm called out to Black Manta, he spoke with Tigress out in the hall. He revealed Miss Martian would die once Kaldur'ahm was fixed. On May 27th, Black Manta's patience was exhausted. He issued Miss Martian an ultimatum to fix Kaldur'ahm in the next 24 hours or she would die. However, Sportsmaster confronted Black Manta aboard the Manta Sub. While Tigress engaged Sportsmaster, Black Manta proceeded to save his son only to be rendered unconscious by Cheshire. When Black Manta came to, he watched as Kaldur'ahm tackled Miss Martian before she could attack Manta and Cheshire. Black Manta was relieved Kaldur'ahm was back to normal and concluded he being in mortal danger was the final catalyst required. On May 28th, 17:00 EDT, Black Manta reported his son's recovery to Vandal Savage and the Reach Ambassador from the Caribbean Sea.
On June 19th, as the summit proceeded, Black Manta became increasingly insulted by Black Beetle's insolence towards him and his son. The final straw was when the Reach Ambassador reiterated the Light was the Reach's favored agents on Earth. Black Manta declared he would be slave to no one but Black Beetle simply swatted him aside. However, when Artemis and Kaldur'ahm were revealed, Black Manta watched as his son died from a gunshot wound inflicted by Deathstroke. When Deathstroke revealed himself to actually be Miss Martian and both Kaldur'ahm and Artemis were still alive, Black Manta took on his son in one-on-one combat. Black Manta vowed to beat the necessity of ruthlessness into Aqualad. Aqualad defeated Black Manta and knocked him unconscious with the Water-Bearers.