Secret Canceled Black Manta Movie Is The DCEUs New Biggest Mistake

Secret Canceled Black Manta Movie Is The DCEU’s New Biggest Mistake

James Wan’s reveal about Black Manta being The Trench’s secret protagonist confirms that the Aquaman spinoff could have been a key DCEU movie.

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Secret Canceled Black Manta Movie Is The DCEUs New Biggest Mistake

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director James Wan has revealed that the DCEU’s canceled The Trench spinoff was secretly a Black Manta movie — here’s why Warner Bros. scrapping the project was a mistake. James Wan’s Aquaman (2018), starring Jason Momoa as the rightful king of Atlantis, explored DC’s underwater kingdoms for the first time in live-action. Despite being Aquaman’s first foray into the heart of Atlantis, the movie introduced many key aspects of Aquaman’s lore. These include the legacy of the now-recast King Atlan, Atlantis’ downfall, Prince Orm and his wish to pit Atlantis against the surface world due to its uncontrolled pollution, the fallen kingdom of “The Trench,” and David Kane’s villainous transformation into Black Manta.

What only now comes as a surprise is the fact that the latter two were originally planned to have their own movie somewhere between the events of Aquaman and its upcoming sequel. In February 2019, just two months after the release of Aquaman, Warner Bros. announced a horror-inspired spinoff film centered around the monstrous creatures that inhabit “The Trench,” the kingdom that was not annexed by the rest of the Atlantean territories and instead devolved into a dark pit infested with grotesque monsters. Aquaman visited this location when Arthur Curry and Mera dove through its portal to retrieve Atlan’s trident and rescue Queen Atlanna. Although the concept was interesting, there were doubts about how a movie based on these mindless creatures could work without characters like Aquaman, Mera, or Ocean Master.

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The Trench was canceled in April 2021, and the approaching releases of movies like The Batman and Black Adam suggested that Warner Bros. decided to focus on more recognizable characters instead. However, while looking back on the work behind Black Manta’s suit for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, director James Wan revealed on Instagram that The Trench was secretly a Black Manta movie. Wan didn’t go into further details, but the alliance between David Kane and the Trench made sense, mainly because it would have given the creatures of the Trench a clear leader and would have developed Aquaman’s archenemy in a standalone movie before their rematch in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Now, The Trench seems like a missed opportunity. Aquaman and Mera’s dive into the Trench in Aquaman was a small taste of James Wan’s horror roots. Both heroes had to immerse themselves in the darkness of the sea and not only fend off the monsters but also dive headfirst into their home. The sequence’s breathtaking visuals and eerie sound design prove why The Trench could have worked as a horror movie. Done right, it could have been the most well-defined horror movie in the genre-blending landscape of superhero movies. It could have been even more interesting with the presence of Black Manta, who would have fallen deeper into his thirst for revenge by diving into the Trench’s black abyss as a mere mortal and perhaps returned to the surface as their leader. Such a feat would have cemented Black Manta as Aquaman’s most dangerous foe and worsened Arthur Curry’s regret at his decision to let Jesse Kane die in the first movie.

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The release of Candyman shortly after the cancelation of The Trench also proved that Black Manta actor Yahya Abdul Mateen II is more than fit for horror. With him as the star, horror icon James Wan as producer, and a bit more faith from Warner Bros. in the project, The Trench could have had the opportunity to present a fresh perspective on the DCEU and the superhero genre as a whole. Fortunately, there’s still a chance that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will set up the same spinoff for later down the line.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/black-manta-dceu-canceled-movie-mistake-villains/

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