While the Legion of Doom never showed up in the DC Extended Universe, two pieces of concept art from Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have Black Manta’s headquarters channel the Hall of Doom from Challenge of the Superfriends.
Shared onto ArtStation by VFX artist Valentin Petrov along with other pictures, the first image gives fans a closeup of the headquarters, with two of Black Manta’s henchmen standing outside it, the latter underling standing on a bridge that leads inside. The second image has a much farther shot of the headquarters, which makes it look more like the Hall of Doom from that distance. In both pictures, orange light can be seen emanating from the inside of the headquarters, which adds to their eeriness.
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Regarding Black Manta himself, director James Wan stated in a Q&A, “If you’re an Aquaman fan, you obviously know that Black Manta is a big nemesis of Aquaman. My plan with the first movie was always to set up a relationship with him and Aquaman. He was kind of a glorified side character in the first one. But we knew that that was going to be okay because we knew that the second movie was where we could go with him in a much bigger role.”
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Wan subsequently revealed that The Lost Kingdom had parts from The Trench movie, which he commented was “going to be a secret Black Manta [movie].” The filmmaker went on to add, “Initially, we announced it as a Trench movie, but ultimately, we wanted to surprise the fans because that was going to be a stand-alone Black Manta movie. And so when that didn’t happen, some of those ideas kind of found their way into this there.”
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Shifting the topic over to the King of the Seven Seas, leading man Jason Momoa talked about the possibility of him never playing Aquaman again, avowing, “I love this character and [I would want to] play it for a long time. I kind of see where I would want it to go. And even in the next 10 years or so, like there’s a lot of cool things they can do. And I do enjoy the role and the world. So, I mean, it just comes down to if people love it.”
More recently, DC Studios co-president and co-CEO Peter Safran called Momoa “the definitive Aquaman,” further remarking that the actor will “always have a home at DC.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is currently in theaters.
Source: ArtStation
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Aquaman balances his duties as king and as a member of the Justice League, all while planning a wedding. Black Manta is on the hunt for Atlantean tech to help rebuild his armor. Orm plots to escape his Atlantean prison.
- Release Date
- December 22, 2023
- Director
- James Wan
- Rating
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 124 minutes
- Main Genre
- Superhero
- Genres
- Superhero , Action , Adventure , Fantasy
- Writers
- David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick , James Wan , Jason Momoa
