Stingray Vs. Black Manta in: "Wake The Death Dealer!"

 

Well, it's no wonder that these two keep finding themselves at odds!  Their head-concealing get ups really don't allow for much in the way of facial cues, so I have to imagine that leads to a lot of misunderstanding.

Stingray first battled Black Manta in STF #3452...

Black Manta Vs. Attuma

 

Say what you want about the DCEU Aquaman movies, they had some great action sequences and Black Manta was visualized very well.  James Wan definitely remembered what made the villain so cool to all of us kids reading of his exploits or watching Super Friends back in the day.

Black Manta and Doctor Doom

 

Time for a good old fashioned super-villain team up.  Sometimes it was hard for me to get into villain-centric tales as a kid - I wanted to have someone to root for.  When the villains were battling other villains, however, it was a different story.  Then it was easier to pick a side and cheer on a bad guy.

Ant-Man & The Wasp Vs. The Legion of Doom

I had seen superhero cartoons before, but nothing prepared me for Challenge of the Super-Friends.  Here not only did the Super-Friends expand their roster, but they also battled The Legion of Doom, an army of DC supervillains, in every hour long episode!  It may seem quaint now, but for 9 year old me it was like a summer blockbuster every Saturday.

Stingray Vs. Black Manta

 

I thought that Black Manta was the coolest looking member of  The Legion of Doom when I watched Super Friends as a kid, so it was a thrill to finally see him realized in live action in Aquaman.  My only complaint was that I wanted more!  He promises to have a larger role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and I am looking forward to seeing how he has leveled up for the sequel.

Spider-Man and The Secret Society of Super-Villains

 

This is a story I could see working.   Spider-Man has often been unjustly tagged as a criminal, and it would be cool to see him use that status to go undercover in the underworld - sort of a reverse Thunderbolts set up.  I'm sure there's some real life comic book equivalent of this plot, but I can't recall one right now.

Black Panther Vs. Black Manta

Black Manta was easily the coolest looking (and sounding) villain on the Super Friends cartoon, so I was very glad that he would be a part of the Aquaman movie.  Even though his role was not as big as I had hoped, the depiction of the character did not disappoint.  I love that they did not feel the need to tone down his oversized mask and that they kept his motivations against Aquaman intact.  It  will be cool to see what he gets up to in the sequel.


Thank you to Tom Zilla, a Patron of this Blog, for suggesting this match up!

Fantastic Four Vs. Secret Society of Super-Villains (and more!)

There's something about groups of bad guys banding together that always appealed to me.  It would probably be impractical for them, but the infighting while trying to work with one another to defeat the heroes usually made for a cool story.  Maybe it strikes a chord with me because I loved seeing The Legion of Doom on Super Friends, I'm not sure.  Marvel's Acts of Vengeance crossover, in which the villains swapped heroes to gain advantage was also a favorite of mine.

Thunderbolts Vs. The Secret Society of Super-Villains

Ever since I was a kid watching The Legion of Doom on Super Friends, I have always liked seeing villains joining together to make teams of their own.  It's cool to see so much power amassed together and the conflicts that arise when a group of evil, self-serving personalities attempt to work as one.  The Thunderbolts took the concept one step further by having the villains pose as heroes, and explored the effect that had on all of them - making it one of my favorite Marvel series.

The Sub-Mariner Vs. Black Manta

Black Manta is easily the coolest Aquaman villain, in my opinion.  His awesome helmet, appearances on Super Friends and the fact that he was created by Bob Haney all made him an early favorite of mine.  He was used well in the recent Young Justice animated series, too.  His ties to the new Aqualad give him even more depth as a character.