'Aquaman' Trailer: Why Black Manta's Missing From the Movie's Final Teaser

Aquaman is a little over a month away, but the final trailer for the next movie in DC’s extended universe just dropped. Our latest look at the upcoming film reveals even more of the plot, while also downplaying the most exciting villain from previous Aquaman teasers: Black Manta.

We always knew Manta wouldn’t be the main villain of Aquaman. That role is reserved for Orm/Ocean Master (played by Patrick Wilson), who will square off against Jason Momoa’s Aquaman in a fight for the throne of Atlantis. However, previous trailers also showed Black Manta as a dangerous foe, though a recent leak suggested the supervillain’s main appearance could be in a mid-credits scene setting up future DCEU films.

The trailer also helps flesh out the plot a bit more with a focus on Aquaman’s origins, his training with Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), and his quest in the film.

The trailer begins with these lines and a toddler-aged Aquaman: “Legend has it that one day a new king will come who will use the power of the trident to put Atlantis back together again.”

From there we get a tween version of the DC hero. He’s being trained by Dafoe’s character, who unsurprisingly gets all the best lines in the trailer.

“I already know how to swim,” young Aquaman says.

“Not even close,” Dafoe’s character replies.

Later, while discussing a mythical trident, Momoa himself states, “I already got one of those.”

“Not like this one you don’t.”

So clearly that trident is key, and based on another image from the trailer (below), Aquaman will track it down in this movie. Whether that’s enough to defeat Orm (and maybe also Black Manta) remains to be seen.

Aquaman swims into theaters on December 21.