After Aquaman kicked off production in Australia last month, actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Black Manta), shared a photo of Australian Indigenous Elders and youth, along with director James Wan and Michael Beach (The 100). Considering the fact that Beach wasn't involved in any other project filming in Australia, we speculated that he had a role in the DC Extended Universe installment.
Deadline has now confirmed that Beach is part of the cast of the December 21, 2018 release. While many surmised that he would play Black Manta’s father, the outlet revealed that his character is actually Jesse Kane, “part of a group of high-seas hijackers, who has a fateful interaction with Aquaman.”
Of course, this doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility that Beach's character is the father of Abdul-Mateen's character. We know that Black Manta's first name is David, but we don't know his surname. It could very well be Kane, at least in the current James Wan flick.
In the comics, Arthur Curry murdered Black Manta's father in a fit of rage after the supervillain attacked Arthur and his father Thomas Curry, causing Thomas to suffer a heart attack and die three days later. It would make sense for this to be the “fateful interaction” cited in the character description.
We also learned last month that child actor Otis Dhanji had landed the role of thirteen-year-old Arthur Curry in the first Aquaman solo movie. According to Twitter account The Aquaman Shrine, Wan has added yet another child actor, Kaan Guldur, to portray Arthur at age nine. Check out the tweet below!
Jason Momoa & Otis Dhanji to be joined by Kaan Guldur playing younger 9-year-old Arthur Curry in AQUAMAN! pic.twitter.com/caQhmg3U1S
"” The Aquaman Shrine (@AquamanShrine) June 21, 2017
In a March 2016 interview with the Wall Street Journal, and in a more recent interview with Cinema Blend, producer Charles Roven said that the events in Aquaman will take place after the events of Justice League. But the movie will apparently explore Arthur's past to a good extent.
