5. Refusing To Save Black Manta’s Father – Aquaman
The general grittiness of early DCU movies was washed away somewhat by 2018’s Aquaman, which brought a little more color and a few fantastical ideas to the franchise. Properly introducing the titular hero after his supporting role in Justice League, the film saw Arthur Curry explore his Atlantean heritage and embrace his place under the sea, learning that it may actually be better down where it’s wetter. In fact, much like in The Little Mermaid, the protagonist starts the movie by doing something pretty dumb that later comes back to bite him on the backside.
While stopping a ground of pirates attacking a Russian submarine, Aquaman engages their leader Jesse and his son David in combat. Not only does he easily best them both (he’s got superpowers, duh) but he manages to incapacitate Jesse before learning of their familial connection. He then simply says to Jesse: “that’s your son? Shame on you. You got yourselves into this mess, get yourselves out of it,” before leaving them both to die.
David is healthy enough to swim away from the sinking sub, but Jesse is wounded. Even though Aquaman couldn’t have known how it would all play out, his refusal to save the pirates’ lives was what set David on the path to becoming the Black Manta and declaring himself Aquaman’s sworn enemy. Had Aquaman simply acted like the hero he (sort of) claims to be, he’d have saved himself an enemy and whole lot of trouble down the line.