In 2018, he starred in the road trip drama film Boundaries, along with Vera Farmiga and Christopher Plummer, directed and written by Shana Feste;[11] and played DC Comics villain Black Manta in the film Aquaman, which started shooting in May 2017 in Australia.[12] In 2018, Abdul-Mateen was cast in the horror film Us, directed by Jordan Peele, which was released in March 2019.[13]