Mansk is one of a dozen resurrected SecOps mercenaries as part of Project Phoenix. He is a Recombinant member of the 1st Recom Unit under the command of Recom Quaritch.
Biography[]
Mansk was once a human SecOps operative serving under Colonel Miles Quaritch in 2154. At some point during the Assault on the Tree of Souls he was killed in action. Two hours prior to his death, Mansk had his memories uploaded onto a Soul Drive, which was then sent back to Earth during the expulsion of the Resources Development Administration from Pandora. This copied consciousness was then downloaded into Mansk's recombinant in 2169 aboard the ISV Vindicator.
Avatar: The Way of Water[]
Mansk being decanted aboard the ISV Vindicator.
Mansk's recombinant is seen being decanted aboard the ISV Vindicator. Not long later, Mansk as well as the other recoms were briefed by Recom Quaritch about their situation, receiving their first orders to hunt down Jake Sully. During the first encounter with Jake and his family, Mansk used a specialized variant of the Hydra heavy machine gun, providing heavy fire support for his unit.
During the skirmish at the Three Brothers, Mansk was positioned near Recom Wainfleet on the lower deck of the SeaDragon when Jake and Neytiri attempted their rescue of Tuktirey and Kiri. During the battle, he was seen using an M69 AR assault rifle with an underbarrel grenade launcher. He was last fully seen getting a SecOps trooper thrown at him by Jake. Part of Mansk's body can then briefly be seen falling from Jake right before Jake throws his empty weapon at an approaching SecOps trooper, implying the body was enough force to make Mansk lose consciousness.
Avatar: Fire and Ash[]
Only Quaritch and Wainfleet Recoms are seen, implying that Mansk is dead on the SeaDragon. Although it is possible that Mansk is listed as missing. This could be due to the fact that Jake broke the chip when he knocked Mansk out, either Mansk didn't regain consciousness and drowned, or he regained consciousness and survived as escaping or died in battle in another way.
Trivia[]
Mansk knocked unconscious by Jake in a deleted scene, who drops his body after.
- Although Mansk's death is not explicitly shown, information from the digital version of Amazon Prime implies that Quaritch and Wainfleet are the only Recoms who survived the final battle, but does not directly confirm Mansk's death, so Mansk's fate remained unknown until "Fire and Ash," where we only see Quaritch and Wainfleet, but Mansk's fate remains unconfirmed, and he is either considered dead or missing after Jake knocked him out and possibly broke his chip. Since the franchise is unfinished, Mansk may return.
- Mansk's fate was altered many times through scene deletions and script revisions.
- In the original script, Mansk gets an arrow in his throat during the forest skirmish, but it does not explicitly say if Neytiri or Neteyam killed him.
- Mansk's death was cut from the final version of the film, likely to tone down the violence.
- In the extended version of The Way of Water's final battle, Jake attacks Mansk with his gun after running out of ammo, knocking him out. Jake then used Mansk's gun to shoot some oncoming soldiers before dropping him to the deck.
The meme image.
- Mansk's appearance has become the subject of internet memes parodying the American south and conservative/right-wing politics, due to his army outfit and sunglasses, which are commonly worn amongst the aforementioned demographics. An early occurrence of this meme was on Twitter on January 3, 2023, including a picture of Mansk with the caption "U know the burgers and dogs are insane if this guy is on the grill".[1]
- Kevin Dorman, the actor who portrays Mansk, is very interactive with fans on social media regarding the character, often liking art, Tweets, and writings. He even said he liked the idea of the character's first name being Devin as an homage to his performance in the Avatar Crew Film: The Volume as put forth by a fan on Twitter[2]
- He also played an RDA Bulldozer operator in the first movie and portrays other characters in The Way of Water, such as Payakan and Frances Ardmore's aide.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
| Title | Format | Release date | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avatar: The Way of Water | Film | December 16, 2022 | Portrayed by actor Kevin Dorman. |
References[]
| Characters from the films | |
|---|---|
| Introduced in Avatar | Humans: Na'vi: |
| Introduced in Avatar: The Way of Water | Humans: Miles Socorro • Frances Ardmore • Ian Garvin • Mick Scoresby • Dorman • Ward • Charles Stringer • Matador Co-Pilot • Morgan • Neytiri's Victim • Jocelyn • Davis • Shirtless Avatar • Compound Avatar
Na'vi: Kiri • Lo'ak • Neteyam • Tsireya • Ronal • Aonung • Tuktirey • Tonowari • Rotxo • Ta'unui Tsahìk • Tarsem • Ta'unui Olo'eyktan
Recombinants:
Tulkun: |
| Introduced in Avatar: Fire and Ash | Humans: Na'vi: Tulkun: |
| Known Recombinants | |
|---|---|
| Brown · Ja · Lopez · Lyle Wainfleet · Mansk · Miles Quaritch · Prager · Sean Fike · Walker · Warren · Zdinarsik · Zhang |