Mansk is one of a dozen resurrected SecOps soldiers as part of Project Phoenix. He's a recombinant member of the first recom squad 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 2170 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 are briefed by Recom Quaritch about their situation, receiving their first order which is to hunt down Jake Sully.
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; 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.

Mansk knocked unconscious by Jake in a deleted scene, who drops his body after.
In an extended version of the scene, however, Jake realizes he has no bullets, so he attacks Mansk by bashing him with his gun, knocking him unconscious. Jake then uses the unconscious Mansk's gun to shoot some oncoming soldiers. After the soldiers are dead, Jake drops Mansk to the deck.
Trivia[]

The meme image.
- 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.
- Although his 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 will remain unknown until Fire and Ash.
- Mansk's death was cut from the final version of the film, likely to tone down the violence.
- Actor Kevin Dorman previously played an RDA Bulldozer operator in the first movie. He also portrays other characters in The Way of Water such as Payakan and Frances Ardmore's aide.
- Mansk's signature weapon is the Recom Hydra Machine Gun. He later switched to the Recom M-69 AR with an underslung grenade launcher after he tamed a banshee. This is probably because the Hydra is too heavy and not practical for banshee riding.
- 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]
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 • Mick Scoresby • Ian Garvin • Ward • Charles Stringer • Dorman • Morgan • Jocelyn • Davis • Neytiri's Victim
Na'vi: Kiri • Lo'ak • Neteyam • Tsireya • Tuktirey • Aonung • Ronal • Tonowari • Rotxo • Ta'unui Olo'eyktan • Tarsem • Ta'unui Tsahìk • Popiti
Recombinants:
Tulkun:
| |
Introduced in Avatar: Fire and Ash | Humans: Na'vi: |
Known recombinants | ||
---|---|---|
Recombinants | Brown · Ja · Lopez · Lyle Wainfleet · Mansk · Miles Quaritch · Prager · Sean Fike · Walker · Warren · Zdinarsik · Zhang |