He's Marvel's first mutant,
bane of Wakanda… and Adolf Hitler's worst nightmare? This is Namor the Sub-Mariner.
Namor first appeared in 1939's Marvel Comics #1, in which he is established
as an enemy of humanity from the very beginning. In his underwater kingdom,
Namor comes upon two salvage divers who he is convinced are robots,
due to their strange garb. He kills both divers and brings their bodies back to his people. Once
he peels the diver suits off his victims, revealing they weren't robots after all,
his mother in particular praises Namor for what he's done. She tells him humans almost caused
their kind to go completely extinct, and that she has long meant to wreak vengeance upon them.
By the time he gets his own series with 1941's Sub-Mariner Comics #1, Namor's vengeance has
become focused on the Nazis. Hitler orders Namor's undersea home bombarded by U-boats,
killing many of his people, including the Emperor. Sub-Mariner Comics #4 was published just a month
before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and when Sub-Mariner Comics #5 was released in late 1942,
Namor had made the Japanese his new targets. Sadly, the subsequent stories didn't exactly
mark Marvel's finest moments. Like many comics of the time, Sub-Mariner Comics featured offensive
depictions of the Japanese; they're so bad, in fact, that Namor's old colleague Spitfire
comments on them as she browses through a stack of old comics in 1991's Namor the Sub-Mariner #19.
If you haven't heard of Namor, there's a good chance it's because he's so often overshadowed
by DC Comics' more well-known aquatic hero: Aquaman. The two have a lot in common:
they're both underwater heroes, both are the product of a union between humans and fictional
undersea people, and each is the heir to the throne of his respective version of Atlantis.
Even though they've both worked on the side of the angels,
they also each tend to harbor at least some sense of antagonism
towards the surface world — though Namor clearly dominates in that department.
All of this has led to the false belief that the
Sub-Mariner is merely a clone of his more popular DC counterpart. In fact,
if anything, it's the other way around — the Sub-Mariner first showed up in 1939,
while Aquaman didn't surface until More Fun Comics #73, which was released in 1941. Aquaman
undoubtedly enjoyed more fame than Namor over the years, even beating him to the silver screen.
"I am the protector of the deep. I am… Aquaman."
Still, there's no need to point fingers. The '30s and '40s saw
comic book publishers trying any and every gimmick they could think of. It
isn't that much of a stretch to assume two different comic book creators could
have conceived of similar aquatic heroes without ever seeing one another's work.
Namor the Sub-Mariner was the creation of Bill Everett, who was reportedly a descendant
of the poet William Blake. Poetry had a key role in the creation of the character, too:
Everett's daughter, Wendy, once said in an interview that Namor was based
on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. She explained:
"[Everett] had read Coleridge and this background gave the characters a very erudite wholeness."
In tribute to the character's origins and inspiration, 1993's
Namor the Sub-Mariner #44 loosely adapted Coleridge's poem for the comic book page.
Everett conceived of the Sub-Mariner while working for Funnies, Inc. The character was initially
planned as part of a promotional comic that would be given to moviegoers at theaters. That idea was
scrapped, however, and instead Everett used it for Marvel Comics #1. The hero was a hit,
and Everett would go on to write and draw Sub-Mariner stories in a number of other titles.
Everett took a break from Namor for many decades,
but eventually returned to his stories. He ultimately ended up writing and drawing the
character until the end of his life, working on Namor's stories in Tales to Astonish and
Sub-Mariner in the late '60s and early '70s. Everett passed away in February
1973. Sub-Mariner #61 — Everett's final issue — was published a few months later.
"I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative."
These days, Marvel Comics has no end of line-wide events,
which draw together heroes from all over its universe. Even though reading the whole story
usually means spending more money, crossovers remain popular. Part of the reason they still
sell is because they affirm the idea that Marvel's fans are plugged into a large,
complex fictional world… and it could be argued that Namor helped create it.
Many superhero comics in the Golden Age of the 1930s and '40s were anthologies — rather
than featuring stories of one hero, they were roughly three
times longer than a modern comic book and offered readers multiple stories,
each one starring a different character. In 1940's Marvel Mystery Comics #8-10,
two of the title's heroes, Namor and Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, meet
and lock horns in battle. This meeting confirmed that their stories took place in the same world,
and is often considered to be the story that established what we now call the Marvel Universe.
One of the more contentious debates fans fielded over the years is whether or not Namor is a
mutant. He was, after all, born with his powers, and not all of his abilities can be explained by
his shared Atlantean heritage. For example, while Atlanteans are naturally stronger than humans,
Namor is even stronger. Also, Namor can fly — which is not an ability most Atlanteans share.
On the other hand, one major Marvel crossover seemed to counter the argument
that he's a mutant. In the 1996 line-wide event Onslaught, Namor is among the many
heroes to sacrifice themselves in order to defeat the villain Onslaught by charging
into him after the Hulk cracks his armor. When this happens in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1,
it's said this is only an option for non-mutant heroes, because Onslaught would be able to possess
any mutant who tried it. Well, Onslaught is defeated and Namor isn't possessed.
Regardless of past inconsistencies, however, Namor's mutant origins are now set in stone. He
even joins the X-Men in the 2012 line-wide event Avengers vs X-Men, having a year earlier enjoyed
a brief solo title, Namor: The First Mutant. Recently, he was invited to join the rest of
Earth's mutants on the mutant island of Krakoa as part of the Dawn of X event, but declined.
No, you didn't see him fight the Nazis in Captain America: The First Avenger,
but in the comics, the Sub-Mariner was right there alongside Steve Rogers and his allies
as they attempted to lend some superhuman weight to the struggle against fascism.
"Wait. Do you know what you're doing?"
"Yeah. I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over 200 times."
The WWII-era team was originally called the All-Winners Squad,
but this was later retconned. Now, the team that helped retake Europe from Hitler is
known as the Invaders. Ironically, the team has enjoyed more modern comic book appearances than
they did during the Golden Age of comics. Before the '60s, the Invaders only appeared
together in two 1946 issues of All Winners Comics. In more recent years, though, there
have been multiple limited and ongoing series that revive the team in one form or another,
not to mention extensive flashbacks in different issues of Captain America. As recently as 2019,
Marvel released a new Invaders series, which sees Namor's old
teammates try to stop him from waging war on the surface world one more time.
Superheroes fell out of fashion after World War II, but when Marvel got back into the cape
business in the '60s, the company didn't forget its roots. Even before bringing Captain America
back into the fold, Marvel established the return of the Sub-Mariner. Right away, it was clear that
the Marvel Universe's citizens wouldn't welcome Namor quite as much as they would Steve Rogers.
In 1962's Fantastic Four #4, Johnny Storm intervenes when he sees a group of men
harassing an amnesiac homeless man. When the angry men offer to "beat" the memory out of him,
Johnny shocks them by revealing that he's the Human Torch. The comic then gives us one of the
most iconic images of the Silver Age: the Human Torch giving a homeless man a fiery shave — and
learning that he is actually the Sub-Mariner. It turns out that this encounter isn't enough
to jog the aquatic hero's memory, so Johnny flies him over the city and drops him into the ocean,
correctly assuming that the return to his natural environment will awaken his memory.
Unfortunately, in doing so, the Human Torch accidentally creates one of the
Fantastic Four's greatest foes. The Sub-Mariner's first act upon regaining
his memory is to summon a giant sea monster to lay siege to Manhattan.
Thus ensues the first of many battles between Namor and the Fantastic Four.
"Oh, you fascinate me. I have never known a female like you…"
Although Namor has more recently become the nemesis of Wakanda,
the character has remained most closely associated with Marvel's first family. The
fish-man and the Fantastic Four have duked it out across multiple comic book titles,
while their feud has been depicted in animated shows and video games. Unsurprisingly,
Reed Richards and the gang consider Namor to be one of their most dangerous foes.
The king of Atlantis, however, wants only one thing from the superhero squad:
Sue Storm's love. Reed and Sue's marriage can get rocky at times, and the Invisible
Woman has been known to flirt around with Marvel studs such as Black Panther. However,
the connection between Namor and Sue seems to go much deeper than that, as the Atlantean has
always pined for his Fantastic foe — while Sue often runs to the sea whenever marriage
troubles arise. Although it is not confirmed if Sue has ever officially cheated with Namor,
they doubtless share an emotional attachment, one that never bodes well for the Fantastic Four.
In the days leading up to Civil War, it was revealed that a group of superheroes known
only as the Illuminati had been working behind the scenes ever since the Kree-Skrull War.
In 2006's New Avengers: Illuminati, we see the meeting that brings together Iron Man,
Doctor Strange, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, Professor X, and Namor to form this clandestine
group. Black Panther is the sole invitee to decline, although he joins years later when
the group reforms in New Avengers, welcoming a few new members at the same time. From the beginning,
Namor is one of the loudest voices of dissent, and it's partly because
of his objections to Iron Man's initial vision that their group goes underground.
One of the group's more infamously terrible decisions is the exile of Bruce Banner from Earth,
which leads to the events of Planet Hulk and its explosive sequel, World War Hulk.
"I know you must hate us, Bruce. But you always said you wanted to be left alone. May you
finally find peace."
While Namor is often considered to be the least intelligent and most hot-headed member of the
Illuminati, in this case, he's the only member to vote against Banner's exile — and arguably
the only one to make the right choice. The dispute over this issue explodes into
a fistfight between Namor and Iron Man, and ends with the Sub-Mariner prophesying Banner's return.
Along with the Hulk and Doctor Strange, Namor the Sub-Mariner was one of the founding members
of the Defenders, the superhero team founded in 1971's Marvel Feature #1.
In fact, even before the Defenders were formed,
Sub-Mariner's adventures were pivotal in laying its foundations. In 1971,
Roy Thomas wrote the two-part "Titans Three" story in Sub-Mariner #34 and #35. The tale united Namor,
Hulk, and Silver Surfer, and in a 2013 interview with Back Issue, Thomas said that these were the
three heroes he originally wanted to be the Defenders. He replaced Silver Surfer with
Doctor Strange because of Stan Lee's insistence that no one should write the Surfer but Lee.
Between 1971 and 1972, Namor, Hulk, and Strange appeared as the Defenders in Marvel Feature #1
through #3, and finally in 1972's Defenders #1. The line-up remained unchanged for only
a single issue, after which, when Stan the Man apparently changed his mind and the
Silver Surfer joined the team. In the early issues of Defenders, Namor often warns his
teammates to not bother calling him for help again. Ironically, despite his objections,
he continues to help them out over the years, including in the 2018 mini-event The Best Defense.
Namor has a few powers that don't show up much in the comics. Everyone knows he can fly,
he has super strength, and obviously he can breathe underwater. But that's
certainly not the limit of his amazing abilities.
One such ability is his Electric Eel power. Namor can direct electricity
through his body from an outside source and blast an opponent with it. We see him
use this power for the first time against Doctor Doom in 1962's Fantastic Four #6,
and he also uses it against the Human Torch in Strange Tales #107. Many years later,
in the middle of a cover-to-cover brawl with the Hulk in 1977's Defenders #52, the
Sub-Mariner uses the power again. It disappears once more until 2002's The Order #3, when Namor
redirects one of the Wasp's bio-electric bolts at her teammate Captain America.
More recently, Namor has revealed a new power: control over water. This new ability
made its arguably non-canon debut in the 2001 mini-series Fantastic Four 1234, but returned
in 2019 for Invaders, in which Namor reveals that he has stolen this power from Hydro-Man.
Thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, audiences are quite familiar with one of the
comic universe's most powerful weapons: the Infinity Gauntlet. Holding the six Infinity
Stones, the Gauntlet becomes a conduit capable of destroying half of the universe. In actuality,
the weapon is capable of nearly anything as it can bend time, souls, and even reality itself.
"What did it cost?"
"Everything."
Understandably, this kind of power would be tempting for anybody… and especially for a
king who dreams of ruling the entire world. However, when Namor had the opportunity to
take the Infinity Gauntlet, complete with all six Infinity Gems, he actually passed it up.
Namor the Sub-Mariner was given the chance to pick up the all-powerful glove in the
2015 comic event Secret Wars. In this story, Namor and Black Panther discover
the Infinity Gauntlet on a secret island. Thankfully, the Sub-Mariner is self-aware
enough to know that he would inevitably use the weapon for evil. Black Panther slides on
the gauntlet himself and uses it to attack Doctor Doom in the event's final battle.
Namor has spent decades proving his capacity for heroism. He has fought alongside the X-Men,
the Defenders, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and even with the Invaders against the Nazis.
But there is no place on Marvel's Earth where the name Namor is more synonymous with villainy
than in the African nation of Wakanda. Twice in the past decade or so, Namor has directly
contributed to massive cataclysms in Wakanda, invariably leading to thousands of deaths.
In 2012's Avengers vs. X-Men line-wide event, Namor is one of the five mutants who make up
the Phoenix Five. Along with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, and Magik, Namor is imbued
with part of the Phoenix Force. When Namor tracks the Avengers to Wakanda, he uses his
newfound power and his armies to unleash the ocean on Wakanda, murdering untold numbers of Wakandans.
Two years later, in New Avengers #23, Namor betrays the Illuminati and helps form the Cabal —
a group made up mostly of villains such as Thanos and Maximus the Mad. Together they slaughter
a number of alternate Earths in order to save the prime Marvel reality, and they also conquer
Wakanda leading to, among other things, the death of Shuri. Namor eventually turns on the Cabal, but
neither the people of Wakanda nor Black Panther forgive him for his crimes. Though the comic book
version of Namor has enjoyed a reputation as a defender of the Earth, his first outing in Black
Panther: Wakanda Forever leans more into his villainous history with the people of Wakanda.
The Sub-Mariner is set to make his live-action debut in Black Panther:
Wakanda Forever. His arrival on-screen has been a long time coming — much longer than
you might think, in fact. Surprisingly, there have been talks about making a live-action
adaptation of Namor's story since the 1950s. Originally intended to star Richard Egan,
a Sub-Mariner series was to be produced in 1955 off the heels of the successful Superman TV show.
"Look! Up in the sky, it's a bird!"
"It's a plane!"
"It's Superman!"
Unfortunately, the series never made it to air. The King of Atlantis almost made his
big-screen debut in 1997 when talks began for a movie directed by Philip Kaufman. This film
adaptation would be bounced around among studios, writers, and directors for several years before
nearly being realized in 2004. Although the Namor movie was still in early production until 2009,
the film failed to materialize. With Universal in possession of the character's film rights,
the MCU was unable to bring one of its oldest characters to the big screen until
contracts were clarified in 2018. Finally, the Sub-Mariner was nearly included as a member of
the Illuminati in 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — by then,
though, Marvel Studios already had plans for the character.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was chosen as the setting for the Sub-Mariner's debut
in the MCU. That said, there are a few key differences between this version of
Namor and the one who exists in the comic books. For one thing,
the team behind Wakanda Forever have decided to adapt Atlantis into a Mesoamerican-themed
aquatic kingdom called Talokan. Former Marvel artist Anthony Francisco told Looper that the
inspiration for the Atlantis redesign came after watching a documentary about Mesoamerica. He said:
"I was thinking, 'How do I put technology together with the
folklore and the gods into what Namor is, and the civilization underneath?'"
These designs have helped add one more nation to the Marvel Cinematic
Universe — and with Namor's long-awaited arrival, it's likely that the Talokan
people are sure to make a splash in a number of other upcoming MCU projects.