Namor, the eighty-year-old traditional villain of Marvel’s comic book world, is finally coming to the big screen. Among the emotional images in the first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the character was a big surprise.
Namor, rumored for five years to be the nemesis of the future and, for now, unknown Black Panther, was part of the trailer. Played by Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta, the towering figure showed that Marvel is willing to delve deeper into Atlantean mythology. But to do so in a new way that suggests the character is more than just a foe to be feared. It is also likely to be the second mutant in the House of Ideas Cinematic Universe, after the TV version of Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel).
Marvel’s panel at Comic-Con 2022 rocked the pop culture world. Not only did it showcase the studio’s long-term plans and all the new projects on the horizon. It also, almost surprisingly, showed the first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the long-awaited sequel to the 2018 blockbuster.
This is a watershed moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It won’t only bring the saga’s uneven fourth phase to a close, but it will also mark the formal introduction of several characters who will be important in the future. All of this takes place amid director Ryan Coogler’s heartfelt, elegant, and brilliant tribute to Chadwick Boseman.
The combination of variables makes Namor a character of impressive significance. Not only because, despite being a traditional character in the Marvel comic book world, this is also the first time he will have a live-action version. At the same time, it’s a reconstruction of the context surrounding him that could have a crucial impact on phases five and six.
After all, mutants are starting to become part of the Marvel landscape in an unobtrusive but sustained way. So every element surrounding Namor is a glimpse into the interpretation of the characters going forward. And specifically, during a setting as important as Marvel’s technological capital, Wakanda.
Namor debuted in 1939, created by writer and artist Bill Everett for Funnies Inc. But the character’s journey to the comic pages was a long and bumpy one. Before he arrived at Marvel-owned Timely Comics, Namor had short appearances in Funnies Inc. (1931), Engine Comics (1932), Travel Histories (1933), Fun Stories (1934), and Comfort Books (1935).
None of them were interesting enough to warrant a special series. However, his role, history, and context became more complex and interesting once he joined Marvel.
Namor went from being a tangential and almost anecdotal figure in sea adventures to the King of Atlantis and ruler of the oceans. In the Marvel mythology, he’s the son of the Atlantean Princess Fen, and Leonard McKenzie, a human captain.
Woodrow Wilson dispatched him to Antarctica as an explorer. It was common at the time to use real people in larger comic book plots. So McKenzie set out on a journey to solve the mystery of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s disappearance, sent by Winston Churchill in search of Vibranium. During the adventure, the captain met and married Fen.
But the story culminated when Emperor Thakorr, the princess’s father and ruler of Atlantis, is sent in search of her. McKenzie was killed and Fen was returned to the domain of the sea. From the union would be born Namor, a creature with pink skin (as opposed to the blue skin of the Atlanteans), who would eventually become the leader of the people.
He would also become a strange antagonist with an ambiguous personality, considerable powers, and also diverse abilities resulting from the mixture of origins in his nature. Take into account that he can breathe underwater and also fight ruthlessly in the surface world.
For the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Namor and T’Challa had a decades-long rivalry in the comics that could be reflected in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. According to several of the comic’s major storylines, T’Challa managed to conquer Wakanda by summoning a tsunami.
The enmity between the two characters is so direct and violent that it became deadly. The now iconic line “every breath of air you take is for mercy” that T’Challa says to Ulysses Klaue in Black Panther is a line from the comic. And one that the King of Wakanda shouts at a particularly tense moment to Namor.
One of the most interesting points about Namor, however, is that he would be the second mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following Ms. Marvel’s revelation that Kamala Khan is, Namor would be part of the growing group of characters. In the case of the latter, his mutation would be due to the genetic mix of human and Atlantean DNA. This puts the future villain of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at a point of particular interest for Marvel’s future.
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