“Namor: The Sub-Mariner”

 

Now that actor Tenoch Huerta has played Marvel Comics’ “Namor: The Sub-Mariner” in the features “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and the currently shooting “Avengers: Doomsday”, fans are still divided with the look of the character, who morphed from a sleek, dolphin-like ‘Atlantean’, human hybrid into a surly native with a ‘woke’ septum piercing:

Debuting in 1939, years before DC Comics “Aquaman”, Namor was created by writer, illustrator Bill Everett, depicted as the mutant son of a human sea captain and a seductive princess on a spy mission for her undersea kingdom of 'Atlantis'. 

Namor possessed the super-strength and aquatic breathing abilities of his mother's 'Homo mermanus' race, as well as tiny flipper-like wings on his ankles that enabled him to fly. 

For more than 80 years, the character has been portrayed either as a good-natured, but short-fused superhero, or a hostile invader obsessed with vengeance for perceived wrongs that humans committed against his kingdom.

After fighting WWII with the Allies alongside 'Captain America' and the 'Human Torch', Namor resurfaced in the 1950's as the subject of a live-action TV series pilot and fought ‘communists’ for Marvel’s Timely Comics. 

Namor then returned in Marvel's "Fantastic Four" #4 (May 1962), when 'Johnny Storm', an updated human version of the original android Human Torch,  discovered him living as a homeless man with dementia, in the ‘Bowery’ section of Manhattan.

Recovering his memory, Namor returned to his undersea kingdom, only to find it destroyed from underwater nuclear testing. 

He vowed revenge against the surface dwellers...

...as a thirst for vengeance and a quest for identity would dominate his life. 

Click the images to enlarge…