For the past 20-plus years, ever since Blade and the first X-Men film opened the floodgates for superhero movies, some of Marvel Comics’ most iconic characters have found their way to the big screen. Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, Captain Marvel…but the very first Marvel superhero has yet to make his cinematic debut.
That character is Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Created by writer and artist Bill Everett, Namor debuted in Marvel Comics #1 in October 1939, the first publication of Marvel forerunner Timely Comics. Namor was the child of a princess of Atlantis and a human sea captain, eventually becoming king of Atlantis. He was the first comic book anti-hero, starting off as an enemy of America and the human race and eventually becoming a reluctant ally to the Avengers, the X-Men, the Defenders and many more Marvel heroes.
Essentially Marvel’s version of Aquaman (who came on the scene later, in 1941), Namor was not a superhero from the start even though he had superpowers, and his relationship with the surface world has always been a complicated one. But he’s still around in the comics, a testament to his enduring appeal and complex, charismatic personality.
So is there a plan for Namor to eventually make his way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an honor he clearly deserves for his history and place in the canon? During a social media live watch of Avengers: Endgame on Monday (April 27), which Endgame writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus participated in through ComicBook, a fan asked if a certain, rather enigmatic reference in the movie was a hint at the existence of Namor and Atlantis in the MCU.