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Imperius Rex!

The noble Sub-Mariner, Prince of the Deep,
So beware you deadly demons!
Lord Namor of Atlantis is
The Prince of the Deep!
— From his The Marvel Super Heroes theme song.

Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner is a Marvel Comics character. He's an aquatic, superstrong Anti-Hero who rules the Marvel Universe's version of Atlantis. He should not be confused with a "submariner" which is a person who crews submarines. (Though he has fought some of those!)

Namor first appeared in Martin Goodman's Marvel Mystery Comics #1 (October, 1939), the very first publication of Timely Comics, in an expanded and colourised version of a strip written for the never-published Motion Picture Funnies #1. He quickly became one of the most popular characters in Timely's stable.

The character has had occasional billing as "Marvel's First Mutant" (although in the chronology of the 616 timeline the title is just as often given to Apocalypse, who also isn't the first mutant; Namor was certainly the first to see publication, but he wasn't declared a mutant until X-Men #6). Namor McKenzie is a Half-Human Hybrid, the son of American ship captain Leonard McKenzie and Princess Fen of Atlantis; however since this romance was forbidden by her people, Fen had to raise Namor (who was born with pink skin, unlike the normally blue-skinned Atlanteans) away from the surface world.

Given to self-righteous rages, Namor attacked New York City, blaming humans for damage that Atlantis had suffered. This led to the first comic book superhero battle between him and the Human Torch (no, not that one, this one). Fortunately, Namor had a weakness for beautiful, noble women. Fair Cop Betty Dean convinced him to halt his attacks. In addition, he eventually realized that it was the Nazis who were the true menace and ended up joining a team (The Invaders, which included both the Human Torch and Captain America, among others) in order to battle them. This group would be renamed the All-Winners Squad after the war. (Note that this is a Retcon; the AWS did have their own short-lived series in 1946, but it was writer Roy Thomas in the 1970s who established that they had been The Invaders previously; they did star in their own series then.) He had a companion in his cousin, Namora.

Namor had his own magazine "Sub-Mariner Comics" which lasted for 32 issues (Fall, 1941-June, 1949), and also appeared regularly in various anthologies. But by 1949 the character was defunct. The character was revived a few years later in the pages of "Young Men" #24-28 (December, 1953-June, 1954), and "Sub-Mariner Comics" #33-42 (April, 1954 - October, 1955). Most of the stories were again written and drawn by Bill Everett, who managed to update Namor, Namora, and Betty Dean for the new decade. Everett also created tales exploring Namor's childhood and teenage years. But once this run was over, Namor became another fond memory for older readers.

Namor returned during The Silver Age of Comic Books in Fantastic Four #4 (May, 1962), after a chance meeting with the (new) Human Torch awakened his memories (lost after an enemy with mental powers erased them; he ended up as a homeless man for decades, apparently he ages very slowly). Namor then ended up once again in a villainous role, though (once again) a beautiful woman (The Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four) convinced him to change his mind. Initially the Last of His Kind, he reunited with Atlantis in Fantastic Four Annual #1. Namor soon got his own series again, where he mostly had adventures under the sea. He fell in love with an Atlantean named Lady Dorma, though she eventually was killed. (Part of this series was adapted in animated form in the Marvel Super Heroes TV show.) He also became a founding member of The Defenders and met Namora's daughter, Namorita (of the New Warriors.)

In the 1990s, Sub-Mariner again had his own comic book series by writer/artist John Byrne, who reinvented Namor as a shrewd businessman after establishing that his rages were caused by an imbalance of oxygen in his blood that could be treated. Namor bought a surface company called Oracle using treasures rescued from the sea. This series lasted for 62 issues (April, 1990-May, 1995). Since then the character mostly appears in team books and the occasional mini-series.

Even today, Namor continues to vacillate between hero and villain; for example he has been a member of both The Illuminati (a conspiracy of Marvel heroes) and later, their Evil Counterpart (eviler, to some), The Cabal. He has recently started embracing his mutant heritage, becoming first a part of the "Dark" X-Men and then the X-Men proper.

He received another ongoing, Namor: The First Mutant, which seems to have been quietly cancelled in favor of a Fear Itself tie in starring some of the classic The Defenders cast and at least one of their legacies, followed by a new The Defenders ongoing which debuted in the winter of 2011. He was a key part of Avengers vs. X-Men as one of the "Phoenix Five" and later goes on to join the casts of New Avengers and All-New Invaders.

A version of Namor appeared in a Marvel Knights miniseries; Submariner: The Depths. In the 1950's, he terrorizes a rescue team looking for a lost group of explorers. Said explorers had been looking for Atlantis. Until they found Namor.

Despite his importance to Marvel's early history and his presence in the 1960s animated The Marvel Super Heroes series, he didn't appear in a film adaptation until 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever— wherein he was given a Mayincatec overhaul and portrayed by Tenoch Huerta.

When Marvel had a dance with bankruptcy back in 1996, Namor's rights were licensed to Universal, where attempts to bring the character to film occurred between 1997 and 2006, but the project ultimately never went anywhere.

Tropes associated with the character:

Namor McKenzie / Sub-Mariner
  • '90s Hair: The ponytail he had during that time.
  • Admiring the Abomination: Dr. Stein does it once he fully spots Namor. Namor, understandably, isn't amused.
  • Ambiguous Time Period: An unusual examples in regards to "The Depths", we know this version of Namor is living in The '50s, we just don't know when in the 50s. With the mention of Edmund Hillary's yeti footprint photograph in 1952, the extent of our knowledge is that it is post-1952 that this version of Namor is living in.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: In an early appearance, Namor was battling the Fantastic Four, then offered to spare the surface world if Sue would agree to marry him and become Queen of Atlantis. She agreed, but when he saw that she wasn't thrilled about the whole thing, he threw a fit and stormed off. Not very long after, he decided it was time for Sue to be his queen, abducted her, and informed her that her indecisiveness in choosing between himself and Reed had forced his hand. Furious at being kidnapped, Sue refused to cooperate and was soon rescued by the rest of the Fantastic Four.
  • Animal-Themed Superbeing: Namor used to have the ability to mimic any aquatic life, fitting him into this trope. That is no longer the case since the power has been long forgotten.
  • Anti-Villain: Depending on the Writer and when he isn't being an Anti-Hero — Retconned as a chemically induced fictional mood imbalance (bipolar disorder doesn't work like that) during Byrne's run on Namor's own book. He is a member of the Illuminati (a council of powerful heroes which includes Professor X, Iron Man, Reed Richards, and Doctor Strange) and the Cabal (its villainous counterpart, which included Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom and Loki). He claims he doesn't see the difference.
  • Apparently Human Merfolk: Aside from pointed ears (and the wings on his feet that grant him flight) he looks fairly close to human, as unlike full-blooded Atlantians his skin is not blue.
  • Arch-Enemy: Attuma.
  • Berserk Button: He's got a lot of them but any perceived disrespect is his biggest by a wide margin.
  • Black Eyes of Evil: In Sub-Mariner: The Depths.
  • Blessed with Suck: Post retcon, his status as a Half-Human Hybrid is this. Yes, he has the full spectrum of Atlantean powers and he can survive on land long-term, unlike a pure Atlantean. Unfortunately, Namor is one of those rare hybrids whose mixed up genes leads to them being screwed over—in his specific case, the attempt to force a compromise between water-breathing Atlantean biology and air-breathing human biology has made his brain chemistry function best on a very specific oxygen level; if he spends too long in either air or water, this balance tips and his brain chemistry goes all out of whack, resulting in extremely unpredictable mood swings, paranoia, heightened aggressiveness and... well, basically it's the reason why he keeps jumping all over the morality spectrum.
  • Canis Latinicus: His Catchphrase, Imperius Rex. "Imperius" is the latin word "Imperiosus" (much power) put through germanic permutation similar to Nervosus (which became "nervous", meaning "with much energy"). There are quite similar-sounding real words that could be used instead to make it make sense, but as it stands, the phrase is a prime example of this trope. (The second element, Rex, is legitimate; it means King.)
  • Canon Welding: For Marvel Comics, started with the Namor/Human Torch battle.
  • Captain Ersatz: Inverted.
    • DC Comics' Aquaman first appeared a few years after Namor and shares several similarities to him. They have effectively been each other's Alternate Company Equivalent for many years.
    • The post-Flashpoint version of the Ocean Master was radically altered into a slightly less-Jerkassy version of Namor. The main difference is that Orm is typically an Anti-Villain who will help the good guys if it serves his purposes, Namor is traditionally depicted as an Anti-Hero who will turn on the good guys for his own ends.
    • Black Adam's characterization has often been compared to Namor's, as have his looks in recent years. Adam was rather less attractive originally, but now they practically look like twins.
  • Captain Fishman: The Trope Maker, having been the first "sea superhero" before Aquaman came up two years later and made it popular.
  • Catch and Return: Namor once caught Ares' axe and embedded it in Iron Man's armor on the return throw.
  • Catchphrase:
    • "Imperius Rex!" It sure sounds cool. Namor's saying he's top dog, pretty much. Imperius is powerful/mighty, empire, while rex means king. Stan Lee did his homework.note 
    • In the 1960s and 1970s, he also had the much less impressive "Suffering Shad!"
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Especially when he's on the villain's side. During Dark Reign, after finding himself allied with Namor again, Doctor Doom resurrected General Attuma, in secret, to send him against Namor in case of his betrayal, as too often their past alliances ended with Namor switching sides in a middle of the battle.
  • Chronic Villainy: John Byrne had Namor's more Jerkass tendencies explained away by the idea that he is made irrational from an oxygen imbalance due to a flaw in his hybrid physiology.
  • Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: As drawn by his creator Bill Everett, Namor's facial features resembled that of his creator and even had his creator's red hair.
  • Dating Catwoman:
    • When he was more villainous, he was the male Catwoman due to his romantic tension with Sue Storm/Richards of the Fantastic Four back when he was a villain.
    • Had a brief relationship with Emma Frost while she was with the Hellfire Club. This is a Retcon written after her Heel–Face Turn (and set between his Face–Heel Turn and his Heel–Face Turn — in other words, they were both villains when it happened and both heroes when it "came to light").
  • The Dreaded: In Sub-Mariner: The Depths, Namor is considered to be the most terrifying thing in the ocean, was blamed for the sinking of the Titanic, and apparently kills anyone searching for Atlantis. And he will track you, then murder your crew. He kills two submarine crews and the crew of an entire research station. But he ultimately spares Dr. Steinman, so Steinman can go on to debunk the myth of Atlantis for the public like he always does, allowing Namor and his people to live in peace. How Namor got this information is unknown.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Initially the Atlanteans or Sub-Mariners, as they were originally called, had Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism with the males having green scaly skin, large eyes and catfish-like barbels under their noses while the females had Caucasian skin, large eyes and some slight-fish like features. The blue skin, name of their race and the fact that they had any connection to Atlantis would not appear until 1963: twenty-four years after Namor's debut. Further more they could be out of water for five hours with Namor being able to be outside indefinitely due to his half-human nature.
    • Under Bill Everett, Namor had his creator's red hair. He has since been immortalized with black hair.
    • During the 1960's, Namor used to have powers based on sea creatures like the puffer fish and the electric eel. The power to control and redirect electricity is the only artifact left over from this period.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Namor fights a lot of these and their worshippers, from the Faceless Ones to Set to Suma-Ket.
  • Ethnicity Monarch: Namor is the King of Atlantis, and the oceans in general. In one particular story, Atlantis was destroyed and the Atlantean people scattered throughout the world, blending in with the human population. Despite this, Namor was still assumed to be their king and it was implied that he would gather them all together again when the time was right.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Namor may be willing to bed almost anything with a pulse and hit on a married woman, but he shoots down Hope's flirtations because she is underage (and a redhead, which Namor deems to be "ick, ick, ick!").
    • In the Incursion storyline, Namor is willing to destroy inhabited alternate Earths to save both universes resulting in killing billions of humans, but saving far, far more lives that would be ended if both universes were destroyed. Yet, he draws the line at his "Cabal" of villains assembled to help him who not only destroy the alternate Earth, but engage in unnecessary wholesale sadistic slaughter and torture of the population before hand instead of quietly planting a world-destroying bomb and leaving.
  • Evil Chancellor/The Usurper: Longtime Namor antagonist Warlord Krang, who recently returned from limbo as a member of Joe Casey's 'Last' Defenders team and during the pages of Namor's last solo attempted ANOTHER coup for control of Atlantis only at the end for both to enter into a Enemy Mine situation.
  • Evil Counterpart: Tiger Shark, a human diver genetically overlaid with an actual tiger shark and with Namor's hybrid genetics.
  • Evil Knockoff: Llyron, who was genetically engineered by combining his genes and those of his enemy Llyra.
    • During his time among the Nazis, Mister Sinister created a clone of Namor (Experiment N2) to fight Captain America.
  • Extreme Omnisexual: As of this incident Namor has officially been upgraded from Really Gets Around to this trope.
    Hope: Ick ick ick!
    Namor: You are only showing your parochialism and prejudice. There are many forms of beauty. She is the dignified queen of a noble people. Namor is nothing if not cosmopolitan in his tastes.
    Hope: If I called you the king of Ab-lantis, would you judge me?
    Namor: Yes. Favorably.
    Hope: You know… Going swimming with you was a hell of a lot more fun than doing laps. When we get out of this, I’d love to see Atlantis.
    Namor: You have my permission to visit whenever you wish. Enjoy yourself.
    Hope: I was kinda hoping for…
    Namor: Cease. Namor reserves personally showing his kingdom for women he’s seducing, and you are simply not my type.
    Hope: I didn’t mean it like that! And… Wait, what? You just sexed a tapeworm!
    Namor: Yes. But a man must have standards. You’re a child. And even if you weren’t… Redheads. Ick! Ick! Ick!
  • Fair Cop: Betty Dean, his Golden Age love interest.
  • Fantastic Racism: In his youth he was a pariah in Atlantis due to, being, well, white - where normal Atlanteans are blue. They called him "pale crab." He's happy to note that they don't do that anymore, but the Blue Marvel thinks they just don't do it to his face.
  • Femme Fatale: Llyra
  • Fire-Forged Friends
    • When he first met the Hulk, shortly after Hulk's falling out with the original Avengers, they fought to a draw and then decided to team up against all humanity for a minute. Though they've both obviously stepped back from that goal, they've remained loyal friends ever since. (Namor was the only one to object to the Illuminati's plan to send Hulk into space. And warned them that it was an incredibly stupid idea that would inevitably backfire.)
    • With Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch. The two had their famous battles, but they later fought side-by-side in World War II in the Invaders. Namor later referred to Hammond as someone he respects (and for a guy like Namor, that's quite a compliment).
    • Namor met the Blue Marvel after mistaking him for another invader from the surface world. The two engaged in a fierce struggle, and emerged as close friends.
  • Fish People: Imperius Fish!
    • But technically, Namor is too human-looking to qualify as a true Fish Person.
  • Flight: He has small, fin-like wings on his ankles (echoing the mythological example of the Greco-Roman god Hermes/Mercury). These work equally well to propel him through air and water.
  • Flight, Strength, Heart: Namor has super strength, can fly, breathe both air and water, can charge his body with electricity, has telepathic control over undersea life... and at one time could puff himself up like a puffer fish.
  • Flying Brick: Namor's power set. Or most of it, at least.
  • Flying Seafood Special: His other power set.
  • Foil: Llyra, who is a hybrid like Namor, but of the Atlantean offshoots called the Lemurians, and has Shapeshifting powers and telepathic control over sea life, as well as the psychotic belief that her human form is actually another person.
    • Lemuria for all Atlantis, as it's a rival undersea city with an evil emperor, Naga (and later Llyron), who led the people to worship the Eldritch Abomination Set instead of Neptune.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Among the general Marvel hero establishment. In All-New Invaders, even Captain America admits that if the vast majority of superheroes heard that Namor was being held prisoner by the Kree, they would say the Kree can keep him. The exception is the Invaders themselves, whom Namor fought alongside in the war. Since Original Sin and the whole 'mind wiped by Illuminati' thing came out, even Steve has gotten to the point where he can't stand Namor. When Captain America himself is openly passive-aggressive and refusing to forgive you, you know you've crossed a line.
    • Jim Hammond seems to be the only friend Namor has left, apart from Bucky, who's still a fan, as is Doctor Doom, oddly enough. He's also got a mutual respect thing with Magneto.
    • He also gets on surprisingly well with Jean Grey, both the teen and adult versions, the former after she earned his respect, the latter because she's an All-Loving Heroine.
  • Good Is Not Nice: This is Namor on a good day. He's a noble king who cares deeply about his people and will do anything to protect his people and can be a loyal and brave ally. He's also a complete and utter jerk with an ego as big as the ocean and a temper just as prone to unpredictable changes who even most heroes can barely stand being around and have to resist murdering themselves.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Occasionally, he will use his trident, but for the most part, Namor's main weapons are his fists.
  • The Good King: Namor loves Atlantis and will do anything to protect it. Those who try to harm his city or his people will deeply regret that decision.
  • Graceful in Their Element: Not that he's clumsy on land, but he's better in the water. On land he can give the Hulk a good fight. In water he would win.
  • Greater-Scope Villain:
    • Set, the ancient serpent god loosely adapted from Conan the Barbarian. Namor has rarely fought Set in person, but Set's servants Paul Destine, Naga, Llyra, and Ghaur have been involved in many of the terrible things that have happened to him and Atlantis over the years.
    • X-Men: Grand Design reveals that Namor is this to the mutant race as a whole due to him flooding New York in his battle with the original Human Torch, which was one of the first major catastrophes to be caused by mutant abilities. This caused discrimination against mutants to skyrocket across the globe and stay that way ever since.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: Attacked by two Sentinels, Namor tore off one of the robot's arms and used it to smash its companion to bits.
  • Hates Being Touched: He really doesn't like skin-to-skin touch, not even by other Atlanteans.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Just try and talk to him without setting him off. It'll be funny.
  • Ham-to-Ham Combat: Put him in a room with Doctor Doom or Magneto and watch the ham fly.
    • The time that the three of them (Namor, Doom, and Magneto) staged an intervention for the Black Panther stands as a crowning achievement.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: When he was first introduced in 1939, he was written as a Well-Intentioned Extremist Villain Protagonist, someone who'd basically kill any human civilian because we're all responsible for the sorry state of the ocean. World War II drafted him onto the heroic side, as he started aiming his rage at the Axis powers. Since his Silver Age return he's mostly been one of the good guys, but can turn on the other good guys at the drop of a hat.
  • Hero Insurance: Thanks to his membership in The Defenders.
  • Hot-Blooded: Namor is not famous for being calm and reserved.
  • Immune to Bullets
  • Jerkass: He occasionally has his genuine non self-serving Pet the Dog moments, but those are very, very rare. On most occasions, his "nice" moments are just ploys to butter people up into giving him what he wants, and he's generally one of the biggest douchebags in the entire MU. And note that Namor being a huge dick made him one of the very first comic book superheroes to actually have a personality.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: In an issue with the Illuminati when discussing significant others, Namor gets on Reed's case involving Sue and tells him how lucky he is and how he should spend everyday being a father and husband when Reed mentions how his Workaholic lifestyle causes issues in his marriage. Reed initially reacts angrily to this as he thinks he does do this already, but at the end of the issue after he returns to the Baxter building and he recognizes that Namor's advice was good and does do what he was told.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: One notable example is an issue of Fantastic Four in which Reed Richards had returned after it was believed he was dead and found Namor assaulting his wife and attempting to kidnap her. Furious, Reed attacked, they fought, and Namor, after realizing at long last that Sue genuinely loved her husband, purposefully lost the fight and pretended to be knocked unconscious so that Reed would feel better and regain his confidence. It was implied that he did so in order to win Sue's heart at a later point in time.
  • Kick the Dog: During Avengers vs. X-Men he sank Wakanda. While he could be excused for that, because he was possessed by the Phoenix Force at that time, his unwillingness to apologize to Black Panther during New Avengers was really a dickish move. After Wakanda retaliated with an equally devastating attack on Atlantis, Namor really crossed the line by willingly allying himself with Thanos' forces in order to strike Wakanda even harder than before.
  • Kissing Cousins:
    • With Namora. They almost married in Agents of Atlas.
    • His late wife Lady Dorma was also apparently a cousin. And Namora's daughter Namorita did at one point hope to have this with Namor when she was younger, but eventually got over her crush. Atlanteans obviously don't have a cousin incest taboo. (In fairness, though, Namor's family are royalty.)
  • Kryptonite Factor: If he's separated from water for too long, he loses much of his strength. He also needs open air from time to time, due to his mixed parentage.
  • Large Ham: See Ham-to-Ham Combat, above.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: During Fear Itself, Namor was robbed of his confidence, giving him a bit of payback for seventy years of being a jackass. He gets it again in the new Squadron Supreme series, with the first issue focusing on the Squadron destroying Atlantis and killing Namor as judgment for his past crimes.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: Due to Namor being a noble guy but still for lack of a better term, a dick, this still happens even with heroes that know him.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Strong enough to slug it out with some of Marvel's heaviest hitters, not to mention terrifyingly fast.
  • Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Well known for his pursuit of the married Susan Richards. Which other than his late wife is probably his longest relationship.
    • Actually a subversion: Namor immediately called off his attempts to actually take her from Reed as soon as they were legally married. Namor does nevertheless remain deeply romantically attracted to her and once took up his pursuit again when Sue had filed for divorce (Reed never signed and they eventually reconciled).
  • Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: In the 2012 Defenders run, a childhood memory of his mother hiding a picture of herself, Leonard McKenzie and Captain Nemo from him, along with the discovery of a copy of the picture within the sunken Nautilus, brought up the question if Captain Nemo might be Namor's father. Not that Namor could care at this stage of his life.
  • Mercury's Wings: Ankle wings are a characteristic of Atlanteans. They work equally well in the water or air.
  • Mermanity Ensues: He is the child of an Atlantean female and a human male, so he was made very aware of this heritage at a rather young age. There is one catch though; the winged feet also made him Marvel's first mutant.
  • Mobile Fishbowl: Namor can breathe on dry land, but he's a mutant. The other denizens of Atlanta have to wear water bowls when they're above the surface.
  • Monster Modesty: A few examples.
    • Depending on the artist, the blue-skinned Atlanteans will often wear very little. Armored swimsuits and loincloths are common.
    • Marrina, a green-skinned fish girl and Alpha Flight member, was married to Namor for a time and is a rare female example.
    • Looking at his pointy ears and the wings on his ankles, Namor is obviously not fully human. Taking this into account along with his desire to prance around in green speedos, he fits this trope.
    • He averts the trope in Marvels, where he wears nothing at all, even when fighting the Nazis.
  • Mr. Fanservice: He spent most of his publication history running around in nothing more than swimming trunks. He's dressed up some since then but he still likes to show off his arms and chest.
  • Mutants: Being a Half-Human Hybrid, Namor is considered one even among most of the Atlantean people. He's a somewhat different type of mutant than the others in the Marvel Universe (as he's an Atlantean mutant rather than a human mutant; his human half is 100% "normal"), but that's usually not considered important. At one point he was lodging with the X-Men on their new artificial island.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: In the Atlantean language, "Namor" means "the avenging son."
  • Never Heard That One Before: In recent years, he's been subjected to more than a few Finding Nemo jokes. He was not amused once he figured out what they were.
  • Offing the Offspring: To be fair, the offspring in question was a long lost and unknown bad seed that tried to kill him and drive Atlantis to war.
  • Off with His Head!: Namor is killed in the first issue of the 2015 Squadron Supreme series. As revenge for Namor's past crimes (including destroying Dr. Spectrum's Earth while dealing with an incursion event) and the various times Atlantis has invaded the surface world, the new Squadron destroys Atlantis and Namor's head is cut off by Hyperion.
  • Older Than They Look: Namor was born in the 1920's, teamed up with Captain America during World War II, and still looks like a man in the prime of his life. Justified due to his half-Atlantean physiology.
  • Only Sane Man: When The Illuminati voted to send The Hulk into space, of the Illuminati members present at the vote he was the only member who voted against it. To see why this makes him the sane one, please see World War Hulk.
  • Our Mermaids Are Different: He is part-mutant, part-Atlantean. Pure-blood Antlanteans are also humanoid but have blue skin.
  • Pointy Ears: His ears are pointy.
  • Pride: Even taking into account that he's a king, Namor's default attitude is incredibly prideful.
  • Prongs of Poseidon: His signature weapon is a magical trident given by the god Neptune to the Atlanteans two thousand years before Namor's time. It can control water, fire energy blasts and healing beams, and set up forcefields. It's also partly made out of adamantium.
  • Real Men Love Jesus: Namor is a follower of the traditional Atlantian religion of Neptune worship. The sea god is one of the few beings Namor will speak to with civility and appears to have genuine respect for. In return, Neptune has aided Namor several times over the years from providing counsel, armor and weapons, to restoring him to life. Of course, this respect does not extend to the rest of the Olympian gods whom Namor treats with the same disdain he does everyone else.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: The prince or king of Atlantis (depending on the story) is willing to fight battles himself or at the front of his army. His royal styling appears to actually be Prince of Atlantis, though not as in "son of the current reigning king".
  • Sdrawkcab Name: Word of God is that Bill Everett was just writing noble sounding names backwards and liked the result from writing "Roman" backwards the best.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: The 2018 Invaders comic claims that he has been this ever since World War II, from his service with the Invaders.
  • Sociopathic Hero: Namor is so arrogant that combined with his hair-trigger temper it causes him to have little to no empathy for most people and be willing to kill billions if he thinks it is for the greater good. He has trouble having empathy with others and responds to pretty much every offense with extreme rage.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: Depending on the Writer Namor has the ability to telepathically communicate with several different forms of sea life.
  • Spectacular Spinning: One of Namor's most effective tactics underwater is to trap his opponent in a whirlpool until he or she runs out of air.
  • Split-Personality Takeover: The 2018 Invaders series addresses his drastic shift post-Secret Wars into being aggressively militant as the result of a failed attempt to treat his PTSD. Charles Xavier, natch, tried to patch his trauma by giving him a mental projection based on a comrade from the war who died in battle that went off the rails and began taking over his body against his will and committing his more violently arrogant actions for the sake of Atlantis. Now it's reaching an endgame of pushing him into assimilating the surface. This is also apparently the reason for his erratic behavior over the years.
  • Stripperiffic: Is most well known for wearing basically a green speedo and not much else. In Marvels, he wears nothing. He has the body to get away with it.
  • Super-Strength: One of the handful of people who can get into a fistfight with the Hulk and survive.
  • Superhero Sobriquets: Namor is also occasionally known as "The Avenging Son of Atlantis". His name means "avenging son".
  • Thematic Rogues Gallery: Most of Namor's enemies are related to the ocean in some form or another.
  • Third-Person Person: Namor speaks about Namor like this. It emphasizes his arrogance.
  • The Voiceless: Namor doesn't say a word in Sub-Mariner: The Depths. That doesn't stop him from being freaking terrifying.
  • Token Evil Teammate: About half the time.
  • Tongue Trauma: Namor ripped out Venom II's tongue after a scuffle, stating that Gargan should talk less while trying to take on somebody out of his league.
  • Underwear of Power: Formerly, and it's scaly!
  • Unstoppable Rage: A lot, but if you really want to see it in full force, refer to any time he runs into Llyra, who killed his first wife and was responsible for the death of his father.
  • Ur-Example: Of a lot of things, really, but mostly of the comic book Flying Brick (Superman predates him in publication, but Namor had the power set before Superman did), of the comic book Anti-Hero, of the comic book Anti-Villain... the list goes on.
  • Villains Out Shopping: Sometimes when he's out on the surface world, its not to launch an attack or invasion, it's just to get himself a bagel which Atlantis doesn't have.
  • Villainous Widow's Peak: For a given definition of "villainous", but he sure sports a distinctive one.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Bucky Barnes can tease Namor with impunity. He also has a similar relationship with The Hulk.
  • You Cannot Grasp the True Form: For the most part, in Sub-Mariner: The Depths, Namor looks like a creepier version of himself, as seen by the crew. But once Dr. Stein goes mad, he sees... this.
  • Warrior Prince: Namor was doing this back when he was still only a Prince (and he's still generally referred to as such, despite being the King of Atlantis). This is, almost without exception, the cause of any perceived villainy in his publishing history: it's all either in the name of protecting or avenging Atlantis.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Most of the time, all he really wants is a blonde and/or cleaner oceans. No matter what he's after, however, he'll always be a total dick about it.
  • With Friends Like These...: No matter how many times one betrays the other, Namor and Doctor Doom usually will always find themselves back in each other's good graces down the line. No one is sure why, because they're both smart enough that they really should know better than to trust each other, ever. It's pretty well-established that Namor is one of the few people that Doom genuinely likes. What's a little betrayal between friends? By now, they probably take it as given. One could even argue that it is a mutual dislike for a certain Mr. Fantastic.
  • Worthy Opponent: As much of an stubborn asshole as he can be, Namor respects people who can either give him a run for his money or who are just doggedly persistent despite being hopelessly outmatched, as was the case with Daredevil.

Alternative Title(s): Namor The Sub Mariner, Namor, Namor The Sub Mariner Conquered Shores

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