New Marvel movie Black Panther 2 introduces MCU character Namor to the universe. As one of the original Marvel superheroes, he’s long overdue a spot in the franchise. Director Ryan Coogler was dedicated to bringing in Namor, to the point that he practically called dibs.
“Ryan is a huge fan of comic books, and in publishing, Namor and Atlantis often would come in conflict with Wakanda and the Black Panther,” producer Nate Moore told SlashFilm. “So even as early as in post-production on the first movie, he was like, ‘If we get so lucky, could we maybe, could I just raise my hand and make sure no one uses Namor?'”
Thankfully, nobody else working on the superhero movies wanted to have Namor all that badly, leaving Coogler in the clear for his sequel plan. Still though, imagine he had to pull dibs on one of his colleagues. I mean, fair’s fair, he asked first, though I’m sure a compromise would’ve been found.
In the adventure movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Namor is from the kingdom of Talokan, an underwater region that’s on the verge of war with Wakanda. This is a change from his established canon where he’s from Atlantis, but ultimately it’s a minor change.
Tenoch Huerta is portraying Namor, who debuted back in 1939 in Marvel Comis #1, alongside the Human Torch and Angel. Bill Everett created Namor, who’s been a mainstay in storylines around the Avengers, Fantastic Four and the X-Men through-out the decades. Kevin Feige even pointed out a Namor action movie was in the works nearly two decades ago, but they just couldn’t get it right.
Finally someone has, and Huerta joins Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett and more in the MCU movie. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in cinemas November 11, 2022, have a look at Marvel’s Phase 5 for what’s coming after.