Namor the Sub-Mariner

Template:Superherobox Namor the Sub-Mariner is a fictional character featured in Marvel Comics, and one of the oldest superhero characters. He was created by cartoonist Bill Everett in 1939.

A trademark character of Marvel during the 1940s, Namor is the son of a human sea captain and a princess of the mythical undersea kingdom of Atlantis. Possessing the super strength and aquatic abilities of an Atlantean, Namor was alternatively portrayed as a good-natured but short-fused superhero and hostile invader, seeking vengeance for wrongs misguided surface dwellers committed against his undersea kingdom. He was thus arguably the first comic book anti-hero.

Although his stature has lessened, the Sub-Mariner has remained a somewhat popular and important Marvel character.

A Sub-Mariner feature film is in development. Chris Columbus is slated to direct.

Contents

1 History 2 Bibliography 2.1 Solo series and features 2.2 Featured as team member

History

Namor the Sub-Mariner first appeared in 1939 in a giveaway called Motion Picture Funnies Weekly that was printed in black and white and handed out in movie theatres. When that idea fell through, creator Bill Everett turned to a fledgling Timely Comics, later to become Marvel Comics, and pitched his idea.

Namor had been born of the pairing of the Atlantean Emperor Thakorr's daughter, Fen, and an American sea captain, Leonard McKenzie, of the icebreaker Oracle. When Fen did not return, Thakorr sent soldiers to attack the Oracle, thinking her captured. In truth, McKenzie had taken her as his bride. In the ensuing attack, McKenzie was believed killed, and Fen returned to her Antarctic kingdom. Nine months later, a pink-skinned child was born among the blue-skinned Atlanteans.

Namor was to be Timely's first "hero". Everett's creation would, in time, go up against his friend Carl Burgos's android superhero, the Human Torch, and eventually, as the US entered the Second World War, against Adolf Hitler and the Axis Powers.

Along with many other Marvel characters Namor disappeared following the end of WWII and the subsequent decline in popularity of super-hero comics. However, in the 1960s Namor re-surfaced in the pages of the Fantastic Four where the new Human Torch discovered him living as an amnesiac homeless man in Manhattan. During this period Namor first starred in his own title The Sub-Mariner, which ran for more than 80 issues. The character has been revived at various times over the years, most recently by John Byrne in the early 90s.

Namor has remained a constant for Atlas (now Marvel) Comics. Never really a hero or villain, he has matched himself against the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Doctor Doom, and many others, protecting his kingdom and seeking revenge on the surface world whenever it is threatened. Although he has served alongside, or even as a member of, several superhero teams – most notably The Defenders and The Avengers – he remains an outsider.

Bibliography

Solo series and features

• Motion Picture Funnies Weekly oneshot giveaway (1939)
• Marvel Comics (Marvel Mystery Comics #2 onward) #1-91 (October, 1939 – April, 1949)
• Sub-Mariner Comics #1-42 (Spring, 1941 – October, 1955)
• Tales to Astonish (1959 series) #70-101 (August, 1965 – March, 1968)
• Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner oneshot (April, 1968)
• Sub-Mariner #1-72 (May, 1968 – September, 1974)
• Sub-Mariner Annual #1-2 (1971 – 1972)
• Tales to Astonish #1-14 (December, 1979 – January, 1981; reprints Sub-Mariner #1-14)
• Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #1-4 (September, 1984 – December, 1984)
• The Saga of the Sub-Mariner #1-12 (November, 1988 – October, 1989)
• Namor the Sub-Mariner #1-65 (April, 1990 – May, 1995)
• Namor the Sub-Mariner Annual #1-4 (1991 – 1994)
• Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons oneshot (1996)
• Incredible Hulk/Sub-Mariner Annual (1998)
• Namor #1-12 (June, 2003 – May, 2004)
• Marvel Masterworks: The Sub-Mariner (2004; reprints Marvel Comics (1939 series) #1, Daredevil (1964 series) #7, Tales to Astonish (1959 series) #70-87

Featured as team member

• Marvel Feature #1-3 (December, 1971 – June, 1972; as part of the Defenders)
• The Defenders #1-16 (August, 1972 – October, 1974)
• Invaders #1-41 (August, 1975 – September, 1979)
• Invaders Annual #1 (1977)
• Avengers (1964 series) #262-293 (December, 1985 – July, 1988)
• Invaders #1-4 (May, 1993 – August, 1993)
• Invaders (New Invaders #2 onward) #0-9 (August, 2004 – June, 2005)