Can Namor Fly in Marvel Comics? (& How He Does It in Black Panther 2)
In October of 2022, Marvel revealed a trailer for the heavily anticipated Black Panther 2. The movie will be released on the 11th of November 2022, and fans are already excited, but emotional since the movie will pay tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. Besides the usual characters from the first Black Panther movie that will return to the sequel, new characters that will feature in Black Panther 2 got fans excited as well. One of them is Namor, the Sub-Mariner. In this article, we will find out if Namor can fly in Marvel comics, and if he will be able to fly in the new Black Panther.
Namor, the Sub-Mariner, can fly in the comics and is seen flying in the Black Panther 2 trailer. In the comics, Namor is the son of a human sea captain and the princess of the undersea kingdom Atlantis, and the way comics explain his flight is still undefined. Since he is considered in some way a mutant in the Marvel universe, the first one as well, Namor’s ability to fly could be connected to his origins – he also has little wings on his feet.
We will discuss Namor’s flight ability more by mentioning comics, the new Black Panther movie, and the differences between the two versions of Submariner. If you are interested, stay with us until the end of the article.
Namor’s abilities in the Marvel Comics
Namor, the Sub-Mariner, is one of the oldest comic book superheroes in the Marvel universe. He first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 in October of 1939, and since then, he has been an antihero and a hero of the Marvel world.
What is so interesting about Namor is how he was created – allegedly, Bill Everett, the creator of Namor, wanted to “challenge” Carls Burgos and his creation of a fire superhero, the Human Torch. Everett wanted a character with something to do with the ocean or anything nautical.
After Namor was created, Everett described the character as a powerful man of the deep that lives on the land and the sea. He also mentioned Namor’s powers – superhuman strength and, important for this article, flying ability.
Namor was immortalized in the Marvel comics as an antagonist, more specifically, the enemy of the United States of America but slowly and surely, became a reluctant hero and ally to the American superheroes. With his changing allegiance, Namor’s powers changed over the decades.
One of them is his electrical ability and the ability to imitate the characteristics of the fish. Electric Shock ability did appear again in the 1990s Spiderman game, but the ability to inflate himself as a pufferfish did not appear again – my question to Marvel is, why?
Other powers include Namor being the Fifth Avatar of the Phoenix Force as one of the Phoenix Five, but he lost it in the battle with Scarlet Witch. All in all, Namor’s character underwent a few changes over the years, which makes sense.
Namor’s abilities today are nothing to joke about, so we will list them on the list below:
- Unbelievably skilled in combat
- Exceptional tactician
- Multilingualism
- Skillful diplomat
- Longevity
- Flying ability
- Aquatic adaptation
- Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and more,
- Alpha-level mutant
- Aquatic healing
- Electrolocation
- Enhanced senses
- Neptune’s Trident
As you can see, Namor is really powerful, but what intrigues us the most is two possibly connected abilities on this list – flying ability and Alpha-level mutant.
Can Namor fly in Marvel comics?
We can confirm that Namor has been flying in the Marvel comics since the character’s first appearance in 1939. For some fans, the fact that the offspring of a human man and Atlantean woman can even fly was confusing – after accepting that Namor is mutant, disputing and eventually settling on why Namor is flying.
We mentioned his mutant genes because that is the sole reason why Namor is flying – he has an X-gene. Marvel comics confirmed in the five-part Illuminati series that Namor is not only an Atlantean/human hybrid but also a mutant.
It was also confirmed in the Sub-Mariner comic book story from 2007 that Atlanteans were the first documented mutant species on Earth, named Homo Mermanus.
Professor Xavier says so, and we will believe him at this point. Namor’s flight might confuse some fans even today, but in the end, that particular power helped him immensely in the hardest battles he was part of.
To conclude this section, Namor has had flying ability in the Marvel comics since its first appearance. Combined with superhuman speed, agility, and strength, Namor is a really powerful opponent to anyone.
The flying ability is always useful in combat, but imagine an undersea juggernaut coming insanely fast towards you with his little wings on his feet. The little wings helped Namor in something – flooding Wakanda in the Avengers vs. X-Men comic book story, which sparked an intense rivalry between Black Panther and Namor. Well, fear not because we will see those little wings in the Black Panther 2.
How can Namor fly in the Black Panther 2?
The trailer for the Black Panther 2 revealed Namor as a new potential antagonist to the country of Wakanda, and people got really excited. We already mentioned that Namor, and his Atlanteans are huge rivals to Black Panther in the comics, especially after the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline that saw a lot of Wakandians die under the African sea.
In Black Panther 2, the original premise by Ryan Coogler and Kevin Feige was T’Challa’s fight against Namor; however, after Boseman’s tragic death, the director and the president of the Marvel Studios needed to think of another storyline that would organically include Namor into the MCU.
Thankfully, they did, and MCU will introduce Namor to Marvel fans in the best way possible. His powers reflect ones from the comics, at least from what we saw from the trailer, and there is one great shot of the Sub-Mariner flying, looking over the horizon.
This is great news for the fans of Black Panther and Namor since their rivalry and, at the same time, similarities clash a lot in Black Panther 2. Now, adapting comics to big screens is not something odd for Marvel Studios. The creative minds behind Namor in the Black Panther 2 movie decided to change his origins by changing the name of his home – the Kingdom of Talocan.
Marvel Studios also cast Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta to portray Namor. Even though some fans were not very happy about this, Feigie and Coogler decided to change Namor so it does not overlap with DC’s Aquaman. Besides those creative decisions, Namor is true to his character from the comics; if we can trust the official trailer.
Namor does look badass and will have an epic introduction to MCU as a first mutant as well, as he always was. The Black Panther 2 is coming to cinemas on the 11th of November, and we honestly can’t wait.
