Namor is more than just Black Panther’s villain
The latest trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever makes it clear war is coming. Namor (Tenoch Huerta), the film’s antagonist, is rushing in like a tidal wave at Wakanda’s darkest hour. It’s an echo of a long-lived comic book rivalry between Black Panther and Namor, and while the shape of the story will be necessarily different, the reasons for a Black Panther sequel featuring Namor remain just as compelling: He’s not just a villain. He’s something more.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, director Ryan Coogler explains the MCU version of Namor is a little different from his comics counterpart. His kingdom is not Atlantis, but Talocan, a creation original to Wakanda Forever, inspired by Mayan culture and intended to be similar to Wakanda; a mythical nation of riches hidden in plain sight.
“The film deals with a lot of things, but one of them is foils — people who exist in contrast, but there’s a thread of similarity,” Coogler told EW.
It’s a quote that underlines what makes Namor the perfect Black Panther villain: He is, in many ways, T’Challa’s equal and opposite, the sovereign leader of an unconquered people fiercely determined to protect it from the outside world. But while in the first Black Panther, T’Challa eventually learned it was time to change his country’s ways, it seems Namor and Talocan may not have yet gone through that growth.
This also echoes T’Challa and Namor’s relationship in the comics. Comics Namor (sometimes called the Sub-Mariner) has a long and complicated history, but his conflict with the Black Panther stems from a simple fact that makes them such compelling rivals: They’re not superheroes. They’re kings.
Namor and the Black Panther operate on an entirely different level than most
Read more on polygon.com
