As I was reading a newly discovered “Namor, the Sub-mariner” mini; I reflected on my hopes for a Namor movie. What would it need? A strong actor, a conflicted up-bringing, intriguing interpretation of Atlantis, maybe some socio-political commentary. Oh, and why couldn’t Namor be Black?
This isn’t meant to be “Where are all the Black heroes?! Why aren’t there any Black hero movies? Marvel/DC/Sony/Fox is racist! When are we going to see a Black hero movie?”, although I think that viewpoint is justifiable. No, this is meant to ask honestly and simply, “Can Namor be portrayed as not-white, and will Avengers have a Black member?”.
Obviously, Namor is a white guy in the comics. Like, no question he looks like the whitest dude ever. I love the character though, he is literally one of the oldest Marvel characters and is in my opinion one of the most interesting. Sometimes he is a “bad guy” and sometimes he is a “good guy”; but to him these are just labels. Namor is Namor, nothing more. He does what he thinks is best for him and/or Atlantis and doesn’t care what others think. He’s been a part of the Illuminati and the Cabal; he’s sat next to Iron Man and Doctor Doom for similar occasions. He is ruler of Atlantis, has super-strength and flight, commands an army of troops and is never crossed lightly. Does any of that sound like Namor can only be Caucasian?
It’s fiction; Namor can be White, Black, Native-American, Hispanic, or Asian. Frankly it would make more sense if he were Blue, which is also a possible pigment choice. You could write his origin to fit whatever choices are made, but the comics only consistent thread is that one of his parents was human (his father) and the other Atlantian (his mother). So does it run counter to that if his human parent is non-white?
In my mind, it doesn’t. Here is why I ask these questions:
So what do we have here? 6 white characters (two of whom fit the Aryan ideal), one woman, and one black character who is…Does Nick Fury count as an Avenger? He pretty much puts the team together and walks away. In the sequel we’re getting two more additions to the team that are both white, but one is female. So 2/8 of the team are female, which counts for diversity in one way. In another way, there is a problem of the slogan “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” and all of them are white. In fairness, Marvel is producing a Luke Cage tv series that for some unknown travesty will not star Terry Crews.
“What about Helmdall and War Machine?”. Exactly, what about them? Helmdall is a doorman for Asgard, and Rhodey doesn’t seem to have much prospect of joining the Avengers. Black Panther could, if he ever gets a movie. Which I would admit would be a challenge to do if Marvel didn’t just astound the world with Guardians of the Galaxy, announce a Dr. Strange movie and proceed with a Ant-Man movie sans Edgar Wright. Compared to all THAT, is Black Panther that much of a hurdle to overcome?
Going back to my original question, we’re seeing a small step of race-changing characters with Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. When I heard that Micheal B. Jordon was cast as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, I thought it was perfect casting. When I heard that Invisible Woman would be white I was pretty disappointed since that would imply that she and Johnny are not blood siblings, and that the most powerful member of the FF would not be a female African-American. Imagine that and seeing half of a super-hero team star Black characters. This also leaves the possibility that Johnny Storm may be a token Black teammate ( if that; remember Angel, Darwin, and Bishop from the X-Men films?). That remains to be seen if it will happen, but I think it remains a possibility all the same. (Side-note, Super excited for Jaime Bell as Ben Grimm).
As far as I know, Marvel doesn’t own the 100% of the film rights to Namor which makes it unlikely he will appear in their films. If he did, it would be nice if they went outside the box for casting him. It won’t be the end of the world if a Zachary Quinto or a Tyler Hoechilin is cast to portray Namor. Of course I would be happy to get a Namor movie, PERIOD. It wouldn’t bother me at all if Namor was White. Marvel movies could do with some more diversity; say what you want about WB’s Justice League line-up but it includes an Israeli Wonder Woman in Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa as a partial Hawaiian Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, and the Justice League looks alot more inclusive. Not that any of that is proof of quality, but representation is always nice.
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Nothing But Comics 
Everyone knows that Atlantian blue skin DNA comes from a recessive gene. The blue color would not be expressed and he would of course take on the color of his human father with the dominant gene. Science!
Neat, in that Namor mini I mentioned; All the Atlantians have blue skin (Cept Namor) until they come to the surface and their skin turns white. It was some kind of camouflage reflex, although they needed tools to breath air on the surface.
I was joking. In reality, if it was even possible for an Atlantian to make babies with a human they would probably make a mixture of colors. So Namor should be like sky blue color or whatever blue and cream make.
But of course Namor would be sterile like a mule. NAMOR SHOOTS BLANKS!
Yea, as a mule Namor would be sterile I guess. Wonder if that’s ever come up? Probably not, then we have to explain how his wing feet let him fly.
If the Avengers were created today, they would be more racial diversified. But they were created in the early 60’s and it would have been business suicide for Stan Lee to add different races to the lineup. As tolerance and acceptance grew, Lee slowly started to incorporate the likes of Black Panther and Falcon into comics much like Gene Roddenberry did with Uhura on Star Trek. These guys might have been trailblazers but they still had mouths to feed.
That’s one of problems with trying to adapt stories and characters from the sixties or before for today’s audiences, they weren’t very political correct.
How come no one is complaining about the lack of diversity in Lord of The Rings? Where’s a black hobbit or Chinese Elf?
^ HA! Where the fuck are all the black hobbits?!?! Hilarious! 😀
People have complained about that though; although it was concerning the lack of female protagonists. The racial angle looked at how the dark skinned races (Orcs, Goblins, Trolls) were evil and the good races were light skinned.
Well techically, Harfoots (lotr.wikia.com/Harfoot ), the most common breed of Hobbit are supposed to be darker, such as Sam ( lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Samwise_Gamgee ). (The book is always better.)
Aquaman looks the whitest dude ever. Atlantis having been an island before it sunk, I’ve always imagined Namor as having a Mediterranean islander look. Especially in light of his dark features.
I suppose the eye sees what it wants to.
I don’t think the question is “Can we get a black dude to play Namor?” It should be “Can we get a Vulcan?” 😉
To me, Namor has always looked kind of eastern European but with Spock ears of course.
Looking at Namor is like taking a Rorschach test.
So Itho likes white people, apparently I’m partial to islanders and you’re obviously in love with Eastern European Vulcans. 😛
I guess that makes sense that I think he’s Asian.
Yeah, I can see Asian, too.
If by eastern European you mean Romanian; I agree. Gypsies are sexy.
Indeed. Silver tongued devils. 😉
Sexiest. Gypsy. Ever.
Ha, it turns out Namors character model was born in what is now modern day Romania! How do you like them apples!
Namor looks asian not white. Blacks already have a ton of characters and now you’re getting black panther. Give us our character and make him asian. Lee byung ho or Daniel henny are perfect choices. Hell even rain from ninja assassin. Keep him asian looking.
namor mckenzie is scottish x atlantien his father’s last name was mckenzie=scottish 1939 marvel comics #1
“Obviously, Namor is a white guy in the comics. Like, no question he looks like the whitest dude ever. ”
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/8/8b/Namor_McKenzie_%28Earth-982%29_002.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110830151306
Get your eyes checked Namor looks Asian.,like somebody mentioned there are already plenty of Black characters that can be in these movies,There are hardly an Asian characters MCU already screwed up Mandarin and the Ancient one that only leaves Mantis,Cindy Moon,Shang Chi and Namor,blacks can live without a Black Namor.
The perfect choice for Namor would be
Daniel Henney
or
Godfrey Gao
The fact remains is that Namor is not Asian. If you want Marvel studios to change him into an Asian character that’s fine but he is not Asian as of now. He is a half fictional sea person for crying out loud and half Brit according to above post. He looks eastern European to me but frankly it doesn’t matter what he looks like when his origin says otherwise. Petition to change him into an Asian character but don’t fabricate it.
As for the rest of your post, I take it you don’t read Xmen comics. Also, who would want to claim the Mandarin anyway. The Mandarin is the definition of an evil caricature.
What if Namor was of Asian descent with a Scottish last name for any number of reasons. I’ve actually heard a pretty compelling argument for him being Asian by Greg Pak in part because he’s from the Pacific as an Atlantean.
Well atlanteans aren’t real but I suppose if they were from the pacific then they would be as Asian as Indians and afghans. The above poster was talking about looks and not origin though, he was talking about race and not nationality. Also atlanteans aren’t human so race doesn’t come into that part of the equation. And as good of an argument as Pak is making it’s still a character revision because obviously that wasn’t the original creators intent. If we want to rettcon lets be honest about it. Pak didn’t create the character but it’s fine if he wants to honestly change him.
I really believe that’s it’s fine to change characters but vehemently claiming characters talking about “check your eyes” and “the blacks” I find slightly disturbing.
Agreed
Nope, he’s white and Atlanteon and stop trying to change him around. He is a character that should not be changed PERIOD!! They’ve changed enough characters ethnicities. Stop changing them..Valkyrie is terribly cast in Thor Ragnarok. It’s like they only scrolled through black girls photos and came up with that terrible actress. Not even believable on west world. Namor is White!! McKenzie, white dad!!
Stay mad.
Namor Looks Asian a lot of people think so I know he has a white father
For your information I have read X Men Comics and I am glad some of those movies included characters like Lady Deathstrike,Jubilee,Psylocke,Silver Samurai,but I was talking about Asian Characters that can show up in the MCU.
“check your eyes” and “the blacks” I find slightly disturbing.
Oh God get over yourself. I said I said the person need to get their eyes checked,because the guy that wrote this article said Namor is the Like, no question he looks like the whitest dude ever. Namor looks Asian. Nothing wrong with me saying blacks can live without a Black Namor which is true because guess there are plenty of black characters in these movies and netflix shows(Both Heroes and Villains). Like Black Panther,War Machine,Falcon,Luke Cage,Nick Fury and the Luke Cage Show just cast Misty Knight and Cottonmouth. Blade is likely gonna show up and Miles Morales can be used in the future since Spider-man is the MCU. Spectrum,Black Goliath and cloak can show up as well.
We have yet to actually see a major Asian Villain or Hero in the MCU yet and so far Marvel has missed the ball twice with the Ancient and the Mandarin and potienal Asian characters are far more limited.
To your , “who would want to claim the Mandarin anyway. comment”
The Mandarin is an Enemy of China and does not represent them,so a an Asian actor could have played him without any problems,seeing that would have been better what we saw in Iron Man 3
“Check your eyes” and “Oh God get over yourself” aren’t you a pleasant fellow. I wonder if it is possible to have a conversation on the internet without trying to put someone on the defense. Read over the comments and see what the room was like before and after you entered…there is intelligent conversation here and then there is you.
I said get your Eyes Checked, not check your eyes and he Said he found it disturbing that I said black. Seriously?
“Read over the comments and see what the room was like before and after you entered…there is intelligent conversation here”
What Intelligent conversation? “But of course Namor would be sterile like a mule. NAMOR SHOOTS BLANKS!”
LMAO Totally Intelligent
I am having conversation what Namor looks like and who should play him
Sorry my apologies you did say “Get your eyes checked” not “check your eyes” When I go for an eye exam if I walk to the front and ask them to check my eyes they will have no fucking idea what I am talking about, I have to make sure to say “I’m here to GET my eyes checked”
Thank you for the example from above, that is actually exactly what I was talking about when I referred to intelligent conversation. Throwing in a joke on the related topic. But I suppose listing characters that we read off of Wikipedia is better.
It is all about the way you approach the conversation. Try less aggression. We are all friends her my man. Enjoy the world of differing opinions.
“I actually think Namor looks Asian and should be played by…”
or
“You are wrong writer of the post, Namor looks Asian and could never be confused with looking white”
You see?
I not trying to be aggressive and I know the author who wrote this article means well,but he mentions that “This isn’t meant to be “Where are all the Black heroes?! ” He writes a a couple paragraphs asking about the black characters and that he was fine with Johnny Storm Being Black(Which I guess is fine because there are lots if white characters). There are black characters in the MCU and way more to come. He also thinks Namor can be any race Why Though? Namor is one of the few Asian characters that can be in the MCU,why should his race be changed? Its already happened twice in the MCU I don’t want it to happen again.
So Sorry if I came across as Rude I do hope we can have a friendly discussion
I understand where your coming from because Marvel has been pretty stupid about race as of late but I’m not sure its fair to say “there should be more Asian characters because there are more black characters right now” there should be more of all cultures being represented & working on the books or films but it shouldn’t be one at the expense of the other. Basically, every character in those early stages of the Marvel universe were white because they were made by a bunch of white dudes in the 50’s & 60’s. It really wasn’t until FF when we started seeing any kind of representation for POC & that was miniscule at best. As time has gone on, representation in Comics and most entertainment has moved forward at a glacerial pace. I understand that as someone who identifies as Asian, it is probably frustrating to see so little representation of yourself in the stories you love but, wanting that at the expense of another minority group is problematic for what should be obvious reasons. What I think would be most helpful is more Asian, African American or LBGT people creating and administrating the product as a way of getting legit representation all around. That is basically what happened to the Fast & The Furios franchise and its been resurrected from the dead since Justin Lin & co took over PS: typing this on a shitty Android tablet so please excuse any and all errors
Even worse. Namor was created in 1939 by an American. America would rarely even let Asians immigrate into this country until 1965 so we can be sure the writer and artist never thought of Namor as Asian. With the only exception being that they wanted his Atlantean side to look like “the other”. If that is the reason why he kind of looks Asian then that’s probably not a reason to like him. I admit he does look like he could be Asian in some art and not in others. Regardless, once again, his father is American of Brit descent (I just looked it up) and his mother is “an other”, an entirely different species.
By all means cast him as Asian in the movies, though. Write it into the character or don’t, I don’t care either way. Change the facts; make new facts.
I was just listening on NPR. 9/10 of people granted a VISA into this country before 1965 were Europeans. Asians were deliberately denied.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391395
“When I go for an eye exam if I walk to the front and ask them to check my eyes they will have no fucking idea what I am talking about, I have to make sure to say “I’m here to GET my eyes checked”
Not trying to pi k sides here on an ything but that is the first comment to make me lol in quite some time
He IS WHITE!!!! Doesn’t matter if his atlanteon brow makes his eyes look strange, doesn’t matter. We know his Dad is a WHITE man! 1939 this guys been around! Shouldn’t be any confusion. He’s not new. White for at least 78 years!!
Ha, he is mad because I said Namor shoots blanks. That’s like a Neil Degrass Tyson joke for you. I’ve got a biology degree, trust me, Namor shoots blanks. That’s is what happens when two different species make a baby. Namor, the Marvel Universe’s answer to the mule and the liger. Atlanteans aren’t even human, they can’t be Asian unless you also think a liger is Asian. Speaking of which… I just went to the Marvel Universe’s wiki and it states that Atlantis is in the North Atlantic. The enemies of atlanteans are in the pacific (lemurians). Namor is not Asian. A little bit of advice. If you are going to advocate for minorities then try advocating for everyone (It comes across better that way).
Namor has a few children officially bud..and thanks for destroying their theory. Namor is White period. McKenzie
Somebody has to say Get your Eyes Checked because whenever a white actor gets cast as a Nonwhite character. The First thing somebody says is “well those characters look white”
We aren’t those people. Those people are idiots.
Thanks for the assist Canada!
McKenzie, WHITE man on a ship. He’s not Asian, or islander or any other ethnicity than WHITE and atlanteon!! He’s too important to get wrong, stop encouraging this idea. WHITE/Atlanteon..PERIOD
Sorry I forgot to mention I don’t need to make any Petition for Namor,there are people that think he looks Asian
Here are pics
What does it matter what you think he looks like. I think he looks Eastern European. We are both wrong and you are rude.
I can cherry pick artists representations from the net as well by the way.
Also you are so wrapped up in looks but culture trumps looks any day of the week.
People can adapt to different cultures though. Namor has a certain look so he needs to look that way in the movies
You want him to look that way. That’s fine. I hope you get your wish.
James I think you can see at least from Pat’s posts that you have allies here. We want more Asian characters as well. I’m still eagerly awaiting a good Shang-Chi book. The only thing I ever memorized long term in my life is a Bruce Lee quote.
“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless like water… oh fuck it.. he says it better..
By the way, as far as I know, the author of this article and I are the only two people on this site who bought the first two issues of King Tiger. The only Dark Horse comic with an Asian lead.
Abe, stirring up trouble and letting everyone else clean his shit up again!
Abe?
Abe…
I’m joking by the way.
Namor should be of Asian descent. Marvel’s MCU has the opportunity to finally bring in an Asian ‘hero’/character.
Well, looks like Namor is Latino!