Why Has Namor Been Forsaken?

[Havok]

No movies, no TV, hell not even in the Marvel cartoons. Does he even still show up in the comics?

Personally, I love the character and he has a built in villain button. Just don't let him take any baths. lol

He also would have some legitimate motivation, like Aquaman, to be pissed at the surface world.

On top of the fact that he is as strong as the Hulk, can breathe underwater, is a mutant and can fly, there isn't much you couldn't do with him. Plus, if the girls and women I know are any indication, buffed, sexy, male superhero in tiny a green Speedo the entire movie is going to be a plus.

What say you?

[Ralin]

I think Publicus once made a post about how a Namor movie could be advertised. I think it could be done well with a good writer and director, but as classic as he is I just don't think he's well known enough among the general public to attract enough interest for a movie, much less one done right.

Who has the movie rights to him anyway? Marvel or the people doing the X-Men movies?

[SCRawl]

According to this site, the rights reside with Universal. And there are no Namor movie plans in the works, apparently.

[Simon_Jester]

Also, Atlantis is kind of out of style, or such is my impression.

[Tsyroc]

I think it might work well to introduce him in another movie first. I think he has his best ties with the Fantastic Four but arguments can be made for both The Avengers and X-Men.

[Havok]

I think Publicus once made a post about how a Namor movie could be advertised.

I'd like to read that. I know I also did one.

[Grumman]

No movies, no TV, hell not even in the Marvel cartoons. Does he even still show up in the comics?

He showed up in one of the Superior Spider-Man comics recently - the team-up title, I think.

I like Namor a lot better than Aquaman or the Black Panther, who are the two characters that come to mind as being close in concept. DC's worked hard to shed Aquaman's reputation as the loser of the team, but it still feels like they're trying too hard. Namor's got his own thing going for him beyond amping up his powers - my first exposure to the character was him leading his nation to war in response to humans violating Atlantean territory and poisoning his people. And the Black Panther was tainted by becoming the pet character of a racist. I'd probably like him better if when I thought of the Black Panther, I thought Priest and not Hudlin.

[Ralin]

I think Publicus once made a post about how a Namor movie could be advertised.

I'd like to read that. I know I also did one.

I think the gist of it was something like, "Start with some guy throwing a battleship at the screen holy crap WTF, then zoom in on him for a second and cut to the title 'Namor: Summer 20XX"

But it's been awhile.

[Gaidin]

Don't you kind of run into problems in how to film it with Namor given he's an Atlantean anyway unless he's visiting someone else's territory for whatever reason anyway? I mean, that'd just be difficult and possibly expensive.

[Havok]

I think Publicus once made a post about how a Namor movie could be advertised.

I'd like to read that. I know I also did one.

I think the gist of it was something like, "Start with some guy throwing a battleship at the screen holy crap WTF, then zoom in on him for a second and cut to the title 'Namor: Summer 20XX"

But it's been awhile.

Pretty sure that was me

[Havok]

Nope, it was both of us. Different threads same theme. His had the original Human Torch (who has already been introduced in the MCU) and a 1940s setting, where mine had him in a contemporary setting. We both had him fucking up and throwing around large ships though.

[Ford Prefect]

Well it's a very Namor thing to do.

[Havok]

Very. We both we describing what we wanted in a teaser/trailer for a Namor movie.

[Flagg]

Fuck Namor fuck aqua man and fuck Atlantis.

[Havok]

Yeah, well no one likes you.

[Havok]

There should be a movie featuring the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch (i.e., Jim Hammond). It should feature extended sequences of them tearing through 1930s New York City smashing buildings, cars, streets, bridges, and virtually anything that gets in their way while the humans react in shock to the first overt display of superhuman might in the Marvel universe (à la Marvels #1). Namor should be hurling cars, wrenching propeller screws from ships and punching through submarine hulls, while the Human Torch melts steel and hurls fireballs. In honor of their definitive role, the film should be titled simply Marvels.

Picture this....
A mad scramble in the Penatagon and the Whitehouse. Reports of something crazy coming in. Admiral: "What the hell is going on?!?"
Pan out from the Atlantic coast to see submarines and ageis destroyers scattered all over the coast line... ON LAND. Interior of a carrier going crazy, starting to shake. Fighters falling off the deck as the carrier tilts back and forth. The vessel slowly rises out of the water. Pan to the bottom and a single figure holding it up and flying it into the sky. Close up on Namors eyes and his eyebrows. Quick cut away and he throws the carrier at the camera. "Coming Soon"

Who the fuck isn't going to want to see that.

[Ralin]

I think the gist of it was something like, "Start with some guy throwing a battleship at the screen holy crap WTF, then zoom in on him for a second and cut to the title 'Namor: Summer 20XX"

But it's been awhile.

Pretty sure that was me

Oops.

[Flagg]

Yeah, well no one likes you.

Since when has that ever stopped me?

[NeoGoomba]

Speedos, dude. Speedos.

On a serious note, I think the setting scares away most studios. Right off the bat, it's going to be expensive for all the Atlantis scenes. Take him out of the water for most of the movie and you kind of take away who he is, especially in an intro movie (note: intro. You don't need to do an origin. He's the king of Atlantis and he's PISSED. The end.) Now, all that said, these arguments have been totally destroyed by the success of Thor which had much of the same problems initially, including the whole "Who the fuck is Thor?" question by most moviegoers who didn't read the comics.

I feel like they could have used him as the villain for Avengers 2 over Ultron, then spun him into the MCU's anti-hero for Phase Three. Find a charismatic enough actor to play him as the entertaining arrogant asshole he is ("Attitude Era" The Rock?) and the transition would be easy. Hell, they could do it now with Loki.

And you know what, if I could pick a director, I'd say throw buckets of money at James Cameron. No one loves ocean shit like him, especially one with pro-oceanic preservation undertones. And maybe he'll have a T2 flashback and make a smart action movie in the ocean instead of another Avatar.

[Grumman]

"Who the fuck is Thor?"

No. They might not have known he was a Marvel character, but I doubt there's anyone in the English speaking world who does not know who Thor, god-of-thunder, wielder-of-the-magic-hammer-Mjolnir is. He's got a day of the week named after him, for crying out loud!

[NeoGoomba]

I work at a public high school in VT. You'd be surprised

Plus, by that logic, everyone knows who Conan the Barbarian is, yet that movie crashed and burned. Basic name recognition doesn't mean they know who the hell the character is and why people should see a movie about them.

[Vendetta]

No. They might not have known he was a Marvel character, but I doubt there's anyone in the English speaking world who does not know who Thor, god-of-thunder, wielder-of-the-magic-hammer-Mjolnir is. He's got a day of the week named after him, for crying out loud!

They wrote a movie where none of that shit mattered.

That's why Thor worked.

An audience who had literally heard not one word of norse myth or Marvel comics could have walked into that movie and grokked the core conflict because it's about the people not the myths or the comics.


So what are the problems with doing Namor as protagonist?

As far as I know of him, he has three basic character interactions. Namor and his jealous brother who wants to usurp his throne. (who I can't remember anything else about barring his level in Marvel Ultimate Alliance being "he usurped Namor, punch him now"). That's a fine story but it's basically Thor and it's been done. Namor and his ongoing desire to get into Sue Storm's pants. Which requires the Fantastic 4 and is therefore out. And tension between Atlantis and the surface world, which considering the surface world is where your audience lives will be amazingly difficult to write as a protagonist.

So you could use Namor as an antagonist much more easily than a protagonist, so you need a protagonist. In comics he probably is big enough to use as an Avengers threat, but can you make people buy into an invasion (that can be stopped by six people punching it) from underwater as easily as one from space?

Really, what you need is him as the antagonist in a Fantastic 4 movie.

It's probably been long enough that you could reboot them, skip or gloss over the origin and hold the Doom.

[Flagg]

No. They might not have known he was a Marvel character, but I doubt there's anyone in the English speaking world who does not know who Thor, god-of-thunder, wielder-of-the-magic-hammer-Mjolnir is. He's got a day of the week named after him, for crying out loud!

They wrote a movie where none of that shit mattered.

That's why Thor worked.

An audience who had literally heard not one word of norse myth or Marvel comics could have walked into that movie and grokked the core conflict because it's about the people not the myths or the comics.


So what are the problems with doing Namor as protagonist?

As far as I know of him, he has three basic character interactions. Namor and his jealous brother who wants to usurp his throne. (who I can't remember anything else about barring his level in Marvel Ultimate Alliance being "he usurped Namor, punch him now"). That's a fine story but it's basically Thor and it's been done. Namor and his ongoing desire to get into Sue Storm's pants. Which requires the Fantastic 4 and is therefore out. And tension between Atlantis and the surface world, which considering the surface world is where your audience lives will be amazingly difficult to write as a protagonist.

So you could use Namor as an antagonist much more easily than a protagonist, so you need a protagonist. In comics he probably is big enough to use as an Avengers threat, but can you make people buy into an invasion (that can be stopped by six people punching it) from underwater as easily as one from space?

Really, what you need is him as the antagonist in a Fantastic 4 movie.

It's probably been long enough that you could reboot them, skip or gloss over the origin and hold the Doom.

They are already going to reboot FF.

[Havok]

"Who the fuck is Indiana Jones? I know! Let's watch the movie and find out because I liked the trailer."
That is a weak ass fucking excuse and it really just needs to stop being used.

[LadyTevar]

There was a rumor that Namor was one of the Howling Commandos Nick Fury lead in WWII (along with Logan sans-admantium)