When the two comic book kings of Atlantis, Aquaman and Namor, came to blows in the 90's, the former walked away victorious in a hilarious way. Despite the fact that Aquaman belongs to DC Comics, and Namor belongs to Marvel, both characters were brought together in an inter-company crossover between the two comic publishers, and allowed to duke it out.
While Marvel and DC comics have not had a proper crossover in years, with former DC Publisher Dan DiDio claiming such crossovers were "acts of desperation," the two companies had worked together many times in the past. While the two companies first worked together on an adaptation of MGM's The Wizard of Oz movie, their first crossover with super-heroes in 1976 featured their most popular characters, Superman and Spider-Man, and was aptly titled Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man. Following the success of this issue, Marvel and DC went on to create several other crossover comics, including a sequel to the Superman/Spider-Man crossover, as well as team-ups with the Hulk and Batman, and the X-Men and Teen Titans. The two companies had further crossovers in the works, including a Justice League/Avengers crossover, but conflicts between Marvel and DC reportedly ended any planned crossovers. It wouldn't be until the 90's that Marvel and DC would reunite properly, and eventually create their most epic crossover yet published.
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In 1996, Marvel and DC Comics unveiled their latest crossover, aptly titled DC versus Marvel Comics, where popular characters from both companies would fight each-other. The plot of the comic involved the Marvel and DC Universe, represented as two cosmic twins, coming into conflict with one another for the first time in eons. This results in characters from the two universes crossing over into the other. For example, the Ben Reilly version of Spider-Man ended up working at the Daily Planet with Clark Kent, resulting in a hilarious outcome. The two brothers decide to hold a contest to decide which universe would be annihilated, with the superheroes from each universe made to fight in one-on-one battles until the other hero was incapacitated, with the overall winner being the universe with the most victories. Many of these fights, some of which allowed fans to vote on the outcome, involved characters with similar powers fighting, such as The Flash and Quicksilver, to showcase which one was stronger. One such fight was between Aquaman and Namor, both kings of their respective universe's version of Atlantis, and both well versed in undersea combat.
Their fight begins in the series second issue, with Aquaman and Namor fighting underwater, both of them able to dodge each-others blows and trading quips. Namor however, gets the upper-hand, and punches Aquaman out of the sea and onto nearby land. When Namor catches up to Aquaman, he pleads for the latter to surrender the fight, so they can regroup with the other heroes and discuss a plan to escape their current predicament. Aquaman however, refuses to back down, and procedes to ensnare Namor with his infamous harpoon-hand and its unbreakable cord. The two continue to trade quips, with Namor becoming agitated at Aquamans more relaxed and joking behavior, with Namor accusing Aquaman of showing no respect towards their duel. Just as Namor realizes that he is not completely incapacitated, Aquaman summons a killer whale from the ocean nearby, to crush Namor and leave him incapacitated. Aquaman then tells the presumably unconscious Namor that the reason he lost is because "he was too noble to cheat."
While Aquaman was the victor in this situation, the two universes ultimately decided not to destroy each-other, but instead merge together and form the Amalgam universe, which contained a combination of DC and Marvel's famous heroes. Despite the outcome in this crossover, many wonder whether or not Aquaman could really beat Namor under different circumstances. In this particular instance, both characters seemed evenly matched underwater, with Namor landing the first blow on Aquaman. Namor also pleads with Aquaman to surrender, indicating that Namor perhaps was holding back, and looking for a more diplomatic solution to the fight. Aquaman also got the better of Namor with his harpoon-hand which, if he did not have that particular equipment at the time, may have prevented Namor from defeat by killer whale. In fact, had the whale not been in the general vicinity, Aquaman might not have won the fight at all, as that was the creature that truly incapacitated Namor. Still, despite Aquaman's admission of "cheating," by using all of the equipment and powers at his disposal at the time, the fight and its result could indeed be considered fair.
While it is always interesting to see fan-favorite heroes fighting one another, given that there are so many incarnations of each character, it would seem impossible to have one definitive winner. For example, while the 90's incarnation of Aquaman with his harpoon-hand might have beaten the 90's incarnation of Namor in this instance, the same may not be true of the Aquaman from the 1970's. The context of the fight also matters just as much as the characters and their incarnations, as a fight on land may turn out differently then a fight at sea. Still, the debate of which hero would triumph over the other in battle, especially between heroes of different companies, is always a fun discussion among fans of superhero comics because of the different factors that are involved. While a proper crossover between two companies may not happen anytime soon, comic book writers, notably Donny Cates and Gail Simone, have been advocating for a new DC/Marvel crossover event. In fact, such a crossover has been hinted in Doomsday Clock and the current Thor comic, which could indicate a different stance from the one given by DiDio years ago. Whether the kings of Atlantis will fight again in the near future remains to be seen, but hopefully for Namor's sake there won't be any harpoon hands or killer whales in their next encounter.