Warning: spoilers for Avengers #43 ahead!

While the Avengers have been competing in the Phoenix Force tournament, they've built up a healthy grudge against the cosmic force of destruction, even as they fight to become its new avatar, but the real villain of the tournament may not be the Phoenix itself, but rather longtime Avengers ally and ruler of Atlantis Namor the Sub-Mariner.

The Phoenix Force is one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel Universe, a fiery being capable of destroying whole solar systems. But to fully exert its power, it has to bond with a host, having chosen multiple Marvel heroes as its avatar in the past. Currently without a host, the Force has come to Earth seeking a new one and establishes a tournament to find a worthy warrior. The Phoenix teleports Earth's best candidates, including Hyperion, Shanna the She-Devil, Jane Foster the Valkyrie, and Namor, as well as select Avengers, into the White Hot Room where it empowers heroes and forces them to fight each other, with the last combatant standing becoming the new host. While it may appear that the Phoenix Force is the ultimate villain of the storyline, it turns out the Avengers may have to worry about Namor as well.

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Throughout the tournament, Namor has made it clear he wants the Phoenix Force, and very little will stop him. During one of the tournament’s matches, She-Hulk tells Valkyrie that she “does not have what it takes.” Valkyrie presses the matter, telling She-Hulk she once wielded the power of Thor, and the Phoenix is nothing she can't handle. She-Hulk then clarifies she was not referring to stopping the Phoenix, but “killing Namor” instead. Later, Namor confronts Captain America in the White Hot Room and tells his old ally that he will go to great lengths to protect his people, even if it means killing others along the way.

Avengers 43 Namor Captain America

Namor has long straddled the line between hero and villain, and recent years have seen him skew towards the latter. He has become more extreme and brutal, having little to do with former surface-dwelling allies and focusing his attention on Atlantis instead, going so far as to start a team of undersea Avengers. Having the Phoenix Force at his disposal would go a long way in helping Namor protect his undersea kingdom, but the prospect of someone as mercurial as Namor possessing the power is a terrifying one. His campaigns against the surface world would go a lot differently if he was the host of the Phoenix Force, which has driven even the most honorable heroes to tragic extremes.

Captain America and Namor's discussion is devoid of the respect the two have maintained even in the most trying situations, showing just how frayed relations have become between Namor and the surface world. Namor previously claimed to have been the one who summoned the Phoenix Force to Earth, and even if he doesn't personally access its powers, it's time for the Avengers to recognize that Namor's new ambition makes him a major threat, even if he has been a vital ally in the past.

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