Why Namor Looks So Different From His People In Black Panther 2

Namor looks completely different from the other members of his race in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Played by Tenoch Huerta, the Sub-Mariner is the ruler of a secret underwater civilization at war with Wakanda. Footage in the new Black Panther 2 trailer point to Huerta’s character being a powerful MCU god known as the “Feathered Serpent”.

Marketing for the movie makes it abundantly clear that Namor bears little resemblance to the rest of his species. His allies all have blue skin, whereas Namor sports a more human appearance. Plus, he has wings on his ankles that allow him to fly, which is a trait that his people don’t share. The MCU hasn’t offered an explanation for their differences, but the comics help clear up this mystery. In the source material, Namor’s ankle wings and flying ability stem from his mutant DNA. Of course, that doesn’t account for his appearance, which is explained by the fact that he’s a human-Atlantean hybrid. It’s likely that Marvel will use a similar backstory to make sense of the differences between Namor and his people.

Namor’s Marvel Comics Origin Explained

In Marvel Comics, Namor’s parents are Princess Fin of Atlantis and Leonard McKenzie, the captain of an early 19th-century icebreaker ship. Due to his mixed heritage, Namor was born with physical attributes associated with both species. As someone who has the blood of an Atlantean and a human running through his veins, Namor the Sub-Mariner can survive both on land and underwater. The Atlanteans, on the other hand, need breathing devices in order to remain on the surface for any length of time. But despite the ways in which his human-like appearance and mutant DNA set him apart from his race, his people came to accept him and Namor was subsequently groomed to be the next king of Atlantis.

How The MCU Is Already Changing Namor

Namor flies in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Details on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever paint a picture of what to expect from the first live-action interpretation of Namor. First of all, it’s known from Huerta’s comments that Namor will get to keep the mutant element of his origin. Whether or not he’ll have a human parent remains to be seen for the time being, but at least one major change has already been confirmed. Instead of being the king of Atlantis, Black Panther 2 has curiously swapped his comic home for Talocan, a place based on a magical location from Aztec mythology.

As M'Baku's remarks in the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer suggest, the MCU’s Namor appears to be a god, which is not at all how was depicted in the comics. It seems Namor’s people may actually represent a new pantheon of MCU deities, thus making them the Aztec equivalents of Moon Knight’s Egyptian gods and the Asgardians. As for Namor himself, he could be the MCU’s first-ever demigod, the offspring of a human and a god. But if he’s as strong as the character from the comics, the Avenging Son’s half-mortal status shouldn’t hold him back from being one of the most powerful characters the people of Wakanda have ever faced.

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