‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ director compares Namor to the Terminator

As a blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel, there’s been an unstoppable level of buzz gathering around tomorrow’s debut of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and one of the biggest talking points is the introduction of Tenoch Huerta’s Namor.

Refitting the Sub-Mariner’s comic book origins and history to finally integrate him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the ruler of underwater kingdom Talocan is the franchise’s second high-profile mutant following the revelation made in the Ms. Marvel finale, and we’ve got an inkling he’ll survive to the end credits given that Huerta is already hoping for a solo project.

Reviews and reactions have praised Namor as being one of Phase Four’s standout villains, and while the inspirations behind his arc and motivations are drawn from real-world history and geopolitics, director Ryan Coogler surprisingly revealed to Collider that a cybernetic organism with living tissue over a metal endoskeleton proved to be a major inspiration.

“Terminator 2 is a big inspiration for this movie. Big time. You think about what T-1000 wants, and what Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robot wants. They both went John Connor, but T-1000 wants to kill him, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character wants to protect him. That’s the movie. I look at it like that, and also try to spend time with them. Not too much, you know what I’m saying? But enough that you understand where they’re coming from and that you believe them when they make threats.

That’s what makes Namor, I think, so cool in the books. In most publishing runs of him, he’s very arrogant. But you also know he has the capability to do what he’s saying he’s going to do. He walks in in his underwear and says, “Hey, I’m going to kill everybody.” But you believe it because you know he is capable of it. So we wanted to bring that same kind of swagger to the cinematic version of him, but also give it the detail that you would recognize in a Black Panther movie.”

As one of the greatest action movies, sci-fi blockbusters, and sequels ever made, there’s absolutely no shame in looking to James Cameron’s all-time classic for some creative pointers. That being said, we didn’t have the MCU’s long-awaited debut of Namor being inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hulking cyborg on our bingo card.