With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at long last making its Disney Plus debut, Marvel fans are revisiting the stunning superhero sequel all over again. And among all the other benefits of having the movie on streaming, it’s allowing them to thirst over the film’s villain from the comfort of their own home. Namor the Sub-Mariner (Tenoch Huerta) instantly made a big impact on folks with his long-awaited MCU arrival, so obviously the hope is high that he’ll return before long.
Naturally, one form that people would love his comeback to take is in his very own solo movie. However, there’s a pretty big stumbling block preventing that from happening: Marvel Studios is legally forbidden from doing so. Part of the reason it took so long for Namor — one of the oldest characters in Marvel’s canon — to enter the MCU is because of the character’s complicated rights situation. Much like the Hulk, Marvel doesn’t have full ownership of Namor on film and shares him with Universal.
As The Wrap has previously outlined, the studio cannot produce a Namor movie without the involvement of Universal. As producer Nate Moore confirmed, the contractual limitations also impacted on the marketing for Wakanda Forever, preventing Namor from being utilized on his own in promotional materials (outside of a series of character posters). With the rules being that stringent, it looks like we shouldn’t expect the Sub-Mariner to get his own Sub-Movie anytime soon.
Marvel is nothing if not creative, though, and execs have never let the lack of an Incredible Hulk 2 stop them from exploring Bruce Banner in the MCU. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, for example, managed to get around the red tape. So maybe Namor could get a backdoor solo project in the form of a, say, Agents of Atlas TV series. Don’t give up hope of seeing the Kukulkan king again just yet.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is streaming now.
