For a long time, we’ve been hearing that Namor the Sub-Mariner could be on his way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther sequel being touted as a potential destination prior to the tragic passing of leading man Chadwick Boseman, and long before it was given the Wakanda Forever subtitle.
There’s already one subtle, yet still significant, piece in play after it was confirmed that the reference to underwater tremors near the fictional African country made by Danai Gurira’s Okoye in Avengers: Endgame was indeed a nod towards the sunken kingdom of Atlantis, so it wouldn’t take a huge leap of the imagination to have Namor get involved in the Black Panther side of the MCU.
Universal tried for a long time to produce a solo movie for the comic book favorite, with directors like Chris Columbus and Jonathan Mostow entering talks to helm the project, but Kevin Feige confirmed a couple of years ago that the rights to Namor are back with Marvel Studios, though it’s a complicated situation not dissimilar to the one with the Hulk that means the Sub-Mariner can’t headline his own film, but he is fair game to be a supporting player.
Where he’ll pop up first remains to be seen, but we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Captain America 4 with Anthony Mackie was in development long before it was confirmed – that Namor the Sub-Mariner will be positioned somewhere in the gray area and be set up as a major antihero/villain in the MCU. That’s all we know for the moment, but given that the Black Panther speculation still hasn’t gone away, and Wakanda Forever is kicking off shooting next month, we should be finding out in the not too distant future if that’s where he’ll debut, or if he’s being saved for somewhere else.
