Namor The Sub-Mariner will officially be joining the MCU in the upcoming highly anticipated sequel,Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.Fans got their first look at actor Tenoch Huerta as Namor in the first trailer forWakanda Forever, which premiered early this year at D23, and now the Mexican-born actor has provided further details about the character in a new interview.
In the comics,Namor is a mutant, but because they hadn’t been introduced to the MCU until recently, fans wondered if the same would be true for Huerta’s version of the character inBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever. Fortunately, Huerta has settled the matter once and for all.
RELATED:Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Trailer Features First Footage Of Namor
In an interview withEmpire, Huerta discusses the upcoming role along with the film’s returning director, Ryan Coogler. The pair talked about the character’s motivations and his desire to protect his homeland of Talocan (changed from Atlantis). They also explained how the decision made by T’Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman) at the end of the first movie to reveal Wakanda to the world has affected Namor and his people. “That decision puts Talocan in jeopardy,” Huerta explains. “And Talocan has to take action to protect themselves.” In the interview, Huerta also confirmed a long-standing theory that Namor is indeed a Mutant. This information should come as no surprise to comic readers, as Namor’s comic book counterpart is often described as “Marvel’s first mutant.”
Namor has been a long time comingin the MCU. He’s one of Marvel Comic’s oldest characters, and according to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, Coogler originally wanted to tease Namor in a post-credits scene inBlack Panther. Clearly, Coolger is passionate about Namor, and now with the sequel, he will finally be able to explore his rivalry with Black Pantherand the nation of Wakanda. “The contrast between T’Challa and Namor – their characters, and their nations – just leaps off the page,” says Coogler. “He’s a dream antagonist."
Marvel Studios has been slowly integrating mutants into the MCU ever since the company acquired the rights to their many mutant characters after Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox (Now 20th Century Studios). In the season onefinale of the Disney Plus seriesMs. Marvel,it was revealed that Kamala Khan has mutant genes, which allowed her to control her magical bangles.
Another recent Marvel Studios property teased mutants when Sir Patrick Stewart made a cameo as longtime X-Men leader Professor X inDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.In the film he was amember of the Illuminati, a secretive council that patrols and protects the multiverse from all threats, sometimes using controversial methods. Namor himself has actually been a member of the Illuminati, so it’s possible that fans will get to see this happen at some point in the future of the MCU.
Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverpremieres in theaters on November 11th, 2022.
MORE:5 Questions That Should Be Answered In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
