Namor McKenzieNamor the Sub-Mariner

The hybrid mutant son of an Atlantean and a human, Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, is alternately loved and hated by Earth's surface population—often depending on his own actions at the time. As Atlantean royalty who defends his homeland fiercely, Namor has a huge chip on his shoulder. Threaten Atlantis and you just might be met with a full-scale invasion. Get on Namor's good side, though, and you'll discover a strong-willed champion of the downtrodden.

Namor's not one to be homebound, though. He has been a member of the Avengers, Defenders and X-Men, and has even formed his own pragmatic, villainous team called the Cabal when human morality got in his way. Whoever he works with, Namor is above all, his own man. He has strong ideas about how the world should be and massive armies that listen to his every word. Namor's enemies and allies know very well never to cross the Sub-Mariner!

The Mutant Prince

The story of Namor began when his human father, explorer Leonard McKenzie, used explosive charges in the process of discovery that inadvertently caused damage to Atlantis. This gained the attention of Atlantean Princess Fen, who snuck aboard his vessel to investigate the potential enemy. An unlikely friendship began instead, and eventually McKenzie and Fen fell in love and were married. Though they were separated soon after, Fen gave birth to a son, Namor.

Namor's name means "Avenging Son" in Atlantean, and he certainly lived up to this name as a young prince of Atlantis. His mutant power of flight manifested during his youth, and as he grew to adulthood, he frequently led attacks against the surface world for their perceived transgressions against his people. Huge, destructive battles against the original Human Torch were frequent, as well as massive wars against the military. Namor wanted the surface world to know that Atlantis was not to be trifled with.

During World War II, Namor decided to ally with members of the surface world for the first time, sensing the danger to all humanity should the Axis powers win. To that end, Namor joined the Invaders, America's fighting force against them. Together with the original Human Torch, Toro, Captain America, and Bucky, among other heroes, he helped fight the Axis around the world. Namor also fought alongside a similar team, the All-Winners Squad, after the war was over. But his turbulent relationship with humanity was far from settled.

Avenging Son

Namor is stronger and tougher than most any human or Atlantean. He can go toe-to-toe with some of the strongest beings on Earth and come out unscathed, especially when underwater or doused with H2O, which increases his strength by extreme degrees.

Namor has telepathic abilities from his Atlantean heritage that allow to him to communicate and command not only sea life, but also fellow Atlantean soldiers, if need be. Namor increased longevity—he has a much longer lifespan than a human, and shows little signs of aging, despite being born many decades ago.

His mutant power is the gift of flight, represented by the tiny wings on his ankles. He can fly quite fast and for indefinite periods.

Often, Namor will use his flight to burst forth from the water and smash into an enemy with all of his considerable strength.

Aside from his natural strength, endurance, and abilities, Namor's intelligence and intuition are exceptional. He's equally at home leading a business in the boardroom as he is leading Atlantean armies.

Finally, as a member of the Illuminati, a secret union of the world's smartest heroes, Namor has been the caretaker of two of the Infinity Stones at different points: first, the Time Stone, and later, the Power Stone.

Aquatic Enemies

When Namor holds a grudge, it is usually for life. Several enemies—aquatic and otherwise—have made Namor's list, and woe be to them.

If Namor has an arch-villain, it is probably Attuma, a fellow Atlantean and ruthless warlord. He believes himself destined to conquer Atlantis, and he has attempted it on several occasions, succeeding more than once. During the most recent attempt, he is stopped by the Sentry, who kills him.

Krang—another high-level Atlantean warlord—is a brutal foe who crosses paths with Namor several times. Once, when Namor is presumed missing, Krang and Namor's love, Lady Dorma, begin a relationship. That ends upon Namor's return, and the enraged Krang never forgives either of them.

Namor considers fellow monarch Doctor Doom one of the few humans who is his mental and physical equal, though this concession is not quite returned from the egotistical Doctor. They are allies at times and bitter enemies at others, but each has earned the other's respect.

Imperius Rex

Namor has made several fierce allies during the many years he has been in action.

The Atlantean royal lady Dorma is Namor's first and greatest love. While they were destined to be married, but subterfuge by outside influences leads to Dorma's death instead. This sabotage devastates Namor, and he vows revenge against those responsible ever since.

Namor's next major love interest is the aquatic alien Marrina, a member of Canadian super-team Alpha Flight. Tragedy strikes this relationship as well when Marrina is forced to transform into her true form, a savage beast called Leviathan. Namor ends up having to slay her and never forgives himself for the deed.

Namora is the adult cousin of Namor and, in a reversal of Namor's heritage, she is the daughter of a human mother and Atlantean father. She fights alongside Namor until her apparent death at the hands of an evil Lemurian named Llyra. Years later, she reappears as part of the Agents of Atlas, a group of globe-hopping, old-school heroes.

Namorita is a younger clone of Namora. She poses as Namora's daughter, as cloning is illegal in Atlantean culture. She has the gift of flight like her relatives, and teams up with Namor many times, with the two forming a sibling-like bond. Namorita is also best known as a founding member of the New Warriors, alongside heroes like Nova, Night Thrasher, Justice, and Firestar.

Just after the Kree-Skrull War, several of Earth's greatest minds join together to create a secret group called the Illuminati. Their goal is to monitor other-dimensional and extraterrestrial incursions into Earth and stop them. Namor is a founding Illuminati member along with Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Professor Xavier, Doctor Strange, and Black Bolt. Namor eventually splits from the group after he makes the decision to destroy an alternate Earth that is threatening the prime Earth.

The Fantastic Four are among the earliest teams to count Namor as both a foe and an ally. While Johnny Storm first helps to restore Namor's memories, the rage at the seeming destruction of the Atlantean race leads Namor to launch an invasion of the surface world, with the Fantastic Four as the only ones that can stop him. Later, after Namor takes a romantic interest in Susan Storm, he becomes more of an ally to the team, even becoming a member of the Fantastic Four on a few occasions.

During World War II, Namor fights alongside Captain America, Bucky, and the original Human Torch as the Invaders, an Allied team designed to fight the Axis powers wherever they can.

When he is included in the Avengers lineup, Namor is met with numerous protests, as he is infamous for his attacks on humanity, Eventually, Namor manages to prove himself to the world and his teammates while retaking Avengers Mansion from the Masters of Evil and fighting the Olympian gods. He also manages to discover the underwater cocoon containing Jean Grey, once thought to have perished as Phoenix.

The Sub-Mariner

Following his adventures before and during World War II, Namor's modern-day story really began when the treacherous telepath Paul Destine caused earthquakes in Atlantis and erased Namor's memory with the Serpent Crown. Namor was left an amnesiac for years afterward.

Early in the Fantastic Four's career, Namor, his memory still gone, was seen wandering in the Bowery district of Manhattan. Johnny Storm, the second Human Torch, stumbled upon Namor and returned him to the Atlantic, restoring his memory. However, Namor was enraged to learn that undersea testing by the Americans had destroyed the original site of his homeland and swore vengeance against the surface world, attacking it with the huge sea creature Giganto.

Though the Atlanteans escaped to another site and Namor was reunited with them, Namor still declared war against the human world. The Fantastic Four thwarted this full-scale attack. Returning to Atlantis, Namor attempted to marry his beloved Dorma, but outside treachery by Llyra of a rival undersea kingdom, the Lemurians, led to Dorma's death.

Namor would continue to be a complex figure among the Super Hero community, at times working against and alongside them. Shortly after the Kree-Skrull war, Namor did agree to become part of the secretive organization, the Illuminati, brought together by Tony Stark. Their goal was to prevent Earth-threatening incursions before they happen.

Namor's first ongoing, public dynamic with others among the human heroes was when he joined the "non-team" the Defenders, with their loose, informal dynamic working well with Namor's temperament at the time. Namor would move to a much more official group with the Avengers after losing his Atlantean throne to Attuma. Namor then married the alien Marrina, but their happiness was short-lived. Her uncontrollable transformation and subsequent death at Namor's hands left him distraught once again.

Acquiring an environmental and conservationist-minded business called Oracle, Inc., Namor, along with his friends Carrie and Caleb Alexander, discovered sunken treasure to finance this business; their ultimate goal was to save Earth's oceans. To that aim, Namor fought a being of pure pollution called Sluj and lost his ankle wings in the battle, removing Namor's ability to fly. Still, Namor fought on, and along the way, he rescued Iron Fist, who had seemingly died months earlier.

As revenge for rescuing Iron Fist, the evil sorcerer Master Khan of K'un-Lun erased Namor's memory and sent him to wander in the Midwest. In the meantime, Khan took Namor's place and nearly ruined his business in the process, before Namor regained his memory and destroyed Khan.

Soon after this, Namor learned that an ancient witch-queen named Artys-Gran was impersonating his mother Fen in order to resurrect her husband, Suma-Ket. Namor died in battle with Suma-Ket, but Neptune himself resurrected Namor, restoring his ankle wings and bestowing upon him a set of golden armor. Namor then was restored to his kingdom once more, and Oracle was used to finance the new Heroes for Hire.

Namor learned he had a son, Kamar, who wished to rule Atlantis and decided war with the United States was the way to do it. Namor evacuated the entire city in response, detonating Nitro after him.

This destroyed Atlantis and killed Kamar, ending the threat of war. Because Doctor Doom was the only one to help him, Namor formed a new team with Doom called the Cabal, adding Loki, the Hood, Norman Osborn, and Emma Frost to their numbers. Eventually betraying the Cabal, Namor rebuilt Atlantis into New Atlantis, which was located just below the mutant city Utopia.

Though Namor was a mutant, he more notably embraced that label when he joined the X-Men. When Namor lost his throne to Attuma again and enlisted the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Loa and Llyra to reclaim it, and a brief Defenders reunion followed.

During the conflict between the Avengers and X-Men, Namor sided with the X-Men as the Phoenix Force made its way to Earth. When Iron Man attempted to destroy the Phoenix, it instead split into five, each choosing a different person to merge with. As a result, Namor became one of the Phoenix Five for a brief time, gaining greatly amplified abilities. Becoming power mad, Namor invaded Wakanda, becoming the first entity to ever successfully invade that country, though Black Panther and the Avengers eventually took him down.

Rejoining the Illuminati, Namor's ends-justify-the-means attitude led him to push the button and destroy an entire alternate Earth as it threatened to collide with his. The Illuminati then expelled Namor from their group, leading Namor to create a new Cabal to continue protecting Earth, this time including Black Order members like Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight.

The new Squadron Supreme then destroyed Atlantis in a misguided effort to protect the Earth, and Hyperion decapitated Namor in retaliation for the Cabal's actions. Luckily, time travel restored Namor to life soon after and he oversaw the rebuilding of Atlantis.

During a crisis where a Hydra aligned Captain America sought to bring the world under their command, Namor would take a more dictator-like stance as leader of Atlantis. He believed that in doing so he was protecting his people from Hydra, which brought him into conflict with Namora, among others. Eventually admitting the error of his ways, Namor's ingenuity then saved the life of Bucky Barnes, who he helped hide among the Atlanteans.

Namor would then work with Jean Grey's new X-Men team, who made their base of operations inside Atlantis, and assist in their intended goal to create a nation of mutants.