It’s time to reboot Atlantis as a democracy

[Silvermoth]

Reasons

- there’s enough royal families in the mcu already
- it helps differentiate him from Aquaman
- it adds more tension to the story because he constantly has to prove himself rather than being born to rule. Think the west wing but underwater

I reckon it would really help make namor an even bigger part of the mcu and characters go through soft or hard reboots all the time. It could definitely have fascinating ramifications for the mcu

[Marvell2100]

Reasons

- there’s enough royal families in the mcu already
- it helps differentiate him from Aquaman
- it adds more tension to the story because he constantly has to prove himself rather than being born to rule. Think the west wing but underwater

I reckon it would really help make namor an even bigger part of the mcu and characters go through soft or hard reboots all the time. It could definitely have fascinating ramifications for the mcu

It would take too much away from Namor if they did that. That's the good thing about the MU, all the royal families that they have and all are distinct from each other.

[UltimateTy]

Nah, It's great how it is right now.

[Crimz]

I think he should stay a royal. What I think they should do is expand Atlantis and underwater societies. Define it's language and culture, show what the lives of Atlantean people are like. There is a lot of interesting things you can do with Atlantis. It's woefully underdeveloped.

[Woozie]

It's a no from me.

Namor's character is largely tied to his royal station and stripping that away from him is dumb. Especially for a country as vaguely defined as Atlantis.

[Chris0013]

I could see constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary legislature...but not a democracy.

[RachelGrey]

I think he should stay a royal. What I think they should do is expand Atlantis and underwater societies. Define it's language and culture, show what the lives of Atlantean people are like. There is a lot of interesting things you can do with Atlantis. It's woefully underdeveloped.

It would be nice if we find out there is an offshoot Atlantean group that have been keeping themselves hidden and they make a move to take the throne from Namor.

I agree that Atlantis could benefit from a good exploration of the nation and the people. Focus on some of the important characters in Atlantis, do some of the people chafe at Namor's rule. Do some of the Atlanteans hate him.

[Doombot]

How about it's time to finally stabilize Atlantis as a single, definable place. After 80 years Atlantis is still so utterly vague it can drive you nuts. Is it just a city? A State? An Empire? How many times has it been destroyed? How many different places have actually been called Atlantis? Where exactly is it? How big is it? How many Atlanteans are there? Do they have colonies? Are there OTHER cities? Other nations? What does the city actually look like? Every time it's in a book it seems to be designed at the artist's whim, most likely because they too have no idea what Marvel's Atlantis is supposed look like. Sometimes it's a domed city, sometimes not, sometimes it's crazy looking with pink and blue glowing spires, sometimes it has a more classical influenced look. Even if it is a Monarchy, how is it run? What institutions does it have, how does it's military work? Sometimes Atlantis is described as being highly advanced, among the most advanced technology on earth. Other times people have spears and live in huts and ride sea creatures.

I have lots of head-canon for this issue, but it amounts to little since I don't work at Marvel. Democracy would not help Namor and Atlantis a be bigger influence at Marvel, legitimate world building would. Namor has next to none and it's frustrating as hell.

[Sutekh]

How about it's time to finally stabilize Atlantis as a single, definable place. After 80 years Atlantis is still so utterly vague it can drive you nuts. Is it just a city? A State? An Empire? How many times has it been destroyed? How many different places have actually been called Atlantis? Where exactly is it? How big is it? How many Atlanteans are there? Do they have colonies? Are there OTHER cities? Other nations? What does the city actually look like? Every time it's in a book it seems to be designed at the artist's whim, most likely because they too have no idea what Marvel's Atlantis is supposed look like. Sometimes it's a domed city, sometimes not, sometimes it's crazy looking with pink and blue glowing spires, sometimes it has a more classical influenced look. Even if it is a Monarchy, how is it run? What institutions does it have, how does it's military work? Sometimes Atlantis is described as being highly advanced, among the most advanced technology on earth. Other times people have spears and live in huts and ride sea creatures.

I have lots of head-canon for this issue, but it amounts to little since I don't work at Marvel. Democracy would not help Namor and Atlantis a be bigger influence at Marvel, legitimate world building would. Namor has next to none and it's frustrating as hell.

Yeah, agree with all of this. Doesn't make sense to change it to a democracy, when we don't have a single clue in hell what 'it' actually is, in the first place.

The structures and society and customs and language and religion and geography of Atlantis hasn't even really been *built* yet. Far, far too soon to start planning on tearing it all down and replacing it with something new.

[Michael Watkins]

He's a lousy king.

[DrNewGod]

They've done enough Atlantis kicking Namor out/Namor in exile/Namor reveling in his royalty. What they haven't done enough of is Namor as Outsider Monarch. He's the only one of his kind. Normally, a monarch is meant to embody The State As An Expression Of The People At Their Best (yeah, yeah, I know, Queen Elizabeth's got as much in common with the average Brit as a French Poodle does with a Saint Bernard, but that's the fiction we normally go with in regarding monarchy).

Namor can't even pretend to being the aspirational expression of his people because he's SO different. It lends itself to Namor as divine right ruler by merit of his (obviously) Poseidon-given gifts, but at the same time, Namor as the outsider, plagued deep inside by the question of how legitimately he can rule his people when he is not truly one of them. Taken from that angle, Namor being so prickly makes a great deal of sense to me.

[Blind Wedjat]

How about it's time to finally stabilize Atlantis as a single, definable place. After 80 years Atlantis is still so utterly vague it can drive you nuts. Is it just a city? A State? An Empire? How many times has it been destroyed? How many different places have actually been called Atlantis? Where exactly is it? How big is it? How many Atlanteans are there? Do they have colonies? Are there OTHER cities? Other nations? What does the city actually look like? Every time it's in a book it seems to be designed at the artist's whim, most likely because they too have no idea what Marvel's Atlantis is supposed look like. Sometimes it's a domed city, sometimes not, sometimes it's crazy looking with pink and blue glowing spires, sometimes it has a more classical influenced look. Even if it is a Monarchy, how is it run? What institutions does it have, how does it's military work? Sometimes Atlantis is described as being highly advanced, among the most advanced technology on earth. Other times people have spears and live in huts and ride sea creatures.

I have lots of head-canon for this issue, but it amounts to little since I don't work at Marvel. Democracy would not help Namor and Atlantis a be bigger influence at Marvel, legitimate world building would. Namor has next to none and it's frustrating as hell.

This is the HUGE advantage DC's Atlantis has over Marvel's. At least by reading the Geoff Johns New 52 run of Aquaman only pretty much all of these questions are answered or don't need to be asked. It's a shame Marvel has barely attempted to flesh out their Atlantis in this way.

I wish there was a Marvel wide initiative to restore all of their monarchies back to normal and start making interesting stories about their uniqueness as monarchies, instead of destroying and deconstructing them every chance they get. It has gotten extremely boring.

In short, no. Keep Atlantis as a monarchy.

[U.N. Owen]

I'd like to see someone deconstruct democracy. So far, we just have obstructive politicians or already begin in the aftermath of democratic failure. That, or we get a story so poorly written that it might as well be the aftermath of democratic failure. Looking at you, Civil War.

[MichaelC]

The entire genre is already a deconstruction of democracy. The basic premise is that the masses are too blind to be trusted to police themselves or regulate a police force, hence individuals who can clearly see objective morality needing to put on masks and become unregulated policemen/soldiers.