It’s time to reboot Atlantis as a democracy

[Digifiend]

Atlantis works as a monarchy. I don't really get the current state of Attilan, but it would've been the best monarchy to convert when they got the influx of newbies, many of whom would be from democracies and none of whom would have any loyalty to the royals.

It did convert. Medusa placed Iso in charge - but only as a stopgap. The intent was to hold elections, though that got postponed due to Secret Empire. Iso's still in charge (shown in the Marvel Rising comic a few months ago), so maybe she won that election and is now President of Attilan. No actual title has been mentioned for her, as her appearances since IVX have been few and far between.

Medusa is now Commander Medusa instead of Queen Medusa, she and Black Bolt are basically military leaders, no longer involved in politics.

[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.

[Frontier]

Coates made T'Challa a cerimonial king, Aaron made a Senate for the Ten Realms, Soule first dethroned Black Boot and then turned the inhumans into a democracy. Atlantis as a monarchy actually is making it unique. Plus, Namor wouldn't be as nice as the other former royals and would likelly crush any opposition.

At least Doom is back to being his usual totalitarian leader self .

Although I think the "ceremonial" status is only really relevant to Coates' stuff. Everyone else seems to treat T'Challa as a normal Superhero king.

And Thor is king now, right?

[Joker Venom]

Namor's status as a monarch informs on his character even more so than Aquaman's does on him, so changing that would take too much away from the character. He's fine, as is.

[kilderkin]

I could not disagree more

It is this nature, of a sovereign who wants to rule that distinguishes him from Arthur, amongst other things

If anything it should be a much more resolute rule

Other than wakanda, which has recently changed and latveria, and the Inhumans, what monarchy were you thinking of beyond mu versions of real world ones, just curious

[Digifiend]

That's true, Namor likes being king, whereas Aquaman would rather let Mera do the job.

[Desmark]

It would help if certain details are clearly established about Atlantean culture like what they eat, speak, wear and read, their main occupation etc. The Marvel History mini series should cover this for all the major civilizations but it doesn't look like it will go into those details.

[Chris0013]

Maybe if there was a break away community of Atlanteans, Lemurians, etc...who started a new community.

[XPac]

That's true, Namor likes being king, whereas Aquaman would rather let Mera do the job.

Yeah, I think it goes against Namor as a character. T'Challa, Black Bolt, or Aquaman I can sort of see supporting the idea of a democracy ... but not Namor. He likes being king, and likely feels things work better when he calls the shots.

[U.N. Owen]

In this event, I hope Atlantis breaks off into factions of warlords who fight each other for power while an invading force tries to take them over or the whole democracy is rendered pointless by the people, not knowing anything other than monarchical rule, vote in Namor and suspend democracy.

[scribbleMind]

I like it, but not now. Maybe not ever. I think Atlantis as a society is underdeveloped as it is, so adding something "fresh" isn't necessary since they haven't fully explored what's there. Most of what we know from Atlantis stems from Namor. It's Namor's worldview of Atlantis, and it's kind of a shallow look because it's always royalty and warfare. Given that it's a huge underwater society, one can suspect that it is/ought to be more than that, but they don't explore Atlantis on the ground level that often. Like, what does the average Atlantean child go through on his or her journey to adulthood? What's their education? What are the dream jobs in Atlantis and why? What do they do for entertainment? Do they have tv shows? What sort of games do they play? Holidays? Celebrations? Internal businesses? Until they do, I'd hold off on such major changes, as there's much to be mined even now.

[Iron Maiden]

I'd be fine with a parliamentary monarchy. It would be a good way to expand Atlantis's characters if Namor every gets an series again. Maybe they could have an Atlantean Boris Johnson

[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.