Namor being Aztec/Mayan in the Marvel Movie universe. Yay or Nay?

[Bruce Wayne]

They could've used another well-known sunken civilization mythology like Mu or Lemuria if they didn't want to use Atlantis. Talokan worked in the movie I guess.

I think they wanted to give Namor a more post-colonial flavor to match Wakanda. The problem with Atlantis/Lemuria/Mu is that these are turn of the century European ideas (and are inturn influenced by paternalistic European ideas as well as colonialism/imperalism) and having an ancient ancestral race with Mayan aesthetics/terminology is just problematic and suggests that indigenious people of Latin America didn't have their own civilization and had to be "given" it by another ancient race. Much like the unfortunate connotations with the ancient aliens conspiracy ideas about indigenious peoples in Easter Island/Latin American/Egypt/Middle East had to be helped by aliens in constructing their monuments.

[Thor-Ul]

I think they wanted to give Namor a more post-colonial flavor to match Wakanda. The problem with Atlantis/Lemuria/Mu is that these are turn of the century European ideas (and are inturn influenced by paternalistic European ideas as well as colonialism/imperalism) and having an ancient ancestral race with Mayan aesthetics/terminology is just problematic and suggests that indigenious people of Latin America didn't have their own civilization and had to be "given" it by another ancient race. Much like the unfortunate connotations with the ancient aliens conspiracy ideas about indigenious peoples in Easter Island/Latin American/Egypt/Middle East had to be helped by aliens in constructing their monuments.

I have hear than aliens built the Big Ben clock but brits don't knew about it.
And Merlin most probably was an ancient alien.

[Captain Smith]

It worked for me. Having a comic true super nation like Atlantis would be a touch too much in the MCU.

[marhawkman]

It worked for me. Having a comic true super nation like Atlantis would be a touch too much in the MCU.

haha, it's "a bit much" in the comics too

[Mike_Murdock]

I was skeptical before the movie, but I thought it worked well for a Black Panther film. Black Panther touches on themes of colonialism and non-western cultures so it worked well there and did a good job of making them distinctive.

[DragonsChi]

I’m 50/50

Some of the changes were cool but others were head scratchers.

Some of it felt plain stupid and other parts impressed me.


Edit: I wanted to add...if the change was made in the books I would have completely hated it. But it's one b-tier movie that everyone will forget in a few years .

[Anthony W]

I liked it. It helped distinguish Namor from Aquaman, and was a better fit with his role in a Black Panther sequel.

Plus, he can still try to seduce Vanessa Kirby.

If that was what it took to help distinguish Namor from Aquaman I have to question how closely people followed Namor. The self-esteem of the comics industry is so very low that they will always bow to Hollywood.

It's stupid.

There is nothing wrong with saying someone's idea is stupid instead of the usual "It's harmless" or "I could take it or leave it" which is just another way of saying it's stupid.

If you ever catch yourself saying that a change is harmless or that you can take it or leave it, just say it's stupid.

[Mike_Murdock]

Honestly, I have bigger complaints about choosing accurate lighting conditions for the Marianna Trench so we couldn't see what was going on in the movie.

[Kingsw00d]

[Oberon]

Plus, he can still try to seduce Vanessa Kirby.

A fan after my own heart!

I'm not crazy about this version of Namor, but the mythos stuff is different enough to be a little compelling

[Oberon]

As a Namor fan, I thought it was a crazy and an awful idea when it was first leaked.

But when I saw it, I thought it worked out well, and was true to the core of the character. Plus, we got the green shorts and ANKLE WINGS and attitude!

I did mourn his seminal place in the Marvel's history being tossed, and all his ties to the MU, especially the Invaders, but that had been tossed out with the first Cap movie. I had a few other nit picks, but over all I loved his MCU version.

This, this is the main reason I am not crazy because we miss this synergy. But we have to accept that the MCU is its own thing and not meant to be a movie version exact of the comics. ~sob~

So if this Namor does not kidnap, seduce etc Sue, I'll live.

[jsg2295]

Would have liked it if Namor had been the guy from Apocalypto. Grabbing a bunch of Wakandans and bringing him to his pyramid and tearing out their beating hearts from their chest as they watched.

[Doombot]

Being someone who's a huge Namor fan, I wasn't at all thrilled about the idea of Namor and Atlantis being replaced with another culture, especially a real world culture.

Now that the dust has settled, there's things I enjoyed about it, but ultimately still believe it was not the best idea. The core or seed of who Namor is at heart was, for the most part, kept intact, but that's really the bare minimum. I'm still don't love the idea of a real world culture and people being lifted and overlaid atop the fantasy one, which was done only for the benefit of Coogler's ideas for Black Panther narratives and themes, not for the benefit of Namor and his mythos. This doesn't mean Coogler and his team didn't do it with care, they did, but in the end Namor was used for those purposes and wasn't put in the hands of someone who really wanted to make a Sub-Mariner story. Being in the film also didn't seem to help the character's popularity or growth, either in the MCU beyond that film nor in the 616 proper.

Him being in that film, depicted in that way, for good or ill, it was still great to see Namor in action for the first time. Which for some fans was enough. He looked great in action, and it wasn't a terrible showing. I suppose these days that's all one can ask for.

[From The Shadows]

That's the funny part.... They really have very little in common other than being Atlanteans. DC and Marvel have different ideas about what Atlanteans even are. So they don't generally look the same, and Atlantis doesn't look the same. and in DC they have an entire system of underwater civilizations... not just the one.

But they decided to do new stuff... and not simply focus on what was already different.....

Agreed.

And Nay.

[Thirteen]

YES to Tenoch Huerta's NAMOR the Avenging Son (without Love)