When fans officially learned that Tenoch Huerta would play Namor the Sub-Mariner in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it didn’t come as huge surprise. References to underwater earthquakes and tiny Easter eggs in previous movies were things fans thought they’d seen to indicate such. Now it turns out that was always the plan, even when Chadwick Boseman was still around. According to producer Nate Moore, director Ryan Coogler asked to keep Namor for himself during post-production on the first Black Panther.
In an interview with Slashfilm, Moore said, “Ryan is a huge fan of comic books, and in publishing, Namor and Atlantis often would come in conflict with Wakanda and the Black Panther. And so even as early as in post-production on the first movie, he was like, ‘If we get so lucky, could we maybe, could I just raise my hand and make sure no one uses Namor?’ And luckily, nobody was, and he had a great idea for it very early on. So we started building towards that idea, which I think is really fun.”
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Moore also shed a bit of light on Namor’s motivations, saying, “I think the best villains are the heroes in their own minds, and Namor is no different. What he is doing in this film is all in an effort to protect his people from having to go through a trauma that is generational.”
Comics fans are well aware that Namor isn’t always a villain. If not in Wakanda Forever, it sounds like there’s a very good chance we could see him on the side of the heroes eventually in a future film.
How early did you predict Coogler would use Namor? Let us know in comments.
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