During the Civil War, Namor was part of the Illuminati but he walked away from the surface world rather than become a government stoolie with Iron Man. This series starts with Tony Stark in a submarine, surveying the wreckage of Atlantis.
They find what appears to be Sub-Mariner’s skeletal remains.
Through Stark’s investigation and a series of flashbacks, we learn that Atlantis was under threat of attack by homegrown terrorists.
Namor went to the surface world to get help from Professor X (a fellow Illuminati).
Atlantis, however, gets tied to attacks on U.S. soil, so the army sics Venom on Sub-Mariner (Thunderbolts version).
Venom is able to rip off half of Namor’s ankle wings.
Eventually, we learn that Namor’s own illegitimate son Kamal is a key part of the spinter cell within Atlantis–but by this time the U.S. is at war with the undersea nation. Rather than invade, Tony Stark negotiates an agreement that Atlantis will, essentially, “register” with the U.S.–becoming a recognized country of Earth. Namor objects (even though he has tried to get Atlantean representation in the United Nations in the past(?)), destroys his own city, and leads a diaspora of his people to a new place to live…
Latveria.
This miniseries is well crafted, but the plot isn’t very tight and the characterization of Namor feels off. Plus the big finale, of Sub-Mariner being driven into the arms of Doctor Doom, is weak given that the two of them have teamed up before and it’s never gone well. The move also reverts all the grown Sub-Mariner has experienced as a character, moving from a villain to a hero and now (I guess) he’s aligning more villainously again–but really why? The fact is that Atlanteans DID attack the U.S. in this series and the nation’s desire to protect itself from additional attacks was entirely reasonable.
Anyway, not very bad, but also not very good.
English (US) · 