Who Is Namora? An Introduction To Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Characters

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is soon to release with a great cast that includes Mabel Cadena, who plays Namora. She debuts as one of the new characters for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this sequel adventure. After suffering delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the film will come out in the coming months.

Image via Marvel Studios

Namora has had several appearances in various media. However, this will be her first appearance on the big screen. This character came to light in the golden age of comics as a hybrid mutant with many abilities that put her in Marvel’s spotlight, hence her return.

Who is Namora?

Namora stands out as a new Marvel character who has something to tell. The daughter of a woman from the surface, and an Atlantean man, Aquaria Neptunia is her given name. She assumes the name Namora in honor of her cousin Namor McKenzie when her father dies at the hands of treasure-hunting surface dwellers. Aquaria now calls herself “Avenging Daughter”, which in Atlantida means Namora, like Namor, “Avenging Son”. She became her cousin’s companion, and they shared countless adventures.

Origin and Biography

Namora originated in Atlantis. Spending all her early adolescence in the capital of Antarctica with her father, she was Namor’s playmate. Years later, Namora and her father moved to a colony north of Antarctica. Being absent at the time, Atlantis became involved in many activities on the surface.

By 1946, the typical Atlantean blue of Namora’s skin changes, fading to a much more Caucasian hue, revealing to her father that she possessed the human half. Later, Namora and her father return to Antarctic Atlantis, facing acts of vandalism that led to her father’s death in early 1947, when the Brockton Gang and Stopp Richards led criminals from the surface and invaded Atlantis in search of treasure.

Image via Marvel Comics

Namor and Namora avenged that death, lashing at Richards and his minions. By that time, Namora became a faithful companion of Namor in all his adventures, ready to fight against the plans of her cousin Byrrah and any other criminal of the surface, like the armed Viking and Doctor Macabre. Namora faced the Mummy Men of Tu-Ak-Mun and many other threats alone.

Namora married Talan, who was an Atlantean, in 1955. By 1956, when the Monster Hunters adventurers formed, she joined that team, performing some feats and participating in their adventures. By then, her marital relationship with Talan was strained because she couldn’t conceive children due to her hybrid nature.

The 50s

Therefore, in 1957, Namora persuaded Vyrra, an exiled Atlantean scientist, to implant a cloned and altered embryo to become pregnant. Namora, in 1958, accompanies the Monster Hunters on a mission with other heroes, attracting the attention of FBI agent Jimmy Woo. The agent proposed that Namora join the team of super-powered agents, to which she refused. Despite that, she helped Jimmy recover M-11 the Living Robot, from the ocean. After some time, Namorita, Namora’s daughter, was born.

Image via Marvel Comics

Approximately at that time, Namor disappeared after fighting with Paul Destine. Namora devoted herself to looking for him, but all in vain. By 1961, Namora’s family moved with her to the Maritanis colony, leaving Atlantis behind. Unfortunately, shortly after, Talan died after an atomic bomb test, and Namora moved away from that colony to Lemuria, taking her daughter with her.

Several years later, Namora felt attracted to the prince of Lemuria, Merro, which led Llyra, her rival eager for power, to poison her. That is why everyone thought Namora was dead when Namorita was a pre-teen. Namora’s body remained in a coffin for a long time until Jimmy Woo started to track down the Atlas Foundation. The former FBI agent and his partners began the search for Namora, who was still alive, frozen in some cavern in the North Sea. Thanks to this investigation, Namora’s body was rescued and brought back to life.

Namora’s personality

Namora has a warrior personality to fight alongside several Avengers, such as Hulk, who tries to stop Thanos with the Atlanteans in the  omics. We can also see her next to Hercules, connecting her with the movie Thor: Love and Thunder, where Zeus gives a new mission to his son to return the power to the gods.

Powers and abilities

Among Namora’s powers and abilities that stand out is the ability to fly using wings on her ankles and superhuman strength since she’s a half-Atlantean, half-human hybrid  utant. Her skin makes her almost invulnerable to missiles and bullets, unable to penetrate it and wou d her. She swims at superhuman speeds, is immune to cold, can breathe underwater, and can withstand the pressures of the deep.

Being underwater, she can see much better than any other human being. However, she must periodically submerge herself in water to maintain these powers and abilities.

Namora’s Appearances

Namora’s appearances have been varied; here are some of them

Appearance in Comics

Namora appears for the first time in Marvel Mystery Comics Vol 1. 82, published i  1947. This comic explained the hybrid nature of this character. She is considered a mutant, which is not common in Atlantis. That makes this character somewhat similar to Jason Momoa’s Aquaman.

Image via Marvel Comics

The second time Namora appears in comics is in Exiles #46, by the hand of Tony Bedard and Mizuki Sakakibara, associating her to the multiverses called Exiles. So she represents the terrestrial counterpart of Namora, the Sub-Mariner. In this universe, she is one of Charles Xavier’s allies, who is responsible for convincing her not to attack the inhabitants of the surface.

When the anti-mutant hysteria is unleashed, Namora kills all the Earth superheroes, which is much more difficult when she decides to attack the Fanta tic 4. Thus she managed to conquer the world and rule it for decades.

Her appearance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to be released this November 2022, promising much more than a sequel. Among the characters, we will see Namora, who was introduced to us as Namor’s cousin in the comics.

Image via Marvel Comics

This character comes with style based on the Aztec culture, which is a rather battle-hardened warrior willing to do anything to defend her people. Unlike what Marvel told us in the comics, she keeps her blue skin, something different from what we will see with Namor. With this different look, Namora will be presented somewhat distant from what we have seen in the comics, which points more to Latin culture, and its ancient gods, finding in her plot a mission of revenge that leads her to face the world with her cousin Namor.

We are all attentive to what this sequel brings us, this story that seeks to confront two nations, Atlantis and Wakanda, all marked by the sad disappearance of Black Panther, in the personification of actor Chadwick Boseman.