Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Daytime Heroes: Sub-Mariner (1966)

This is the last part of the Marvel Superheroes Show. We covered the rest back in May when "Marvel's The Avengers" hit theatres. Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, would eventually join the Avengers himself, but not until the late 80's. Currently in the comics, he's aligned with the X-Men, all because he himself is a mutant.

Namor and Captain America had one thing in common. Both were introduced in the Golden Age, and revitalized during the Silver Age. Sadly, the aninated Namor had been hamstrung by some poor adaptations of his adventures, including one that marked the television debut of the X-Men. Surely, Namor deserved better than that.

Anyway, Fabster3333 uploaded the brief, cheesy open.



Rating: C-.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

Like the adaptations of Ironman, Cap, Thor and Hulk from the same stable, I hated the animation used here. I was never a Sub Mariner fan anyway, most adaptations had him behaving like an annoying, self righteous jerk. That may have been his correct persona from the comics (never read them so I wouldn't know) but I found it off putting. I prefer to like and/or identify with lead characters.

I don't think Namor was really a mutant per se was he? I'd always thought he was a half breed (half human, half Atlantian).

hobbyfan said...

The original interpretation was exactly as you stated, Magicdog. He was a half-breed, but in order to market him to today's audience, Marvel is lumping him in as a mutant, more so to avoid comparisons to DC's Aquaman (also a half-breed, but without the wings and pointed ears).

Namor has mellowed off and on through the years, depending on who's doing the writing, but his present status is an indictment of the shabby way Marvel treats its older audience. Just like everyone else.