Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada raised the hopes of Sub-Mariner fans when during a podcast interview with Kevin Smith he mentioned again that the rights to Sub-Mariner had reverted to Marvel, and then refused to either “confirm or deny” the possibility of Prince Namor making an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The minor wave of excitement that spread across the Internet was similar to what happened back in 2014 when after a similar Quesada comment, Marvel Studios honcho Kevin Feige confirmed that the Namor “rights” had reverted to Marvel, but “clarified” the situation by noting that there were “complications” that prevented Marvel Studios from utilizing Namor.

Those “complications,” which likely remain in place today, stem from Marvel’s movie licensing agreements for its characters, some of which date back to the 1990s when a near-bankrupt Marvel was in a position of weakness as it sought to generate as much licensing revenue as possible to shore up its publishing operations.  As early as 1999 a Namor film was in development with a script by Sam Hamm (Batman) and Phillip Kaufman (The Right Stuff) directing.  Then there was Saban Entertainment, which had a Namor script written by David Self (Road to Perdition), and finally Universal, which hired Chris Columbus to make a Namor film in 2004 (see “Universal Wants Chris Columbus for Namor”) and then replaced him with Terminator 3 helmer Jonathan Mostow (see “New Sub-Mariner Writer-Director Chosen”) in 2006.

The fact that Universal had the rights most recently could be the source of the trouble.  Yes Marvel Studios did produce one Hulk movie in 2008 (perhaps Marvel Studio’s only “failure) after regaining the rights to the property from Universal, but that film was distributed by Universal—and that was before Marvel Studios was acquired by Universal’s fierce rival Disney.   Now Universal no longer distributes Marvel Studios’ movies, and though the Hulk has appeared in The Avengers films, there has not been another stand-alone Hulk film despite actor Mark Ruffalo’s interest in making a solo Hulk movie. 

Though Namor has hardly been in the forefront of the Marvel Universe in recent years, the 77-year-old character, whose creation by Bill Everett in 1939 predates that of Aquaman by two years, and who is arguably the first “antihero” in comic books, does have legions of fans who would like to see him on the big screen (he did appear the 1966 cartoon series The Marvel Super Heroes).  But with those “complications” still apparently in place, and with Warner Bros. stealing the march with its first underwater superhero film starring Aquaman due on July 27, 2018 (see “Best in Shows-Q3-2018”), a near-future appearance by Prince Namor (his last name is “Roman” spelled backwards) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe appears unlikely (though hardcore fans should check the casting announcements for the upcoming Avengers Infinity Wars).