10 Most Unexpectedly Powerful Marvel Villains

4. Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner

Stilt-Man Punisher
Marvel Comics

Namor is a bit of a flip-flopper. One minute, he's one of humanity's greatest allies, helping to take down the Axis of Evil and win World War II. The next, he is trying to destroy New York with a series of giant tidal waves. It's this unpredictability and his fickle nature that make him such a dangerous being.

However, you would never think it by looking at him. Basically Marvel's version of Aquaman (although he appeared a few months before the DC character), he is often lumped in with that superhero's history of being a joke character. Swimming around Atlantis and talking to fish just don't seem to be considered cool or edgy!

It doesn't help that his name is Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner, which sounds like something a particularly nerdy games master would come up with for an NPC in Dungeons and Dragons. He also usually wears nothing but green, scaly briefs and booties with little wings on them. It's never been a particularly commanding look.

Do not let his aesthetic choices fool you, though: Namor could probably drown the entire surface world if he chose to, and one of these days, he just might be pushed to make that choice.

Contributor
Contributor

Jimmy Kavanagh is an Irish writer and co-founder of Club Valentine Comedy, a Dublin-based comedy collective. You can hear him talk to his favourite comedians about their favourite comics on his podcast, Comics Swapping Comics.