MCU Phase 4: 10 Things You Need To Know About Namor
1. He’s Marvel’s First Mutant
Though he’s not the oldest character canonically, Namor was the earliest mutant introduced to Marvel's pages, and if he’s not subtitled with his usual ‘The Submariner’, he’s often recognised on the cover as ‘Marvel’s First Mutant’ instead.
As well as an important piece of comic book history, with the X-Men being some of the most iconic characters around, it also offers some cinematic parallels. The Fox X-Men universe focussed more on Xavier vs Magneto, and all the characters wrapped up in that everlasting saga, but they aren’t the only mutants around.
Plenty of great mutant characters (not just Namor but the likes of Pixie, Fantomex and Dust) haven’t gotten a look in with the Fox series. Though Wolverine, Mystique et al. are a more obvious draw, newer mutants are fresh, aren't burdened by comparisons to older iterations and Marvel gets to dictate how they look on screen, rather than riffing on the Fox designs.
Technically, of course, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver take the title of first mutants, but any sort of link they might have offered is well past its sell by date now. They need a new figure to usher the mutants in, and Namor might be perfect.