Ryan Coogler Says Marvel Has Been Trying To Use Namor Before ‘Aquaman’ & Always Planned To Use Him For ‘Black Panther 2’

Marvel’s first mutant, Namor, is finally making his live-action debut in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” next week. Played by Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta, Namor’s inclusion comes after a long journey that includes failed attempts by Universal Pictures to make a solo film back in the 2000s before the character could join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, it sounds like director Ryan Coogler had planned to use Namor long before the original film’s release and always planned on circling back to him for the sequel.

When the sequel was brought up during a chat with Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast hosted by author/screenwriter Ta-Nehisi Coates (listen below), Coogler was quick to point out that he’s been itching to use Namor since the first film, but Marvel Studios warned him of contractual entanglements (possibly with Universal that eventually got settled) that weren’t yet cleared up. However, the director was still keen on using Namor and Marvel’s version of Atlantis (Talokan) in the sequel even before their first creative meetings in late 2018 and before the release of “Aquaman.”

READ MORE: Ryan Coogler Explains Why Recasting T’Challa in ‘Wakanda Forever Was Never Really An Option

“I knew I wanted to make another one. When I was doing my deep dive in all the [‘Black Panther’] stories, there were like a few characters [T’Challa] would interact with that I thought, ‘Man, this would be awesome,’” Coogler recalled about the early development stage of the first ‘Black Panther’ film. “I knew it would be Killmonger for the first one, but Namor was all over these books and always really interesting. So we would talk about ‘Could we ever do Namor?’ and they had contractual things going on with him as a character at that time. But it was something if we ran it back, it would be about him and Namor and introduce Marvel’s Atlantis to the fold.” “

This was before ‘Aquaman’ came out, this was before a lot of things, but we’d talk about it from time to time,” he continued. “So, I was excited to come back knowing what it was and that excited me quite a bit.”

It’s worth mentioning that Namor is a considerable crossover character, having joined Doctor Strange and Hulk in the original Defenders comic book lineup (where his conflicts with Wakanda were explored). The character has had a longstanding connection with Sue Storm/Fantastic Four, was part of Captain America’s WWII team, The Invaders, and appeared in issues of the Canadian team Alpha Flight, among many other appearances. Namor surfacing for the first time in the MCU in a villainous role always felt like a very organic choice, as he’s played both friend and foe in the comics, depending on circumstances. Namor is a fascinating/complex character, and thankfully, plenty of projects exist where he could appear again, aside from solo things.

You can see Namor and a grand entrance to the MCU on November 11 when “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hits theatres.