✦MAKA✦

do you feel namor's birth year is the one listed on his hero id card, or do you think he's existed for much longer? with him being called the first mutant multiple times in several different iterations of sub-mariner and x-men canon, it makes me think he's probably a lot older than just 98? but i also know there's some information on atlanteans living on average ~120 years, so i wanted to get your opinion on it!

Yes, I do feel Namor’s birthday is the same as the one on his hero card. Namor actually had a different in canon birthday date in the golden age, February 2.

Sub-Mariner Comics #36 (1954)

But as we know, Marvel considers the Marvel Universe to have started with the Silver Age and the first comic of Fantastic Four (1961), so his current Birthday is February 22, 1922. We know that Namor was sent to fight the Surface World by his mother and grandfather when he came of age and he arrived in New York in 1939, and that later he went to fight in World War ll so he was a very young man/teen. Keeping to the 2/22/1922 birthday he would be 17 years old the first time he left Atlantis and came to the surface world.

I don’t think Namor is older than that because Fen meets Leonard in 1920, which is stated several times through out many different comics.

There is an limited amount of time between their meeting and Namor’s birth.

A good 1 to 2 years are not fully fleshed out, but we do know Princess Fen spent months with Leo spying on the humans and reporting to her father, Emperor Tha-korr, before falling in love with Captain McKenzie.

(Repeated many times in different comics but this one is from) Saga of the Sub-Mariner (1988) #1

They married, and we also know that Fen and Leo had an adventure with Captain Nemo during that time.

Defenders (2012) #8

Then Fen was dragged back to Atlantis against her will when her Father’s men caught up with her, leaving Leonard for dead (he survived but Fen and all of Atlantis thought he died during the fight).

(Repeated many times in different comics but this one is from) The Order (2007) #7

As for how long Atlanteans live, Marvel never made that clear, In the first picture I posted you can see Namor writing “I found I can live indefinitely”, possibly meaning he learned he was immortal, or at least long lived so long as nothing killed him. So Atlanteans could live anywhere between 200 or more years. Older Atlanteans like Vashti are called ancient ones, and when they get older they do go off to die.

Hulk Annual 1998

The only thing we do know for certain is that Atlanteans age very slowly. Also Namor is often one of the only heroes still living in most future timelines, and how he looks ranges anywhere from barely older than what he is now to old man Namor, depending on how far it is into the future or how old looking the writer/artists want him to be. (Major X (2019) #4 has an older looking Namor but it’s a Liefeld comic so I try not to blind myself any more than necessary)

Defenders (2012) #11

As for why Namor is called the first mutant, that’s a totally different thing. You see Namor is the first Marvel character, he predates X-Men publication by decades, and has had his wings since he was first created by Bill Everett in 1939. The term mutants wasn’t even made yet.

Fire & Water: Bill Everett, the Sub-Mariner, and the Birth of Marvel Comics by Blake Bell

Fun Fact! Namor is called the First Mutant because he is the first mutant in real world publication, as in the first published mutant character, in Marvel Universe continuity it’s meant that Namor is the first public mutant or the first modern modern mutant birth of our age. Hence why he has the name: Namor the First Mutant. This name was used on covers of his comics throughout the years.

Namor is the prototype mutant. He is the First Mutant because of Sub-Mariner comics issue 38. In Feb. 1955 Bill Everett wrote a comic called “Wings on his Feet” which explained why Namor has his ankle wings.

When Namor was 14 he & his mother were in a dangerous situation & Namor manifested his wings as a way to save her and himself from being trapped in the ice. This was when Marvel still wasn’t Marvel, it was Atlas Comics, and this was eight years before the first X-Men comic which came out in 1963. So teens manifesting their mutant abilities during times of high stress, gaining powers in their teens was taken most likely taken from this. (I say most likely because it’s never confirmed but Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were long time mainstays of Marvel even before it became Marvel, and they had worked with Bill, so its most likely his comic inspired them when it came time to explain the Mutants.)

As for when Namor was called a mutant in Marvel continuity, that was in Fantastic Four Annual #1 (1961)

has namor met poseidon?

Yes, many times, however in the Marvel universe Neptune is Poseidon so they use the either name interchangeably, however Neptune is the one they use more commonly. Times Namor has met Neptune/Poseidon off the top of my head are:

1. Neptune grants Namor the Trident of Neptune when Namor chose love over power and saved Lady Dorma’s life over fulfilling his quest to retrieve the Trident to reclaim his throne. Tales to Astonish #75

2. Neptune carves his symbol of a Trident onto Namor’s belt as a show of his faith in his descendant after Namor goes to pray to him for guidance. The Sub-Mariner (1968) #68

3. Neptune saves a horse, transforming it into a seahorse when Namor begged him and wanted to give up his own life for the drowning creature. Marvel Fanfare (1982) #16

4. Neptune brings Namor back to life after he is killed and grants him the Ancient Armor of Atlantis. Namor, the Sub-Mariner (1990) #37

5. Namor and Hercules team up to save Poseidon from the Amazons who had captured him. (This is literally one of the few times I remember them called Neptune, Poseidon) Incredible Hercules (2008) #123