Namor of Earth-616 is commonly referred to as the Golden Age Namor, thus being the main Namor that appeared throughout the Golden Age of Comic Books. This wiki follows Namor only throughout the Golden Age.
History[]
Origins In 1915, Ernest Shackleton, sent by Winston Churchill, sought out vibranium in the Antarctic. His ship, the Endurance, was lost. Later, Leonard McKenzie, with the telepath Paul Destine as a passenger, attempted to recover the Vibranium. Princess Fen was sent to investigate explosions near the surface by her father, King Thakorr. McKenzie met and impregnated Princess Fen with the child who became Namor. Soldiers commanded by General Krang attacked McKenzie's crew. McKenzie himself did not die, though he did not recognize Namor later when he first learned of his son's rampages in New York. Namor spent his boyhood taunting his cousin Dorma, as well playing with his other cousins Namora and Byrrah as well as his friend Merrano. An oil spill in 1936 attracted the attention of Namor, who began a relationship with a young woman named Sandy. Namor grew up distrusting surface dwellers.
1940s[]
He was sent to New York after divers were found near Atlantis. However, it was revealed that the divers were Nazis, and Namor joined the Invaders, fighting in World War II alongside men such as Captain America and the android Human Torch (in addition to his solo missions), and later the All-Winners Squad to oppose the Axis. Namor would at times battle, then befriend the democratic societies of the surface; the explanation for this later discovered to be temporary insanity as a result of too much time spent away from the sea. For the most part, however, the Sub-Mariner set his sights on Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The Atlanteans became involved with the Axis-created Human Torch duplicates the Firebrand Squadron. One Atlantean, his friend Merrano, became an Axis agent as the U-Man.
1950s[]
In the 1950's Namor attempted to gain recognition for Atlantis, only for bigots to cause the death of a man named Truffaut. Namor disappeared in 1958 after Destiny, the same Paul Destine who had voyaged with his father, attacked Atlantis. Atlantis was relatively unharmed during the war but soon greatly damaged by powerful earthquakes. Princess Fen and King Thakorr were killed. Paul Destine, who had ordered the explorers on McKenzie's ship to find the 'Helmet of Power' (actually Set's Serpent Crown), was causing them. He used the crown to turn Namor into an amnesiac, living as a derelict in various flophouses. Coincidentally his former teammate Bucky was also briefly sleeping in the same flophouse. As both men had amnesia, neither man recognized the other.