Marvel Studios’ recent casting announcements for Avengers: Doomsday have ignited fan speculation about a potentially controversial storyline from the comics. With Vanessa Kirby and Tenoch Huerta Mejía confirmed to be reprising their roles as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman and Namor the Sub-Mariner, Marvel appears to be setting the stage for one of comics’ most complex and problematic relationships to potentially play out on screen. While the complete cast list for Avengers: Doomsday continues to unfold, the inclusion of both Sue and Namor in the same project represents the first opportunity for the MCU to explore their fraught connection, which has been a significant subplot in Fantastic Four lore since the early 1960s.
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The relationship between Sue Storm and Namor dates back to 1962’s Fantastic Four #4, which marked Namor’s reintroduction to Marvel Comics after his original appearance in 1939. From their very first encounter, Namor formed an immediate and intense attachment to Sue, while she experienced conflicted feelings of physical attraction toward the Atlantean king. This created an immediate tension within the Fantastic Four, particularly with Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), Sue’s partner and eventual husband. What followed was one of Marvel’s first and most enduring triangular relationships.
Throughout their history, Namor’s pursuit of Sue has been relentless and often problematic. In their initial meeting, he threatened to destroy the surface world if Sue didn’t agree to become his bride. On multiple occasions, Namor has attempted to separate Sue from her family, including kidnapping her before Reed could propose marriage and plotting schemes to eliminate the other members of the Fantastic Four to force Sue to join him in Atlantis. During the “Civil War” storyline, when Sue visited Atlantis to seek Namor’s alliance with Captain America, he claimed they had a “special relationship,” an assertion Sue firmly denied.
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Sue’s perspective on Namor has consistently been portrayed as complex and conflicted. While she has occasionally acknowledged an attraction to him, she has remained fundamentally loyal to Reed in the main Marvel Universe continuity. In Marvel Knights 4 #8, Sue articulates her early attraction to Namor as being rooted in a romantic fantasy about his royal status. Still, she firmly rejects his advances when he attempts to persuade her to leave Reed during a period of financial difficulty for the Fantastic Four. Her feelings for Namor typically emerge during times when she feels neglected by Reed, who often becomes consumed by his scientific pursuits at the expense of their relationship.
The Namor-Sue relationship has sometimes progressed in alternative timelines and non-canonical stories. In the miniseries Fantastic Four 1 2 3 4, Sue actually kissed Namor during a rough patch in her marriage, though their relationship didn’t develop beyond this point. Most significantly, in Fantastic Four: Life Story #2, Sue left Reed for nearly a decade to be with Namor after becoming frustrated with Reed’s obsessive focus on his work. These alternate realities explore what might have happened if Sue had made different choices, while the main continuity maintains her fundamental commitment to Reed despite occasional temptation.
How the MCU Should Address the Namor-Sue Dynamic
The MCU faces a significant challenge in adapting the complicated relationship between Namor and Sue Storm. Any exploration of the Namor-Sue dynamic in the MCU should explicitly acknowledge the toxicity in Namor’s pursuit of Sue. His behavior in the comics constitutes emotional manipulation and coercion rather than genuine romance. Because of that, the MCU has an opportunity to examine this relationship through a contemporary lens, potentially using it to explore themes of consent, autonomy, and healthy boundaries in interpersonal relationships. Rather than romanticizing what has historically been portrayed as an unhealthy obsession, Marvel Studios should deconstruct this dynamic and highlight its problematic aspects for modern audiences.
The MCU version of Namor already differs significantly from his comic counterpart, which creates natural opportunities for recontextualizing his dynamic with Sue. Tenoch Huerta’s Namor is the ruler of Talokan rather than Atlantis, with strong connections to Mayan heritage and a deeply rooted suspicion of surface dwellers. This cultural reimagining could inform a different approach to his character’s interactions with Sue. Rather than simply importing the problematic elements of their relationship from the comics, the MCU could develop a more nuanced dynamic that acknowledges Namor’s questionable behavior without glorifying it.
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Marvel Studios has already demonstrated a willingness to update problematic aspects of classic comics for contemporary audiences. For instance, the relationship between Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen ) was significantly reworked from its comic origins for the MCU, creating a more balanced dynamic while preserving the emotional core of their connection. A similar approach could work for Namor and Sue, potentially transforming an unhealthy obsession into a more nuanced relationship.
Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm debuts in the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, arriving in theaters on July 25th. After that, Sue and Namor will cross paths in Avengers: Doomsday, releasing on May 1, 2026.
How do you think the MCU should deal with the Sue-Namor relationship? Let us know in the comments!
