Black Panther 2’s Namor Costume Could Be Inspired By Obscure Thor Character

At San Diego Comic-Con last weekend, Marvel fans got their first look at the eagerly anticipated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with the release of the film’s first trailer. While that trailer gave fans a glimpse of what Wakanda and the world is like in the wake of the death of T’Challa/Black Panther, it also revealed an initial look at Namor, who will make his MCU debut in the film. Much of what fans got to see of Namor — played by Tenoch Huerta — is very much in keeping with the character’s iconic comics look, but we also saw the undersea king in full regalia briefly as well and it is regalia that appears to have potentially been inspired by an obscure Thor character.

In the trailer at two separate points, we see Namor wearing an elaborate headdress — first around the 50 second mark and then again around the 1:50 mark — and some additional details outside of simply the green swim briefs and various gold accents. It’s a stunning look, even if we don’t get to see it particularly clearly. But for eagle eyed Marvel Comics fans, the costume appears to be very similar to a character they’ve seen before, albeit very briefly: Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl most notably appears on the pages of Thor Annual #10 from 1982 from writers Mark Gruenwald and Alan Zelenetz. It isn’t a huge appearance — Quetzalcoatl is just one of several gods from various pantheons that Thor joins with in order to save all of the myth and divine realms from utter oblivion — but in terms of a visual appearance, we get very good look at him. Described in the issue he is the “feathered serpent of the Aztecs, his solar disk thrust forth defiantly” and you can check out the image yourself below.

Looks a lot like Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, doesn’t it? And it’s a resemblance that absolutely makes sense. Quetzalcoatl is one of several significant gods in Aztec culture and literature along with several other gods in the pantheon, including Tlālōc. If that latter god sounds familiar to you, that’s because it was recently revealed that the name for MCU’s take on Atlantis — aka Namor’s underwater kingdom — is Talocan, which itself appears to be a derivation of the legendary Aztec paradise Tlālōcān, which is described in several Aztec codices as a paradise ruled over by Tlālōc.  It was also heavily rumored before Namor was even confirmed for the film that the film might be taking cues from Aztec and Mayan cultures when wrap gifts emerged that appeared to feature Tepeyollotl, the Aztec jaguar god.

While we don’t specifically know what all of the design references and inspirations are for Namor’s general look and his regalia are for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, designer Anthony Francisco shared recently on social media that he had a hand in coming up with the design idea for Namor’s Wakanda Forever look and production designer Hannah Beachler also shared on social media that there is “about a ton of meaning” behind the set that she’d explain more of when the film was released — and shared a photo of Namor, in regalia, descending onto his throne.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will open in theaters November 11th.