Black Panther: Wakanda Forever brought Namor, one of Marvel’s oldest characters to live action and more than that, gave the iconic antihero a new look and new origin as well. But as with any adaptation, there are a lot of ideas that get worked out between page and screen and now, visual artist Anthony Francisco reveals some of his designs for MCU’s Namor, including one that is a bit closer to the character’s comic book look. In a recent post on Facebook, Francisco shared the designs he sent to Wakanda Forever costume designer Ruth E. Carter and while much of Francisco’s designs look very similar to what ended up in the film, there’s one that looks a bit closer to the character’s appearance in recent comics.
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“The design process actually started a year before the production started,” Francisco wrote. “I worked as part of Marvel Studios Visual Development Team headed by @MeinerdingArt. The team is an integral part in designing the Heroes and Villains of the MCU and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was no exception. It was fun exploring the look of Namor as well as his people early on.”
In the images Francisco shared, you can see some of the evolution of the design, but one in particular looks similar to the character’s design from more recent comics, including King In Black: Namor. You can check out Francisco’s post and designs below.
How Important is Namor for Audiences?
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever made some major changes to Namor with the film’s character, played by Tenoch Huerta, haling not from Atlantis but from Talokan, a world influenced by the rich myths and history of Mesoamerican culture. Huerta has previously spoken about how important that representation is.
“It’s important for people to see themselves in the movies in this way,” Huerta told Variety. “It was made with a lot of respect for the Mesoamerican culture, especially Mayan culture. It’s the roots of almost everybody in Latin America. We have indigenous roots, Black roots, we have a few white roots, but it’s fantastic to be here and represent this kind of movie and I think Wakanda is the best place to make it.”
Will there be a Namor movie?
Unfortunately, issues with movie rights are standing in the way of a Namor solo film.
“It honestly affects us more, and not to talk too much out of school, but in how we market the film than it does how we use him in the film,” Marvel producer Nate Moore said. “There weren’t really things we couldn’t do from a character perspective for him, which is good because clearly, we took a ton of inspiration from the source material, but we also made some big changes to really anchor him in that world in a truth that publishing never really landed on, I would argue, in a big way.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters now.
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
