This is "Out of Sight," a brand-new feature where I explore notable comic book moments that occurred off-panel.

We start with an Avenger whose marriage took place, well, you know, off-panel. That's the whole point of this series, ya know?

Of course, the trick here is that the superhero was not yet an Avenger when he got married, but still, it wasn't like he was a complete nobody!

Doctor Walter Newell made his debut in Tales to Astonish #95 (by Roy Thomas and Bill Everett), where he was a scientist who built a domed city under the water...

Namor wasn't a fan, but even Namor felt a little bad when the villainous Plunderer started attacking the city and sunk it. Newell helped save the people in the city, but he did note that perhaps he should look into having some weapons in the future...

Okay, that was towards the end of the Namor feature in Tales to Astonish. Soon, Namor would get his own series by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. In Sub-Mariner #5, we meet Diane Arliss and her dumb brother, Todd...

Todd is transformed into the long-recurring Namor foe known as the Tiger Shark. Diane wants to help Todd out, so she gets all super badass...

However, she ends up resenting Namor for fighting her brother, despite her brother clearly being a supervillain. So she disappears for a year or so.

Meanwhile, in Sub-Mariner #16, Walter Newell shows up again. This time, he wants Namor's help stopping a virus...

At the end of the issue, Walter seemingly sacrifices his life to stop the virus...

However, just three issues later, he pops up alive and he actually takes down Namor as Sting-Ray, the new superhero identity he came up with...

Diane is there and she thinks she wants to see Namor taken down, but now she is unsure...

At the end of the issue, Sting-Ray lets Namor get away because he realizes Namor is not a bad guy after all.

Okay, so seven issues later, Walter and Diane are seemingly dating...

The next issue, though, she realizes that she loves Namor...

She's gone for a while, but then, in her new capacity as a reporter, she helps send Namor on a mission to find a long-lost relative...

Meanwhile, Walter begins to hang out with Diane as the really pathetic friend who comforts her while she pines over another dude...

This repeats for, like, every issue...

Until finally, Diane and Walter are written out of the book with Namor #47....

That issue came out in 1972. Diane does not appear in another comic book until 1981! Walter, though, continues to make sporadic appearances throughout the 1970s. His costume is just too cool-looking, so comic books continue to have him show up. He popped up in the Defenders and also helped the Thing out. However, he doesn't mention Diane in these appearances. That's what is so funny, that the last time we see her, she's doing the whole, "Man, I wish Namor was more like you, Walter, but I still love Namor."

Then, finally, the 1980s change things!

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In 1980's Marvel Two-in-One #71, Sting-Ray finally ends up on Hydro-Base, which will be his base of operations for the rest of his superhero career...

Then, three issues later, you can barely recognize her (since she hadn't been in a comic in nearly a decade), but she and Walter show up for the Fantastic Four's Christmas party...

Then another four years without her making an appearance until finally, in Avengers #262, with the Avengers looking for a new place to store their quinjets after the city of New York told them they no longer could store them there, Sting-Ray and Diane try to get the Avengers to come use Hydro-base...

And once there, we learn that Diane and Walter are now married!!

And Namor is just a close family friend. Weird...

Walter and Diane Newell have been one of the most stable superhero couples ever in the years since. But don't let people know that, because then they'll probably want to kill Diane off to make Sting-Ray grim and gritty.

Okay, that's it for this inaugural installment! E-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have other suggestions for future Out of Sight columns!