This is "The Book of Knowledge," a feature where I spotlight instances where notable revelations that affect comic book continuity were first made in texts outside of comic book stories themselves. In other words, times when stuff like the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe either introduced or resolved changes to continuity.

Today, we look into the long-coming explanation for why Captain America and Namor did not recognize each other when they met in Avengers #4.

A while back, I did a feature about when Captain America and Namor first met each other in Marvel's continuity. "In Marvel's continuity" is important because Cap and Namor were part of the same team of heroes as far back as 1946's All-Winners Comics #19 (by Bill Finger and Syd Shores)...

However, Marvel later revealed that Captain America was put into suspended animation before the end of the war, so he couldn't possibly have been part of the very much POST World War II story in All-Winners Comics #19. It was later revealed that the Captain America in that story was actually a different patriotic superhero known as the Spirit of '76. Similarly, Cap and Namor teamed up with Human Torch 1953's Young Men #26 (by Don Rico and John Romita), but that, too, was determined to have been ANOTHER replacement Captain America named William Burnside. Therefore, for a number of years, Cap and Namor's first meeting in Marvel continuity was in Avengers #4 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and George Roussos), when Namor came across a group of people in the Arctic worshiping a man encased in a block of ice. Namor, being a bit of a petulant jerk, chucked the ice into the water, where it melted and Cap came out of suspended animation and was discovered by the Avengers.

Later in that issue, Captain America fought against Namor alongside the Avengers and it was made very clear that they did NOT know each other...

That, though, did not fit with the fact that we later learned that Captain America and Namor had been on a team together called the Invaders (the Invaders made their debut in a time travel storyline in Avengers #71 by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscemsa and Sam Grainge, where the Avengers were forced to fight against the World War II superheroes as part of some Kang/Grandmaster game). Not only that, but even if Namor did not know STEVE ROGERS, Marvel continuity had established that Namor had met two other guys calling themselves Captain America, so even if he didn't know Steve, he surely should have recognized the Captain America costume. It is a bit hard to forget a dude in a red, white and blue costume calling himself Captain America.

The explanation for the two heroes not recognizing each other (and Namor not recognizing the concept of Captain America in general) are tied into other stories from the Silver Age, one before Avengers #4 and one after. The first one is Fantastic Four #4 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Sol Brodsky), which is the re-introduction of Namor into the Marvel Universe. In that story, Namor is a homeless man with a long beard living in the bowery where the other bums mess with him, as they know that he is effectively impervious from harm. Johnny Storm had recently quit the Fantastic Four in a fit of pique and when he came across Namor, he recognized the Golden Age hero and used his flames to burn Namor's beard off. When that did not jog Namor's memory, Johnny did what any responsible superhero would do - he grabbed Namor, flew into the sky and then dumped him into the harbor. Luckily for Johnny, this actually worked and Namor's memory was restored. Or was it?

The next was in Tales of Suspense #75 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Dick Ayers and John Tartaglione), where we meet Captain America's World War II sweetheart, Peggy Carter. Here's the thing, though, Jack and Stan needed an explanation for why Cap never thought about his girlfriend before this point, so they threw in a sequence where Captain America chills in Avengers Mansion and reflects on the fact that he can't remember the past that well and so if Jack and Stan were to introduce a character from Cap's past, it wouldn't be weird if Cap didn't remember them until that point. That segues into Cap remembering Peggy, and having a flashback to their last meeting, where Cap believed that she had been killed (she's not actually named Peggy Carter in the issue, that doesn't come until we learn the name of her kid sister, Sharon Carter, which takes a while).

Neither of those comic books expressly said that that is why Captain America and Namor did not recognize each other, but that was the basis for another comic book series doing so. In 1986, Marvel debuted Marvel Saga, an ambitious re-telling of the Marvel Age of Comics by historian Peter Sanderson, using actual Marvel Comics to tell the story of the Marvel Universe in chronological order. Sanderson would edit the stories together into a cohesive narrative and he would then throw in little extra bits to make it all fit.

In Marvel Saga #12, we learn the story of how Captain America joined the Avengers and Sanderson shows Namor finding Cap in the ice and Sanderson specifically adds in the bit that Namor's then-recently restored memory was hazy enough that Namor no longer remembered Captain America...

After a tangent where Sanderson went back to give us the background of Captain America's World War II adventures, the writer shows us Captain America and Namor fighting and Sanderson uses the aforementioned memory problems to explain why Captain America and Namor could not recognize each other...

For the most part, Marvel Saga just followed the established stories of the Marvel Universe, but every so often, Sanderson would come up with something new to make it all seem more coherent and this was an example of that impulse.

Okay, folks, this sort of thing is something that happens all the time, so if you have any suggestions for future "The Book of Knowledge" features, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!