WARNING: The following contains spoilers for King in Black: Namor #1, by Kurt Busiek, Benjamin Dewey, Jonas Scharf, Triona Farrell, and VC's Joe Caramagna, on sale now.
As the Marvel Universe's King of Atlantis, Namor has built up his fair share of rivals and mortal enemies as he rules over Earth's seven seas. From heroes like the Fantastic Four and Black Panther to hardened supervillains like Doctor Doom and Tiger Shark, Namor's brash, arrogant tendencies have led him to battle many of Marvel's most iconic characters.
However, one enemy has loomed more ominously than the others as a direct challenge to the throne: Attuma. And as the crossover event "King in Black" is poised to plunge the Marvel Universe into eternal darkness, Namor recalls a fateful moment between Attuma's people and Atlantis.
Attuma came from a race of more barbaric Atlanteans that were exiled from the illustrious underwater kingdom for their violent ways and thrown to the depths of the oceans where they became even more monstrous and fearsome. They were toughened by the harsher conditions in the dark waters, not unlike Aquaman's villains, the Trench. Known as the Chasm People, these exiled people saw Attuma rise to become their leader, with the aspiring supervillain bigger, stronger, and faster than his fellow Chasm People. Attuma and Namor battled constantly for the throne of Atlantis, with Attuma even succeeding in seizing power on multiple occasions though he would always be deposed in short order.
In the present, Namor decides to the depths of the ocean and recalls when he first ventured to Orreki Reefs, a kingdom north of Atlantis. Decades ago, when Namor was still visibly a young man, he ventured to this splinter kingdom while it was still under good terms. There, Namor meets Attuma for the first time just in time to watch the Chasm People ward off an attack, awestruck by their formidable defenses. Rallying to fight alongside Attuma and Namor's future wife Dorma against forces seeking to sever the alliance between the two underwater kingdoms, the heroes are declared heroes and hailed as living examples of the enduring peace between Atlantis and the Chasm.
Of course, the ending of this underwater trifecta is already destined: The Chasm will be exiled and excommunicated from Atlantis, and Namor and Attuma's friendship will rupture completely. Namor and Dorma do indeed get married but the Atlantean bride will sacrifice her life to save her husband's life from the villainous Llyra. Recently, Namor has in a dark place, swearing a vendetta against the Avengers and forming a rival team of his own comprised of different underwater figures known as the Defenders of the Deep. Still in a foul mood in the lead-up to "King in Black", Namor would attack coastal cities in Asia, setting up his role in the latest crossover event.
Namor's King in Black miniseries reveals that things between Atlantis and the Chasm weren't always as dire and tense as they appeared. While it is currently unclear how exactly the fissure between Atlantis and the Chasm ties into the arrival of Knull, the dark god of symbiotes, Namor is clearly at the bottom of the ocean and in a spot of painful, repressed memories for the Atlantean regent. Having steadily fallen from grace for the past several years, Namor is now in a dark, introspective place. And in a place of happy memories borne from days gone by, Namor may find inspiration to face Knull head-on.