Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler has revealed that immense care was taken to differentiate Namor from DC's Aquaman.
In an interview with Uproxx, Coogler explained how he and the crew went to great lengths to ensure that villain/anti-hero Namor (Tenoch Huerta) was distinguishable from the Distinguished Competition's resident underwater superhero, Arthur Curry. He said that having Aquaman be such a well-known hero actually helped shape Namor's character for the film, allowing them to highlight the things that made Marvel's first mutant unique, such as the wings on his ankles.
"I do think that having Aquaman out in the world, in film language, and being successful in the marketplace, I think it was a great bit of indirect guidance for us to lean into the things that made Namor different from Aquaman," Coogler explained. "Just out of respect to the audience because a lot of people saw that movie. A lot of people love that movie. It was our task to, obviously, put our heads down and blinders on and make our movie, but also have a sense of awareness of what the marketplace might want to respond to, and might be interested in."
Coogler then went on to say how important it is to provide audiences with something fresh and different. "I think giving people something different, if you can give somebody something good, that's also unique, I think it's always better," he said. "We wanted to lean into the things that make those two characters different from each other because they have a lot of other similarities in publishing."
'My Enemies Call Me Namor'
The director concluded by highlighting the various characteristics from the comics the crew decided to play up in order to make Namor an iconic character in his own right, rather that simply Marvel's Aquaman. "For us, it was like, 'Yo, you got to wear the green trunks. He's got to have his winged ankles. He's got to be relatively arrogant. He has to be long-lived. He's got to be a child of two worlds, not really fitting into either one. He has to be very confident and very dangerous,'" Coogler said. "In the comics, Namor can always back up what he's saying."
Serving as the last film of Phase Four of the MCU, Wakanda Forever follows Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), M'Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje as they fight to protect the kingdom of Wakanda in the wake of the death of King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman). With the land put in peril when an ancient underwater threat risks everything the Wakandans have worked for, a new hero must ascend the mantle of Black Panther before it's too late.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently in theaters.
Source: Uproxx