The idea behind Ultimate Marvel was to reimagine the classic characters of the Marvel Universe for a modern audience. While certain details about the characters' lives were changed in this reimagined Marvel Universe, the classic traits of some characters, like Namor, still shined through.
While his origins in the Ultimate Universe still tied him to Atlantis, but this Namor was not the king of the deep that he is in the regular Marvel Universe. The Namor from the main Marvel Universe is the King of Atlantis, he was born in 1915 to a human sea captain and the princess of Atlantis. As a result of his lineage, Namor became heir to the throne. Yet in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four's adventures unleashed something far more dangerous than the King of the Seas upon the world in Ultimate Fantastic Four #24, by Mark Millar and Greg Land.
Mary Storm, the mother of Susan and Johnny Storm, had spent 15 years as part of a team searching for Atlantis' location. They managed to locate what they believed were the ruins of the ancient civilization, but they also discovered a lone sign of life. Unable to reach that far down into the deep, Mary instead contacted her children, who by then had become the Fantastic Four. Requesting their assistance, the team delved beneath the waves to locate this mysterious figure.
They found a sarcophagus and opened it, awakening Namor. In a fury, he attacked the Four, but they quickly knocked him out. Using that as a reprieve, they began translating Atlantean inscriptions to find out more about Namor. It described him as the last king of Atlantis from ancient times, far older than his Marvel Unvierse counterpart.
Namor awoke once again and revealed that he was far more powerful than the Four anticipated but did not wish to pick a fight, having become enamored with Susan, much like his main counterpart. He spent a moment alone with her to explain Atlantis' history, boasting of its superiority to the surface world. But while he bragged, the remaining Four deciphered the final translation to discover that Namor was no king at all. In fact, he was the worst super-criminal in Atlantis' history, sealed away in the sarcophagus for the safety of everyone.
With his lie now uncovered, Namor fled to the surface, holding all of New York hostage with a massive tsunami. The Fantastic Four tried their best, but Namor outclassed them in every conceivable way. The only thing that made him go away was to get a kiss from Susan as recognition for his victory. Amazingly that did the trick, Susan kissed him and he went away. But that was not the last of Namor in this universe.
When Magneto unleashed the Ultimatum Wave, a doomsday weapon that caused a massive tidal wave to hit Manhattan, Reed Richards assumed Namor was responsible. The Sub-Mariner denied it, claiming that he would never do anything that might endanger Susan. Reed took him captive anyway, unable to trust someone so dangerous and unpredictable. Namor later wound up being a prisoner of Doctor Doom and watched as the Thing killed him. What became of him following this is unknown.
While Ultimate Namor retained several of his defining traits. His power, his personality, even his attraction to Susan Storm. But as a whole, Namor came off far more inherently villainous than ever, being a criminal instead of a king. While the crown of Atlantis has frequently weighed on Namor, this version of the characters suggests that the responsibility of ruling did more to forge Namor's character than at first glance.
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