SUB-MARINER: Page 9 of 19

Publication Date: 21st Jun 2023
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: Dean Clayton.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - Page 9

As Namor and Alpha Flight sought after Marrina, they crossed paths with her Plodex mate, still alive after the confrontation in the Master's lair. Faced with the creature again, Marrina managed to resist the bio-chemical urge to mate and rejected the changes to her body imposed on her. With Marrina free from its influence, Namor and Alpha Flight struck back and finally managed to kill the creature. Namor and Marrina were reunited, and what's more they found many of Atlantis's citizens willing to join them. Although Namor no longer ruled Atlantis, many Atlanteans could not continue to serve under Attuma's iron fist. Together, these refugees founded a new undersea nation of Deluvia at the site of one of Namor's underwater retreats. With Alpha Flight in attendance and Lord Vashti presiding, Namor and Marrina were soon married as the king and queen of Deluvia. [Alpha Flight (1st series) #40]

Deluvia did not last long. In his absence, Namor's teammates in the Avengers were severely thrashed by a reformed Masters of Evil. Hercules, in particular, was beaten nearly to death by six super-strong opponents and lay in a comatose state. Circumstances conspired so that Zeus, King of the Olympian gods, came to blame the Avengers for Hercules' state, and kidnapped the Avengers to face torture in Tartarus. As part of their pact as brothers, Neptune aided Zeus' plan and attacked Deluvia with sea-quakes, forcing out the Sub-Mariner and taking him down into Tartarus to be punished alongside the Avengers. With the help of Prometheus, Namor rescued his fellow Avengers and, in time, they eventually managed to make Zeus see reason. When he returned to Earth, however, Namor found Marrina waiting for him at Avengers Hydrobase. She informed him that the people of Deluvia scattered in fear after he was taken by Father Neptune. Having seen their patron god turn against the prince, the Deluvians wanted nothing more to do with him or his newfound kingdom. Once again without a home, Namor and Marrina decided to remain with the Avengers full time on Hydrobase. [Avengers (1st series) #282-285]

The Sub-Mariner and Marrina made a life with each other among the Avengers. Namor reconnected with his attorneys and continued fighting the civil claims made against him for past invasions. He also soon learned that Marrina was no shrinking violet or royal lady, but a fellow adventurer who insisted on accompanying him on missions for the Avengers. Although surprised at first, Namor quickly adapted to Marrina's desire to fight alongside him and championed her involvement in Avengers business to the chairwoman Captain Marvel. Although never formally inducted into the team, Namor's bride was soon accepted as an honorary member of the Avengers. [Avengers (1st series) #286-290]

Unfortunately, their happiness was not destined to last. Marrina again succumbed to her Plodex urges, mutating into an enormous, mile-long Leviathan sea creature that began attacking ships in the Atlantic. She was, in fact, building a nest in which to spawn the eggs conceived through her strange Plodex biology. A distraught and torn Namor wanted to protect his wife from attacks by the US Navy and Avengers, but Marrina hardly needed his support in her feral state thanks to her armored hide and massive physical power. After the Leviathan attacked Atlantis directly, Namor realized where his duties lay and reconnected with the Avengers as they prepared to administer a recombinant DNA solution devised by Doctor Pym to potentially restore Marrina.

Finding the Leviathan in the Atlantic, the Avengers' hypodermic harpoon was temporarily effective, and Marrina reverted to her original state. Before she could regain her wits, however, her Plodex conditioning reasserted itself and she began morphing back into the Leviathan. Although she was in his arms at the time, Namor could not bring himself to kill Marrina before she regained her full monstrous power. Out of options, the Black Knight prepared to use his enchanted Ebony Blade in an attempt to kill Marrina before she did further harm, but the Sub-Mariner solemnly took up the duty himself. Namor stabbed the Leviathan to death with the mystical sword and, in a last horrific act, the creature's body shrank back into the form of Marrina as it died. A bereaved Namor left the Avengers without a backwards glance to go bury and mourn for his second lost wife. [Avengers (1st series) #291-293]

Marrina's children hatched in the aftermath of her death and sped away into the waters before their intentions were clear. Namor spent much of his free time in the months that followed searching the Atlantic for signs of the children. Namor could not be sure if the children Marrina conceived were his, or from her previous encounter with her Plodex mate. He considered it his duty to find Marrina's children and ensure they were raised like their mother, and did not succumb to their Plodex instincts. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #7] He also reconnected with the Avengers as Captain America reorganized the team into a loosely associated pool of heroes, allowing Namor more freedom in his comings and goings. He aided the team against the Lava Men and Blastaar, among other threats. [Avengers (1st series) #305-310]

When the Acts of Vengeance affair began, Namor was approached by the disguised prime mover Loki, who was unaware that the Sub-Mariner had sworn off his vengeance on the surface world. Namor was offered a seat at the table alongside major rogues such as Magneto and Doctor Doom, and one of Loki's inter-dimensional doorways was embedded in a coral reef for him to consider. Namor attempted to warn the Avengers of the situation, but arrived at Hydrobase to find the artificial island completely submerged, sunk in the Acts' first strike. He was intercepted and captured in the wreckage by Controller and Crossbones, who used a slave disc to make Namor attack Captain America. Cap damaged the disc, leaving Namor comatose for a time until Doctor Pym learned how to remove the disc and revived Namor. The Sub-Mariner reported his encounter with the mysterious individual, cluing the Avengers in to the larger scheme at work. By that time, however, Loki's dimensional doorway had vanished and Namor was unable to lead the Avengers back through it to confront the cabal. [Captain America (1st series) #365-367]

While searching for Marrina's children, Namor ran across an investigation Iron Man was running into the Maggia and Hydra. The pair in turn stumbled across an Atlantean invasion force moving through the Panama Canal. While Iron Man dealt with the Atlanteans, Namor pursued the Hydra section chief in his boat. The Hydra chief blew up the boat with himself and Namor on it, seemingly killing them both. Iron Man reported the apparent demise of the Sub-Mariner, and his death was publicly reported.

In fact, Namor allowed reports of his death to circulate so that he was free to investigate the Atlantean matter further. He discovered a deadly alliance forged in the interests of Set, and the Serpent Crown Namor once encountered. Ghaur, priest-lord of the air-breathing Lemurian Deviants, had joined forces with Namor's old foe, Llyra of the water-breathing Lemurians. Together, they added their forces to Attuma and his conquered Atlantis. Namor used a set of Atlantean armor to disguise his identity while disrupting the trio's plans around the globe. Tragedy struck when the Set worshippers Ghaur and Llyra betrayed Attuma, committing genocide back in Atlantis while Attuma was leading their armies against the surface world. This blood sacrifice was an element of their plan to recall Set to the Earthly plane.

Many of Earth's heroes gathered in Lemuria to prevent the rise of Set, and there Namor revealed himself to friend and foe alike. Set was destroyed, but his agents were still free. Namor sought revenge on Llyra for the death of so many of his loved ones, but she taunted him with the hypnotic powers granted her by the Crown. Llyra brought forth images of dead Dorma and Marrina, claiming she had the power to resurrect one of them with the Crown, but Namor would be forced to choose. The Sub-Mariner resisted her ploy and uncovered Namorita, who had actually been captured by the fiends. Ghaur and Llyra were ultimately undone by the spirit of lost Naga, whose essence rose up from within the Serpent Crown to claim it for himself. The villains canceled each other out in the struggle, and vanished without a trace.

As the Serpent Crown was disposed of once more, Namor asked the assembled heroes to maintain the public illusion of his death. With Atlantis destroyed and most of his people dead or scattered, Namor wished some time away to reflect on his future. He reunited with Namorita, and together they set off to forge a new path under the sea. [Atlantis Attacks crossover]

Months later, Namor's life took a dramatic turn after a chance encounter. After a considerable period of time underwater, he emerged from the seas in a confused and manic state. Namor attacked a small group of primitive islanders with little provocation, before collapsing in the presence of marine explorers Caleb and Carrie Alexander who had observed his rampage. As fate would have it, Caleb had a device on hand that helped restore Namor's fits and improve his mental faculties.

Caleb explained how he had been fascinated with Namor ever since the Sub-Mariner saved his life in Harlem as a young boy. His chosen career as a marine biologist was a direct result of his interest in Namor and Atlantis. Moreover, Caleb had devised a theory over the years about Namor's mood swings and erratic behavior in public. Caleb believed that, as a hybrid, Namor's body required a steady mix of oxygen from both air and water in order to function properly. Too much time in either environment could lead to oxygen saturation or starvation in his blood, and would account for Namor's mood swings. Caleb had been tinkering with his oxygen-blood regulator for decades when the Alexanders came across Namor, and sure enough the device had the anticipated stabilizing effect on the once-prince. Caleb also believed Namor could self-regulate by merely spending one hour out of every day in the opposite environment.

Namor spent several weeks with the Alexanders, experiencing a clarity to his thoughts that he hadn't had in years. In addition to his growing interest in Carrie Alexander, Namor came to believe his past efforts to conquer the surface world were misguided... or at least, not modern enough. Recognizing that surface dwellers understood the language of money above all else, Namor used his knowledge of sunken ships and treasure to quickly amass nearly a billion dollars in disposable cash. With the Alexanders acting as his intermediaries, Namor purchased the floundering Parallel Conglomerate with the intent of building a business empire, focused on ecological and environmental concerns in order to save the surface people from themselves. Parallel was renamed in honor of the icebreaker on which his parents first met, and so Oracle Incorporated was born. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #1]

The revitalization of the old Parallel drew attention from Phoebe and Desmond Marrs, sibling business tycoons who had been responsible for torpedoing Parallel in the first place. Desmond wanted to lure out the mystery figure behind Oracle, and hired the animalistic Griffin to stir things up. Griffin attacked the Oracle Building, kidnapping Carrie and causing Caleb to suffer a heart attack. Namorita, who had joined Namor at Oracle, alerted him to the trouble. Namor tracked Griffin to the Statue of Liberty and rescued Carrie. Believing Griffin to be working on behalf of his old bosses, RoXXon Oil, Namor impetuously raided their board room to confront his "attackers," revealing his survival to the public and informing the Marrs twins of his role in Oracle. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #2-3] Although his connection to Oracle wasn't public knowledge at first, that changed as well when Namor revealed himself at the unveiling of Oracle Oil's submarine super tanker. Namor found himself set for a court date to deal with the charges he ignored after ending his Avengers membership months ago. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #4-5]

Namor's legal affairs and his affairs of the heart became equally convoluted. Namor had declared his attentions towards Carrie Alexander not long after they met, but she was unwilling to return his affection due to the dangers often involved in his life. Her father's heart attack against the Griffin only reinforced her feelings. This left the door open for Phoebe Marrs, whose brother pushed her into pursuing Namor. (Literally pushed. Like, off a roof.) Namor was drawn to Phoebe's beauty, as well as being impressed with the icy nature of her business demeanor. With Carrie unwilling, Namor began spending time with Phoebe, unaware that Desmond intended to use their relationship to destroy Namor and Oracle, mostly for his own amusement. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #2-6]

Caleb and Carrie went on a cruise vacation to rest his damaged heart. When Namorita swam out to meet their returning ship, however, she and the Alexanders were consumed by the entity known as Sluj. Namor naturally got involved, and found the creature to be a shambling mass of raw sewage, somehow feeding off of the crew and passengers cocooned inside it. He was contacted by the scientists who created the original artificial protoform that grew into Sluj after sabotage, and was given an anti-mutagen agent to release inside the creature to stop it. Namor had to reach the center of the creature for maximum effect, however, and was engulfed in the anti-mutagen effect himself. Although Sluj was destroyed, Namor's own exterior mutation, his ankle wings, were also destroyed by the anti-mutagen, robbing him of his gift of flight. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #6-7]

Namor was contacted by Phoebe about a threat to her brother. The Marrs twins had contracted the services of a Wall Street troubleshooter named Headhunter years earlier, and the woman had returned to collect her payment... Desmond's head. By the time Namor got involved, it appeared as if Headhunter had already killed Desmond and mounted his stuffed head on her wall. The truth, however, was far more complicated. When Headhunter's hypnotic powers failed on Namor, he uncovered her ruse. The "mounted heads" were still connected to their bodies on the other side of her wall, fed intravenously and held motionless by her hypnotic control. Headhunter had a flair for the dramatic, and also used her "heads" for their business knowledge as advisors in her own dealings. Phoebe had intended to trade Namor for the return of her brother, a betrayal the Sub-Mariner could not tolerate. Ironically, Desmond caught on and ad-libbed a conversation with Phoebe in front of Namor where he claimed no knowledge of her plan and intended to honorably uphold his deal with Headhunter. Namor walked away from the ordeal disdainful of Phoebe, who truly loved both men, and believing Desmond a gracious friend, when the man still plotted his downfall. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #8-9]

Namor next found himself in Germany, fighting alongside his surviving fellow Invaders against the recently revived Nazi super-agents, Master Man and Warrior Woman. In the aftermath, the original android Human Torch used a blood transfusion to save the life of Lady Jacqueline Crichton, Spitfire, inexplicably returning her to the same age she was when his first transfusion gave her the power of speed in 1942. Losing his own flame power in the transfusion, "Jim Hammond" agreed to accept an offer from Namor to act as head of security for Oracle. Jackie, meanwhile, found a new friend in Namorita to help her adjust to her newfound youth, and soon took an active role in Oracle business as well. [Namor, the Sub-Mariner #10-12]