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The Religious Affiliation of Comic Book Character
Namor
the Sub-Mariner
of the Invaders, the Defenders and the Avengers


Namor, the Sub-Mariner has at times been an opponent of Earth's super-heroes, but this has mostly been as a result of misunderstandings. Namor is an unusually noble man who is, at heart, a hero and a champion both for this the people of Atlantis and the people of Earth generally. Namor has been a member of the superhero teams the Invaders, the All-Winners Squad, the Defenders and the Avengers. He has also been an ally and friend to the Fantastic Four.

Namor is half-Atlantean, half-human by birth. Atlanteans are a water-dwelling race native to the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. Like most Atlanteans, Namor worships the ocean god Poseidon, also known as Neptune. Poseidon is a member of the pantheon from Greco-Roman classical religion. His worshippers are technically Greco-Roman classical religionists, although their worship tends to be dedicated to him with little focus on his fellow Greco-Roman deities.

Namor's biracial heritage is unusual, as was his upbringing. It is not clear to what extent Namor is an orthodox Atlantean worshipper of Poseidon.

Discussion

From: "Any Christian Superheroes?" thread began 22 April 2004 on rec.arts.comics.dc.universe newsgroup (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.comics.dc.universe/browse_thread/thread/4e5839f075fecf76/394c4ad930a0e68c; viewed 20 June 2006):
From: Gustavo Wombat
Date: Thurs, Apr 22 2004 12:03 pm

I can't think of any major superheroes that strongly believe in any real faith, and that surprises me. Certainly not in the DC Universe. I think there are more minority superheroes than religious ones...

From: AJSolis
Date: Fri, Apr 23 2004 2:12 am

Don't the Atlanteans still venerate the Greek gods in DC? I've gotten that impression anyway. (Aquaman didn't seem to have any problem interacting with the Greek gods). Namor of the Marvel Atlantis seems to venerate the Greek gods anyway...

From: "Religious Characters In Marvel" forum discussion started 15 September 2006 on "Comic Book Resources" website (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/archive/index.php/t-143850.html; viewed 25 May 2007):

Nogs
09-15-2006, 09:01 PM

The other day I was thinking about religion and comic books... What I'm interested in is the way religious characters are portrayed in comic books...

I think the first step is listing what characters are what religion...

LordEd1976
09-15-2006, 09:55 PM

...I believe the Atlanteans still worship Neptune

I think I remember an old New Mutants story that featured a group of people that still worshiped Hercules...


Webpage created 11 January 2006. Last modified 25 May 2007.
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