As the battle lines are drawn against the Winter Guard and Atlantis hangs in the balance, a longtime Marvel king has lost their claim to the throne.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers #49, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
As tumultuous as the Marvel Universe has been lately, few superheroes and antiheroes have had it quite as rough as Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Particularly driven to lead Atlantis to take a stand against the surface world, Namor’s plans to expand his reach beyond the throne of Atlantis have frequently backfired lately with disastrous consequences for himself and his kingdom. And after this string of high profile failures, Namor faces the very real possibility of being deposed by his own people.
This vote of no confidence from the Atlanteans towards their king is certainly not an overnight development and, despite Namor’s protests, has been a long time coming. Incensed that the surface world continued to devastate his kingdom, the Sub-Mariner created his own superhero team to rival the Avengers that he dubbed the Defenders of the Deep, all populated by aquatic figures throughout the Marvel Universe. After the Defenders found themselves no match for the current Avengers line-up, Namor decided to reclaim the cosmic power he once possessed by striving to become a host for the Phoenix Force when the fiery entity returned to Earth. Despite putting up quite the fight, Namor was ousted by the true host and new Phoenix, Echo. Now, in Avengers #49 (by Jason Aaron, Javier Garron, Flaviano, David Curiel and VC’s Cory Petit), the last straw is finally snapped in the eyes of the Atlantean people.
The Russians had unveiled their own answer to the Avengers with the Winter Guard, striking Avengers Mountain and kidnapping She-Hulk. Subjecting her to the horrors of the Red Room, the Winter Guard transformed Jennifer Walters into the fearsome Winter Hulk, an even more powerful and violent gamma-irradiated goliath. As the Winter Hulk got her revenge on Gorilla-Man, who initially betrayed her to the Winter Guard, she was accused of trespassing in Atlantean territory. Instead of leaving or surrendering, the Winter Hulk massacred the armies sent to stop her and headed straight for Atlantis and, back in the underwater capital, this proves to be too much for the Atlanteans to handle.
Atlantis votes en masse for Namor to step down from the throne, a move that Namor sees as a betrayal and treason worthy of execution. However, with all of Atlantis standing in protest of his rule and the Winter Hulk bearing down closer on the underwater city while the Russian government sends its own operatives to eradicate the sea-dwellers completely, Namor has little ground to stand on to make the case for his continued claim to the throne. And as the Winter Guard initiates their genocidal plan, Atlantis is more than divided than ever when it should be standing together as one.
Namor has been ousted from his claim to the throne of Atlantis on more than one occasion since embracing his royal birthright decades ago. One of Namor’s more persistent challengers for rule of Atlantis is the supervillain Attuma but now the move to remove the Sub-Mariner from his position of power comes from within his own kingdom, with his people finally having had enough of their petulant regent.
Given his recent track record, this challenge is definitely well-founded, as Namor stands on the edge of being a king without a kingdom.
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