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On Mar. 26, 2025, Marvel Studios decided to announce the cast for Avengers: Doomsday in the most frustrating way: a live stream unveiling a series of chairs with the actors’ names on them at a rate of every 15 to 20 minutes. It was equally exciting but also baffling. With each new name reveal, however, a greater piece of the MCU’s future comes into play. The second name revealed was Vannesa Kirby, who is set to play Sue Storm, a.k.a. The Invisible Woman, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Yet one name that likely shocked many was the announcement of Tenoch Huerta Mejía, returning as Namor.
Namor was introduced into the MCU in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but since then, there has been no news about the character’s plans, partially due to Marvel Studios not having the solo film rights for the character. Yet the news that Namor and Invisible Woman will be in the same film together is bound to get comic book fans’ hearts racing. Even though Sue Storm is married to Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, the duo and Namor are involved in one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic and complicated love triangles.
Avengers: Doomsday might be Marvel’s biggest film to date, but the addition of Namor and The Invisible Woman, along with the expected return of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, could make the upcoming film Marvel’s steamiest yet.
The Reed Richards/Sue Storm/Namor Love Triangle in the Comics, Explained
The connection between The Fantastic Four and Namor is a true link in Marvel Comics history. Writer-artist Bill Everett created Namor, who first appeared publicly in Marvel Comics #1 in October 1939, the debut comic of Timely Comics, which would later change its name to Marvel Comics in the 1960s with the creation of The Fantastic Four in honor of that original comic title. Namor is one of the company’s first superheroes, and The Fantastic Four began the modern Marvel age. Namor made his return to comics in The Fantastic Four #4 in May 1962. Ever since his reintroduction to the Marvel Comics universe, Namor has had a powerful attraction to Sue Storm and has recently pursued her. Even when a foe to The Fantastic Four and coming into conflict with the team, he always held a soft spot for Sue Storm.
Sue’s feelings for Namor are complicated, to say the least. She doesn’t deny an attraction to him and, at times, feels drawn to Namor when her husband, Reed Richards, feels too prioritized in his work and research over her. Yet, despite these struggles, the two have remained a loyal couple, and Sue Storm has never left her husband, Reed Richards, in the main universe for him. She remained loyal even during the Civil War when the two were separated. Namor did comment that when Sue came to Atlantis to try to convince him to join Captain America’s side, they had a special relationship.
Sue: “What are you talking about? We don’t have a relationship.”
Namor: “I can feel your heartbeat through the water, Mrs. Richards…and it tells a very different story from the lies upon your lips.”
Even though Reed Richards is sometimes lost in his work, his love for his family, notably Susan Storm, is never questioned. Reed clearly holds Namor’s status as the ruler of an undersea kingdom in high regard and has worked with him many times. However, he also does not trust Namor’s intentions with his wife and has often expressed his frustrations.
In Marvel Knights 4 #8 from July 2004, Namor comes to the surface and attempts to woo Sue Storm to join him in Atlantis and leave her husband following the couple’s financial troubles. Sue Storm comments on her previous attraction to Namor as nothing more than, “I was a girl with a fondness for Jane Austen novels, and you were and still are royalty! But that was ages ago! Everything changed now.”
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Despite Namor’s pleas about how he has spent years pining for her, Sue rejects his advances. Reed Richards finds the pair having this meeting in a museum. Reed trusts Sue that there are no ill intentions on her part, but he lets his male ego get the better of him. Even with all his intellect, Reed Richards can still fall victim to base urges like jealousy. He insults Namor and compares him to a parasitic fish before getting into a fight that goes into the following issue. Reed finally shows his frustration with Namor, who constantly seeks Sue Storm.
Sue assists her husband, showing that she and Reed are a team and, despite some lingering attraction to Namor, she doesn’t love him, and Mr. Fantastic will always be her number one choice. This certainly was not the end of the Reed Richards/Sue Storm/Namor love triangle, though, as over the years, Marvel Comics has played on the push and pull between Sue’s love for Reed and some lingering feelings for Namor.
Notably, though, things play out differently for Namor and Sue in other continuities. In the non-canon mini-series Fantastic Four 1 2 3 4, Sue kisses Namor during a rough patch with her husband, though the two don’t go any further. In Fantastic Four: Life Story #2, which imagines The Fantastic Four gaining their powers in the 1960s like in the comics and aging in real-time, during the 1970s, Sue left Reed Richards for about a decade to be with Namor following her frustration with her husband for being so focused on work.
Will the MCU Adapt This Romance in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’?
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is confirmed to take place in another reality apart from the main MCU sacred timeline. Many expect their MCU film to end with their reality being destroyed and the team finding themselves refugees in the MCU reality, while others expect the end of Avengers: Secret Wars to conclude with the various realities merging together to make one streamlined Marvel timeline where The Fantastic Four were always present. That would’ve been the perfect time for Namor to meet The Fantastic Four, but it is now happening sooner than anticipated.
Yet, the reveal that The Fantastic Four and Namor will be in Avengers: Doomsday raises some interesting questions, particularly if the MCU will adapt Marvel Comics’ first love triangle. Despite being called Avengers: Doomsday, the movie very much feels like a Fantastic Four movie as not only are the four heroes present alongside Namor, but the main villain is their central antagonist, Doctor Doom.
Doctor Doom and Namor crossed paths as early as Fantastic Four #6 in September 1962. Notably, the underwater ruler turned down an alliance with Doctor Doom due to not wanting to harm Sue Storm. While the MCU’s Namor has not met Sue Storm, it is easy to see how the Russo brothers could make Sue Storm a voice of reason that convinces Namor to join the heroes in a battle against Doom, setting the stage for their eventual romance.
The biggest factor that might impact the MCU’s adaptation of Namor’s attraction to Sue Storm is how the MCU has characterized him. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever firmly established Namor as having strong anti-colonist sentiments, so it feels highly unlikely he would fall in love with a woman like Sue Storm, particularly one with blonde hair and blue eyes. There might be some problematic optics of having Namor, played by a Mexican actor, becoming so smitten by the sight of a white woman like Sue Storm. If the MCU does choose to go down this route, it will undoubtedly take a bit of reworking, but it is possible.
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It certainly seems like a movie as massive as Avengers: Doomsday (whose cast is still being announced at the time of writing) could include something like Namor’s attraction to Sue Storm. However, Marvel Studios could be planting the seeds for a long-term story that could play out across multiple films. Avengers: Doomsday has been teased as a new beginning for the MCU, and maybe the threat Namor could pose to the marriage between Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman could provide a new sense of drama to expand upon in Fantastic Four sequels.
The Twilight Saga drew huge box office numbers and passionate fan responses by having audiences choose between Team Edward or Team Jacob. MCU Mr. Fantastic actor Pedro Pascal has even found himself in another much-talked-about love triangle, with Celine Song’s Materialist already having movie fans debate whether Dakota Johnson’s character should end up with Pascal or Chris Evans’s characters. That type of long-term engagement from fans is what the MCU needs right now and could restore a sense of romantic tension and drama that the franchise is sorely missing.
Before Peter Parker had to choose between Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, the love triangle between Sue Storm, her husband, Reed Richards, and the underwater king Namor was the first. Now, with Avengers: Doomsday, it feels like it may finally be making its way to the big screen. Avengers: Doomsday is set for release on May 1, 2026.
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