As the Marvel Universe crowns a new Phoenix, one mutant leader stands disgraced and without a team of his own to command.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Avengers #44, by Jason Aaron, Javier Garrón, David Curiel and VC’s Cory Petit, on sale now.
The Phoenix Force’s recent return to Earth has shaken up the Marvel Universe, causing division between the world’s biggest superhero teams as candidates to become the cosmic entity’s new host duke it out in trials by combat to see who is truly worthy among them to wield its fiery potential. As the new Phoenix is officially crowned in Avengers #44, the superhero Echo ascends to claim her cosmic destiny, having ousted one iconic mutant anti-hero from his own position of power on her way to the top: Namor, the Sub-Mariner.
Namor has harbored a grudge against the Avengers for some time, fed up with how the surface world has treated the oceans and his people in Atlantis. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Namor formed his own rival team known as the Defenders of the Deep, with many of the undersea figures possessing their own antagonistic history with the superhero community. The Defenders of the Deep came to blows with the Avengers, though this confrontation ultimately resulted in a stalemate. And as the aquatic characters returned to the oceanic depths to lick their wounds and plan their next course of action, Namor saw an opportunity to become one of the most powerful forces in the universe by reclaiming the Phoenix Force.
Namor was previously bonded to the Phoenix Force during the 2012 crossover event Avengers vs. X-Men, using his power boost to launch a devastating attack on Wakanda when he grew frustrated by Black Panther’s interference with the Phoenix Five’s agenda. Obtaining a fraction of the Phoenix Force to become a possible candidate to bond with the entity’s full power, Namor went on a rampage and seemingly defeated Echo, leaving her at the bottom of the ocean, as he obsessively continued his quest to gain the Phoenix Force. Fortunately, Echo wasn’t truly defeated at all, rising from the watery depths for an epic rematch, laying out Namor with a single punch in the middle of Moscow’s Red Square before claiming his portion of the Phoenix Force to ascend.
As the Avengers contend with the rise of a new Phoenix on Earth, bonded to a familiar hero, Namor is left humiliated and bloodied from the whole ordeal. And not just unworthy of wielding the Phoenix Force, the other members of the Defenders of the Deep are visibly disgusted by his epic failure and leave him alone on the surface as they return to their watery home, with the future of the team uncertain. Cocky as ever, Namor came into the contest of champions for the Phoenix Force thinking he was the natural choice to become the new host and everyone else was unworthy. By the end, Namor was left beaten and embarrassed by the effort, forced to recognize the true Phoenix.
If there’s one thing about Namor, it’s that the Sub-Mariner has been known to hold a grudge, and he’s unlikely to forget the humiliation that Echo and the Phoenix Force just doled out.
Namor was already progressing down a more antagonistic path in relation to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with his Defenders of the Deep and now, disgraced before his team and left without the upgrade he had obsessed over, this defeat could be the one last push to tilt the Sub-Mariner into full-on villainy.
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