Black Panther: Wakanda Forever gives Namor the Sub-Mariner two different pronunciations of his name, but for a very specific reason.
During an interview with Phase Zero, producer Nate Moore revealed it’s all to do with the character’s heritage. “There is certainly a way that a Spanish speaker, or even a Mayan speaker, would say Nämor, versus a way that an English speaker, or somebody who is a little more Western in slant, might say Nāmor,” he explained.
“We thought that was just interesting. I mean, it’s a reality that people face, and it felt more genuine than having everybody pronounce it correctly, to be quite honest.”
Namor makes his MCU debut in Wakanda Forever played by Mexican-born actor Tenoch Huerta. Instead of hailing from Atlantis like the comic books, however, the classic Marvel superhero will instead be the ruler of Talocan – an underwater city inspired by Aztec and Mayan culture. Given the actor’s heritage, this change makes a lot of sense, and so does the mispronunciation of his name.
“Nämor obviously was given that name by someone in the film,” said Moore. “So, it’s not even something that is from him.”
Essentially, it sounds as though “Nāmor” is the way it should be pronounced, with other characters instead mispronouncing it as “Nämor”. Still, if you want to know exactly how to pronounce Namor, you better take it from the man himself.
He made a pretty serious entrance in the recent Wakanda Forever trailer that doesn’t appear to go well for the film’s heroes. Often described as Marvel’s “first mutant” in the comic books, it’s fitting that Namor is likely one of the very first mutants to appear in the MCU.
We’ve also seen Patrick Stewart recently reprised his role as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while Ms. Marvel also teased the prospect of mutants.
Want to read more about Black Panther 2? Check out Huerta’s admission that he couldn’t swim before Wakanda Forever and find out why Namor is a villain in the upcoming sequel.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
