Namor McKenzie (Earth-9997)

Namor
Name	Namor McKenzie
Aliases	Namor the Cursed
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Formerly Defenders, Invaders
Relatives	Parents: Leonard McKenzie (father) Fen (mother) Spouses: Dorma (wife, deceased)
Marital Status	Widowed
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Black
Unusual Features	Burned left side of his body, pointed ears, gills, winged ankles
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Mutant human/Atlantean Hybrid
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-9997
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	Atlantis (Homo mermani)
Occupation	King of Atlantis, adventurer
Base of Operations	Mobile
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, John Paul Leon
First	Earth X #0 (January, 1999)
First	Earth X #0 (January, 1999)

 Foolish cow. I am the sea. 

—Namor McKenzie

History

Early History

Much of Namor's early history mirrors that of his Earth-616 counterpart. Born of a union between the human Leonard McKenzie and the Atlantean princess Fen, Namor was the first human on Earth to mutate due to natural and environmental factors. Namor would fight in World War II as a member of the Invaders. Following their victory, Namor spent decades wandering the streets of New York City as a homeless amnesiac, until he was recognized by the Human Torch, leading him to regain his memories.

Returning to Atlantis, only to find the city destroyed, Namor blamed the surface world and made common cause with various villains, chief among them Dr. Doom. Namor would eventually discover that his people were in fact alive, and found love in the arms of the Atlantean Lady Dorma, until she died. Namor would spend the coming years allying himself with heroes and villains of various stripes, usually betraying one to the other, making him trusted by no one.

Many of his encounters were with the Fantastic Four. While Namor often faced them as an enemy, he fell in love with Susan Storm before meeting Lady Dorma. While Susan was attracted to Namor, she ultimately chose Reed Richards over him.

Years later, a scientist by the name of Dr. Alexander discovered that Namor's mental instability was caused by his mixed heritage. As a half-human, half-Atlantean, Namor needed to divide his time between the surface world and the sea equally, or else face effects similar to dementia. He created an organization called Oracle Inc., funded with treasure littering the seafloor and attempted to live in peace with the surrounding world. His duplicitous past however led no one to trust him, leaving him lonely.

Mutation of Humanity

Namor is cursed to burn when leaving the ocean

Years later, the release of the Terrigen Mists into Earth's atmosphere not only mutated the entire human race but created a series of political and economic upheavals that left the world in a state of chaos. Among these problems was a global food shortage due to overconsumption of meat. In order to feed their populations, the nations of the world began to rely more heavily upon sea life as a source of sustenance. This soon earned the anger of Namor, which was further amplified when the United Nations refused to allow Atlantis to attend a U.N. meeting intended to solve the food shortage.

Deciding to capitalize on the situation, Dr. Doom manipulated Namor for his own ends, goading him into attacking the United Nations with him. During the slaughter of U.N. delegates, the duo were interrupted by the arrival of the Fantastic Four and Captain America. While Captain America tried to talk Namor into reaching a peaceful solution, the Human Torch attacked Namor head on, prompting Namor to break his neck and kill him. Horrified by seeing his uncle murdered right before his eyes, Franklin Richards would use his powers to curse Namor to forever burn whenever he was above water. With half his body lit aflame, Namor fled to the ocean. Minutes after his escape, Susan Storm was killed in an explosion that also claimed Doom's life. Unable to visit the surface, Namor's mind deteriorated and he became an enemy to mankind once again, with none daring to go near the water, to fish or to pollute the oceans, in fear of incurring his wrath.

Rise of the Skull

Namor would resurface ten years later when the Skull began his campaign of seizing control of the United States. While harvesting massive quantities of fish to feed his army, the Skull provoked the ire of Namor who attacked the Skull's army. The fight was short lived however, as Namor soon became yet another slave to the Skull's vast telepathic powers and was forcibly made a member of his army. Now a soldier of the Skull, Namor would travel with him across America.

In service of the Skull

Marching his army to New York, where the Skull planned to seize control of the United States, Namor was made to fight his old friend Captain America and an army of super-heroes gathered from around the globe to stop the Skull. By this point Namor was severely weakened, as the Skull had not rationed him enough water, and he was easily defeated by Czar Colossus. With the Skull losing control of Namor as he was near death, Namor told Colossus that he welcomed his end, regretting the great evil he had done.

Colossus saved him however, believing Namor could still do good. He carried the prince to New York harbor and dropped his body into the water, revitalizing him. Following the death of the Skull, the Celestials arrived on Earth to scour it of all life. Namor rose from the sea at the head of an army of sea-creatures and fought the Celestials in defense of Earth, and as revenge for their sinking of Atlantis millennia ago. Namor's attack did not phase the Celestials, but bought much needed time for Galactus to arrive and defeat them. During Galactus and his heralds' battle against the Celestials, Namor saved the life of the Silver Surfer.

Rebirth of Mar-Vell

When the Kree hero Mar-Vell was reborn through the coupling of Adam Warlock and Her, Her was captured by the Tong of Creel. Mar-Vell who was reborn as a pure, unmutated human became a target of those who believed his coming would mean the end to their super-human powers. Reed Richards turned over the infant Mar-Vell to the one person he thought none would expect him to trust; Namor.

Namor took the baby Mar-Vell, along with his nanny Agatha Harkness, to Atlantis where he would protect the growing Mar-Vell for the next three years. When the Thing came to collect Mar-Vell it led to a brief battle between the two, as Thing found himself unable to control his pent-up rage over Namor murdering the Human Torch. The battle was ended when the Thing accidentally freed some of Namor's old foes, who damaged his diving suit, necessitating Namor to save Ben's life.

Namor and Ben escorted Mar-Vell to Castle Doom, which Reed Richards had made his home. Ashamed of his role in Susan Storm's death, Namor refused to enter the castle, despite knowing that Mar-Vell planned to bring her back to life.

Following the death of Captain America, Namor was present at his funeral. He would later join the group of heroes who aided Mar-Vell in his quest to collect items of power to create Paradise in the Realm of the Dead. He would be present when the group recovered Psycho Man's emotocaster from Hel Laboratories, the Reanimator stone from Egypt, the Ultimate Nullifier from the Moon, the Cosmic Cube from Wakanda, the High Evolutionary's Transmogriphication device from Wundagore Mountain, and Kyle Richmond's eyes. Along the way Namor would fight the army of Wendigos, Belasco and an army of Dire Wraiths and the Tong of Creel all before the Tong managed to revive the Absorbing Man and unleash him upon the world. Namor battled Absorbing Man as he began absorbing the entirety of New York. The heroes ultimately won this battle when Loki convinced Creel to save the Earth by turning into Vibranium and replace the amounts of the element that were destroyed when Galactus killed the Celestial embryo growing in Earth's core years earlier.

Namor is freed from his curse by Doctor Strange

Following the death of Death, and the creation of Paradise in the Realm of the Dead, Namor sought out the recently resurrected Stephen Strange and asked him to use his magic powers to reverse the curse that Franklin Richards placed on him all those years ago. Strange complied, using a spell that would counteract the flames. While he was free of his curse, Namor was dismayed to find that half his body was still horribly scarred. Strange comforted Namor, telling him that for a king such as he, scars can be a sort of crown in and of themselves, advising Namor to learn to wear them well.

Attributes

Powers

Prior to being cursed by Franklin Richards, Namor retained the same abilities as his Earth-616 counterpart.

In recent times, he has been cursed by Franklin Richards. The curse causes half his body to burst into flames whenever he is exposed to air. It is unknown if he has any sort of control over the flame in the same way that the Human Torch did, however this is doubtful. While the flames have permanently scarred Namor, they do not appear to cause him enough pain to incapacitate, nor do they do more than burn the scarred surface of his flesh.

This curse has since been counteracted by a magic spell cast by Dr. Strange.

See Also

• 28 appearance(s) of Namor McKenzie (Earth-9997)
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Namor McKenzie (Earth-9997)
• 3 mention(s) of Namor McKenzie (Earth-9997)
• 6 image(s) of Namor McKenzie (Earth-9997)
• 2 quotation(s) by or about Namor McKenzie (Earth-9997)