Black Panther 2’s Namor Physique Slammed By Veteran Marvel Artist

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• New Statement from Deodato

Veteran Marvel artist Mike Deodato Jr. criticizes Namor's physique in the upcoming film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Wakanda Forever will be the second Black Panther movie and is set to be released on November 11, 2022. The sequel was initially going to star Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, just as the first Black Panther film did, but Boseman's tragic passing in 2020 caused plans for the film to change. Though there were rumors, Marvel ultimately decided not to re-cast the role of T'Challa, and instead killed the character off. Wakanda Forever follows the leaders of Wakanda as they cope with T'Challa's death, and fight to protect their nation from invading forces.

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A trailer for Wakanda Forever released last month gave Marvel fans their first look at one of the film's antagonists, Namor the Sub-Mariner, portrayed by Tenoch Huerta. Namor is commonly referred to as Marvel's first mutant in the comics, and while the trailer shows a Namor that is very different from the character's iteration in the comics, many fans are speculating he will still be a mutant in the film. Half-human and half-Atlantean, Namor's appearance in Wakanda Forever could mean that the MCU is beginning to explore Marvel's mutant characters – however, it isn't his mutant abilities that some are focused on.

Related: Everything We Know About Namor & Atlantis In The MCU

In a since-deleted Instagram post (via The Direct), longtime Marvel artist Deodato criticized Huerta's physical appearance in the Wakanda Forever trailer. The artist posted a side-by-side image of Huerta's back in the Wakanda Forever trailer and a picture of his own nude body from the back. Deodato accompanies the images with the caption, "You can tell somebody screwed things up when a character from a movie looks in worse shape than the 60 years old artist who drew him." See a screenshot of Deodato's post below:

Deodato has worked on hundreds of Marvel comics and drew Namor throughout various issues for several years. In the comics, Namor is depicted as an athletic, sculpted man, with extremely defined muscles – and Deodato seems to think he more closely resembles the comic Namor than Huerta does. He captions the Instagram post with "Pencil lifting beats swimming anytime!," implying that he is much more muscular and athletic than Huerta.

While the unrealistic depiction of women in comics has been a long-standing issue, the same can certainly be said of male comic characters as well. Athleticism and strength doesn't look the same on every body, and it rarely looks like a perfectly defined six-pack, as Namor has in the comics. Though Deodato seems to have some negative opinions on the film's Namor, Marvel fans are focusing less on appearance accuracy, and more on what Namor could bring to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.