On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Billy Eichner's Namor tells his DC counterpart, "Fuck Aquaman"
Aux Features Clips
What with Jason Momoa’s Aquaman battling both a long line of “Aquaman is lame” jokes (with some success), and the critics (um, sort of), the concept of another big-budget, big screen underwater superhero franchise seems a no-brainer. At least that’s what Marvel’s Namor (a.k.a. The Sub-Mariner) thinks, as the king of non-DC Atlantis stopped by Thursday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! to voice his displeasure once more. Namor (who looked and sounded suspiciously similar to Billy Eichner in a molded nude bodysuit and spangly briefs), has previously interrupted Kimmel’s monologue to rant about being left out of The Avengers movies, and here resurfaced to talk some Atlantean smack about his DC Comics rip-off version (because Namor was here first, dammit). It did not go well.
For one thing, Kimmel dared call the mighty Sub-Mariner a “somewhat obscure Marvel character,” which enraged the king to no end. Kimmel compounded his insult by mistakenly calling his royal guest “Prince Nemo,” noting that he doesn’t have a cool Aquaman trident, has to talk to animals using the fabled Horn of Proteus, and has adorable little wings on his ankles. Okay, couple things: Namor uses a trident when he wants to; the Horn of Proteus was only used to summon legendary Atlantean scourge Giganto, as Namor can talk to regular undersea life (like his dolphin pal Gavin) just fine; and, okay, those little wings never quite worked with the whole “regal undersea monarch” vibe. (Plus, they didn’t get into it, but it’s sort of a problem, branding-wise, when no one can agree on how to pronounce “Sub-Mariner.”) Still, Eichner’s Namor wasn’t done with his late-night nemesis, as he stormed against Kimmel’s production values (“Hard to believe this show never won the Emmy”), Kimmel’s own pretensions to being king of late-night (“I think James Corden is cooler than you”), and even his time slot (“I love being the pre-show to Nightline”). Call this one a draw.
33 Comments
Didn’t Family Guy already do this joke?
Family Guy has done a joke about everything. I was watching it on adult swim the other day and they did a “Ice Man is gay” joke years before Marvel had him come out.
Stan Lee pronounced it Sub-MEHR-ih-nur. Debate over.
Just who is this Billy Eichner?Is he supposed to be funny?
It’s generally the plan. It doesn’t work out every time for him.
It doesn’t work out every time for him./fixed
His entire career thus far has been yelling at or around people that are both real and fictional.
“’Who is Billy Eichner?’ WHO IS BILLY EICHNER?! ‘Is he supposed to be funny?’ Don’t be ridiculous! OF COURSE HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY!” ~ Billy Eichner
I mean, if Marvel wanted to kick Aquaman’s arse they could just cast Dwayne Johnson as Namor and have him face off against T’Challa in a Black Panther sequel.
You need someone less likable than Johnson.Namor is a borderline villain most of the time. (and sometimes a full-on villain)
Maybe. But I guess I see Namor as someone who manages to remain charismatic despite kind of being a massive arsehole. And I feel like Johnson could carry off Namor’s supreme self-confidence very well (plus, if DC are trying to rebrand Aquaman with man-mountain Momoa, it makes sense to me that Marvel would counter with the biggest man-mountain in Hollywood).Having said that, I’d love to see someone like Sam Witwer in the role.
The perfect Namor is Jude Law, but that’s off the table now.
I’d say Hugo Weaving. He has that disdained look down perfectly
Roman Reigns?
Namor vs. Black Panther: Dawn of Illuminati
Isn’t Black Adam some kind of Shazamy Namor, nowadays?
If Johnson plays Black Adam as planned, it will be yet another DC character who has borrowed elements from Namor. Black Adam is about as old as the Submariner and has always borne a physical resemblance, but the anti-heroic personality BA shows in modern comics is a definite riff on Namor.
Honestly Namor is way more of a badass, and he definitely has a more distinct personality than Aquaman
Plus Namor is implied to be bisexual.
That page implies (or states, really) that Hercules is bisexual, that he had slept with Northstar. Namor just happens to be standing there. At least that’s how I read it.
I know Namor is cool now but 1970’s and 1980’s comic fan (me) always hated him and always will.He sucked in Spider-man and his amazing friends! 🙂
Namor can fly
They should do a Namor movie set in WWII where he just rips Nazi U-Boats in half for 80 minutes, and then never speak of him again.
Namor being 1st is true but Kimmel should have been like “Isn’t Thanos a rip off of Darkseid and Hawkeye a shitty Green Arrow who is a rip off of Robin Hood and you’re Captain Marvel isn’t even the 1st Captain Marvel? That would be Shazam? I mean you didn’t even think of having a Captain Marvel 1st!”
That would have been funny, but again that’s because I’m a NERD!!!!!!!!!!!
Captain Marvel is his name. Shazam is the name of the wizard that gives Billy Captain Marvel’s powers, right?
I only remember him driving around California in a Winnebago.
lol “Gavin”
Red Dead Redemption 2 owns that name for me now. Gavin! Gav! GAVIN!!!!
That poor guy. I ran into him in the post game and he’s gone pretty bonkers.
Now I will not be able to get Eichner’s voice out of my head when I’m reading a Namor comic. It works surprisingly well.I am bit bummed that DC made their aquatic superhero film first, because Namor is actually the cooler character (despite the skit). The fact is DC had to change Aquaman substantially to make him interesting — and more badass –both in the comics and film. In addition to Namor, contemporary Aquaman borrows traits from Wolverine and Lobo. But Namor, an arrogant anti-hero — often an outright villain — was always a great character.
It does suck that DC beat Marvel to the punch with Aquaman. DC finally decided Aquamans clean cut 1950’s white guy who just happens to live underwater look didn’t make any sense and was too tame. Their solution…turn Aquaman into Namor. Who since his inception has been the underwater barbarian king that Aquaman has been aping for the last 20 years plus pretty much. Also Namor’s a much better character.
Namor’s rights are apparently complicated in a manner fairly similar to those of Hulk solo movies, so it’s no surprise he’s been off the table the whole time.