Namor's rivalries with other strongmen such as The Thing from the Fantastic Four and with the incredible Hulk are more celebrated, but in reading his adventures across the Marvel universe, I've come to enjoy his interactions with Hercules as well.
The Olympian demigod and the Avenging Son met up in the latter's own series in the early 70s. It would have been among their first encounters (they met earlier in an Avengers book, Hercules even makes mention of it in this issue) so we're going to check out how that went.
Namor had spent the previous couple of issues on land and he's on his way home, however...
See that staff he's holding? The Huntsman has been tasked by Zeus to bring Hercules home as Zeus feels Earth is no place for one of Hercules' stature.
Huntsman uses the staff to call sirens to enchant Namor to do the Huntsman's bidding.
The Huntsman knows his control over Namor has broken so he uses his magic staff to call upon three huge monsters to destroy the two heroes. Namor and Hercules waste no time mounting an offensive.
Huntsman uses the staff to call sirens to enchant Namor to do the Huntsman's bidding.
It takes very little time for Namor to reach the island and therefore Hercules. And of course it also takes little time for them to come to blows because as Herc ponders whether he can ever have some "me" time, we go all FKOOM and BTOK...
Their titanic clash causes a huge boulder to crash down towards the town. Namor is able to fly down towards it and destroy it and in doing so, clear his head of the mind-control spell cast by the sirens.
The Huntsman knows his control over Namor has broken so he uses his magic staff to call upon three huge monsters to destroy the two heroes. Namor and Hercules waste no time mounting an offensive.
That's interesting. I wonder if this inspired the "Fastball Special" that Colossus and Wolverine of the X-Men used to do?
Anyway, they battle the monsters for a while but Huntsman strikes Hercules down.
Namor seeks to help his fellow warrior and achieves greater success than he'd anticipated. One of the monsters is made of stone. Namor chucks one of its fragments at Huntsman, separating him from the staff.
Anyway, they battle the monsters for a while but Huntsman strikes Hercules down.
Namor seeks to help his fellow warrior and achieves greater success than he'd anticipated. One of the monsters is made of stone. Namor chucks one of its fragments at Huntsman, separating him from the staff.
Separating Huntsman from the staff causes the massive creatures to disappear. Hercules is preparing to beat Huntsman senseless when his dad pops in.
So Hercules goes home, Namor busts up Zeus' staff and heads back to the sea and we conclude our little one-and done!
It was a little hard to perceive that goofy-looking Huntsman as a credible threat, even with that magical staff, and I wish more panel-time had been devoted to the scrap between Namor and Hercules. When Namor goes to encounter Hercules, he passes Atlantis in what is a largely pointless scene. That page space could have been better used to expand the battle the two heroes but aside from those two minor criticisms, that was an entertaining read.
Namor impressed Zeus. Not bad at all. There's a reason Namor is so arrogant. As the man said, it ain't braggin' if you back it up!
So Hercules goes home, Namor busts up Zeus' staff and heads back to the sea and we conclude our little one-and done!
It was a little hard to perceive that goofy-looking Huntsman as a credible threat, even with that magical staff, and I wish more panel-time had been devoted to the scrap between Namor and Hercules. When Namor goes to encounter Hercules, he passes Atlantis in what is a largely pointless scene. That page space could have been better used to expand the battle the two heroes but aside from those two minor criticisms, that was an entertaining read.
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