The Avengers (1963) #264, "Sting and Sorrows"

Since we've fallen off our usual pace of late, I'll quickly add another (very) brief appearance by Namor in an Avengers book.

The Marvel Universe was in the midst of its massively shitty Secret Wars 2 story which affected most of its titles. The book feels like a filler issue to bridge us over to the inevitable crossover. Most of it is pointless.

Namor's appearance amount to little more than a page in which his self-doubt is reiterated.

This leads to a cameo by Susan Richards for the Fantastic Four. Namor, as usual, crushes on her, but Franklin shows up to spoil the mood.

Oh, you will!

Namor's confidence issues in this book are actually kind of a refreshing contrast to his bluster in other books. He's been on other teams before so in a way it's out of place but he was often the most powerful and/or a founding member. As a newcomer on a team with Hercules perhaps it's not so strange after all.

The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985) #6, "No Strings Attached"

I want to finish out the Avengers team-up theme I'd started on. I've looked at books in which Namor showed up Captain America, Iron Man and Thor books but before going back to one of the team titles, we're going to have a quick look at a less obvious option.

It should comes as no surprise that Namor's presence in this book is quite limited. He had only recently become a member of the Avengers and he has little relationship with the Scarlet Witch and even less with the Vision. He basically just fills out the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The bulk of the story revolves around Magneto showing up at the party and the tension that this creates since just about everyone in that room has cause to loathe him. There are a few amusing moments though and an Invaders reunion of sorts.

Here, Namor shows his ability to explain things the other characters already know.

As people start to make their way out Namor, player that he is, throws down some charm.

That's a reference to her pregnancy at the time, which I admit I'd completely forgotten about.

That's pretty well the extent of Namor's contribution to the book but, to my surprise, he appears to be far more involved in the next issue so I'll be checking that out at some point down the road.

Thor (1998) #4, "From The Ashes"

The whole theme of teaming up with core Avengers members is advancing slowly due to time constraints but after checking out Captain America and Iron man books, we now turn to Thor.

Thor is in a pickle. A sea goddess named Sedna has captured him with plans to use her magic to turn him into a "suitable mate". He's at a significant disadvantage because in the previous issue, he hurled his mighty hammer at some sort of dragon creature and the hammer did not return to him as it normally does. It has been behaving erratically.

The God of Thunder need not fear, however, because the Avenging son is in the 'hood.

Without the hammer, Thor's turned back into his secret identity. Did you not wonder where that dude came from?

While the mortal version of Thor (Jake, I believe?) swims to the surface, Sedna calls on reinforcements to deal with Namor.

The sea dragon (or whatever) stuns Namor and also swims to the surface. There, this Jake guy basically calls on his hammer to get its ass back to where it's needed. This time, it responds.

Namor returns to take up the fight but this is Thor's book, after all, so the star performer is the one to do away with the beast. Sedna then makes another attempt at seducing Thor but Namor prevents it.

Sedna sees her plan is going south fast so she escapes.

Thor expresses his gratitude to Namor and even invites him out for a beer but the Prince declines the offer. He's got a kingdom to rule and all that.

But the boys leave one another on good terms which is a nice change from how Namor is so often manipulated into fighting his would-be allies or in conflict with them due to some misunderstanding. It's particularly consistent in this case because even when they have found themselves at odds, Thor has usually demonstrated some respect towards Namor.

One small oddity in this book; Namor speaks to (and of) Sedna as though he's known her a long time but she's only appeared in this issue and the preceding one in the volume.

The Invincible Iron Man (1968) #54: "Sub-Mariner: Target For Death"

We soldier on reading about meetings between Namor and core Avenger members. This time, we look at an Iron Man issue from the early 70s.

The cover is by Gil Kane. That man could draw a punch!

We are quickly introduced to Madame MacEvil (really?) as she argues with her computer and states her goal in life.

That's quite the outfit. At first glance, I was convinced this was Moondragon.

She fires a missile that strike an iceberg near Namor. It caused huge chunks of ice from the iceberg to collapse onto a passing ship so Namor has to come to the rescue!

Is that a hammer in your shorts, or...

Namor tracks the rocket's trail, little knowing that MacEvil has taken control of Iron Man's armour. When Namor catches up to her ship, she unleashes Shellhead on him.

That's tellin' him.

They fight for a spell until Namor dodges a repulsor ray blast and it hits the ship from which MacEvil was giving Iron Man orders instead. That causes MacEvil and her smart-mouth computer to lose control over Iron Man.

The armoured avenger is relieved but takes off without explanation which may not be the best course of action when dealing with someone of Namor's temperament.

Makes me wonder about how well these two got on when they next met.

There wasn't a lot of substance to this issue but in trying to determine whether MacEvil showed again later, it came to light that she is, in fact, the character we know best as Moondragon.

I joked about that earlier because the costume design was near-identical (colour aside) to the one Moondragon was known to wear in the 70s and, well, there are only so many bald women in the Marvel Universe. Her personality was so completely different than that of the Moondragon character I remember that I still did not think it was the same character, however.

This book is then, under a different name, Moondragon's first appearance so it's interesting in that respect and provides a touch more Avengers content than anticipated.