Iconic Marvel Character Killed Off in SQUADRON SUPREME #1

Nighthawk

As soon as Tony and Reed get what they deserve(never gonna happen).

@holyserpent: I hated him too, but, damn.

MARVEL did Namor pretty dirty. First Hype F5's Atlantis, then he takes Namors nugget?!

....had it comin' tho *shrugs*

I don't know. I think he might pull through.

.......................................I liked Namor...

This was utter trash and unbelievably disappointing. Not only was the squadron hypocritical in their actions and super villian like, but I see it as worse. They did this out of spiteful, petty, childish revenge unlike Namor who did what he did to protect his people and world and regretting what he did, but seeing it as the universes only chance and having to stones to do something

What further irks me is that the hypocritical special snowflakes like Black Panther and such won't get any of this treatment and everyone acts like they are such swell people. At least Namor was doing something. He didn't give up and just had the stones to do what had to be done to save his world.

@hercuthor: For what its worth I think the Illuminati are criminals and villains on a scale the likes of which we rarely see in Marvel. They are genocidal... no, universicidal lol. Wait... when they destroyed the other Earths did they destroy the entire universes?

Namor's a total jerk and needed to be punished for his actions.

That said killing a character who plays off so well against other characters be they the FF or Avengers etc. is a waste.

Nighthawk. This entire team is basically an analogue version of the Justice League, but they operate more like The Authority from Wildstorm (now absorbed into DC). They have their Midnighter, their Apollo, their Engineer, and so on and so forth.

I'm conflicted about this. While Namor was an extreme and arrogant person, everything he did was what he believed was best for his people. The problem was that there was no one there to tell him to think things through that he had no reason to question, and he was hardly ever truly humbled. Maybe if one of those ass whoopings had taken, and he bothered to LISTEN to Steve or Jim (probably more Jim than anyone else), he would not have been so terrible.

Now we just wait and see if the Squadron will go after T'Challa (he didn't pull the trigger, but he WAS involved), the remaining FF (to have them pay for the "sins" of Reed), Tony (obvious), Beast (obvious, but by extension the X-Men, the Inhumans, young Beast), Doctor Strange (and any associates of his, like Wanda and Jericho Drumm), Black Bolt (and other Inhumans) and literally anyone they see as a potential threat. Their logic is insanely flawed (as Namor pointed out before he bought it), and saying that Namor deserves because he pulled the trigger when everyone else was too morally compromised to do so, is crazy. He killed a world that was already doomed by either the Beyonders, or Doom ("Rabum Alal"). What he did was necessary, and he didn't deserve to be condemned for it. But what's done is done, and I'm interested to see where they plan to take these psychopaths maniacs Looney-Tunes ass crazies guys.

EDIT: It's also pretty messed up that they thought that innocent lives taken needed to be repaid in kind. Points to the artist for including that close-up of the Atlantian mother holding her baby.

@overmonitor: No, the Illuminati saved both colliding Universes by destroying the other Earth(s).

It's funny because putting aside the horrible acts Namor has been responsible for recently he's the only reason Earth-616 didn't bite the dust. Everyone owes their continued existence to him, yet we keep forgetting this.

i guess that means T'challa is too soft for not killing Namor sooner since the Supreme Squadron did it.

@overmonitor: I would assume their actions destroyed all of that reality. I just think it's ridiculous that almost everyone gives the rest of the illuminati, especially Black Panther (seriously don't understand the obsession) a pass when they were just as bad as Namor, heck if it wasn't for Namor the beyonders would have won and there wouldn't have been anything to save

Can anyone tell me how Hyperion survived the battle with the Beyoders?

@medulaoblaganda: that will be so sweet.

@dondave: He saved the multiverse by destroying planets

@hercuthor: no, destroying the planet and preventing the collision saves the two respective realities. I am absolutely baffled that people keep saying that the Illuminati and Doom were bad guys, it's like they completely misread the event.

The issue was great, but maaaan I feel bad for Namor.

Btw we just lost another classic F4 character after Watcher, Doom and Galactus, thank you very much Marvel... I suppose Surfer/The original Human Torch is next.

I think that is part of the storyline, they are trying to show that even thought Namor was an absolute villain the SS is just as bad because they hold the same contempt for innocent life and the same ends-justify-the-means attitude. This will allow the writer to play them as villains if they go after Dr. Strange, Tony Stark or any of the other illuminati.

I wonder if marvel expected more cheers than tears over Namor's death?

I really LOVED Namor's character. Ended up being my favorite Illuminati member during Hickman's run.

@51stpresidentofplanetneutral: wouldn't they go after hulk too he fought the Great Society

Yes and killing all the heroes on said planets first was just part of business. He didn't have to destroy the planets. He could have waited for death like everyone else. That's the difference between him and the rest of the Illuminati, they actually realized that when push came to shove that they couldn't kill an entire universe to save their own. The fact the Namor decided to go through with it is what dooms him.

"One of Marvel's tougher characters"

Namor hasn't been a 'tougher character' since the 70's before everyone became more powerful than he was. He's powerful, sure, but it's not like he ever stood a chance against Hyperion or would against any of Marvel's toughest.

Having said that, no sympathy for the man. He's gotten away with a lot of sh*t that no one has called him on for a few good deeds. And he's a total tool. I see no disrespect to his character or anything here, this a man getting his comeuppance. Squadron Supreme shouldn't have free reign to take out whomever they wish on a whim, but that's the point of this book I think. This isn't your typical superhero group. These are people who do the wrong things for potentially the right reasons.

Nighthawk

Interesting.... they killed Namor off but in all reality he's been a third rate character, so does it really matter?

Like most things im sure he'll return somehow or some way.. i believe were about due for for 616 wolverine to come back to life any moment...

Fighting the Great Society isn't the same as destroying their Earth. They all backed out of doing it. The only person they could have a problem with is with Dr Strange because he killed the rest of the Great Society. Tony Reed and Banner just got beat up by them.

The worlds he destroyed were going to be destroy regardless whether he was the one to do it or not.

@jonny_anonymous: you are correct, I misspoke about the planets/realities etc being destroyed.

And I don't think the illuminati were villains on the contrary I was defending Namor's and company's actions. I was simply saying that it's redicolous for people to say Namor deserves it or that he was "so much worse" than the other members of the illuminati.

You are factually wrong, they were not killing universes. It seems people didn't pay attention to the event. Two planets were going to collide and beacuse the 616 earth was the epicentre of the collapse the collision would have destroyed both universes. Namor saved TWO entire universes at the price of ONE planet.

Dr Spectrum shout at Nighthawk that he destroyed her universe. And even if it was only destroying the planet, it's not like that of the actions of the a hero.

@egie_asemota1: Blue marvel and Black panther would own them

The movie rights for Namor are tied up in a weird way between two companies (Universal and Marvel Studios, I think) so that neither of the two can legally use the character.

@madripoor: Marvel does seem to be systematically going after its most iconic characters.

It's a very odd strategy for sure.

For me they used to have a more interesting universe than DC, but lately they've taken a sledgehammer to all their pillars.

Not sure what the endgame is here... but I'll still keep reading for the time being.

@dondave: Either witter error or it could be chocked up to Spectrum being over emotional and being figurative but either way that's not how it works as established by Hickman during his entire run.

Think of how much sentient life there is in the Marvel universe, the untold billions upon billions, and then double that. The number is incalculable. That's how many people Namor saved. In fact if Namor hadn't of done that then Doom would never of had the time to create his life raft world which means the rebirth of the multiverse would never of happened. Namor is the single reason every living thing in the multiverse still lives.

But lets boil it back down to just the two universes again. The few thousand lives of the people on one planet compared to the incalculable number of lives that make up two universes is like comparing one grain of salt in the ocean. Are you saying it would be more heroic to let the whole ocean dry up than it would be to remove that one grain?

IIRC Namor destroyed Wakanda back when he had Phoenix Force powers. I say he had this coming.

This.

Ok I finally got to read this, as a huge SS fan I had to pick this up. Some take aways

1) I really dislike killing of iconic characters, lazy writing to decide to kill them off leads to lazy writing to try and bring them back ( the next reboot we will see Namor for sure.)

2) Hyp is incredibly out of character in this, would have preferred they used one from a different timeline, But the one from INFINITY Avengers wouldn't do this

3) As cool as it was to see him raise Atlantis...couldn't the citizens breath under water and swim by the time it would take to raise the city?

4) With Namor's death I feel a bit cheated we never got a true Atlantis/Wakanda war sort of like a Kree/Skrull battle would have been a sweet story line I thought

5) Going forward, This Squad will need to be dealt with. The former Avengers would've taken them down, but this crop of Earth's Mightiest will have their hands full to be sure.

Goodbye and good riddance

Yea, but if you were the survivor of that planet and had lost everything you'd ever loved or tried to protect I don't think you'd be too happy about it. The greater good is only good if you are part of that good. The storyline was basically set up so that the heroes would be murderers or pathetic losers. Hickman -as in the civil war storyline- wanted it that way so there was no way out. That being said Namor was responsibble for billions of deaths and if it were my planet I wouldn't put up a statue or anything to him. He blew up a world without giving anyone a chance and Dr. Strange murdered heroes. If you want to count those as heroic actions in any way I'm going to disagree.

My only complaint with what happened to Namor is that Atlantis went too, again bad writing because the SS is being portrayed as a group out for revenge at all cost rather than some sort of justice. Then again marvel doesn't know what justice is. Justice doesn't equal comic book sales so justice was thrown out a long time ago.

Aquaman is not a prick, well at least the New 52 version of him isn't :P

Wow Hyperion you are an a$$. Did you need to kill all of those innocent Atlantians, really? Someone please send in silver age supes to kick this copycat in the nards.

@mrfuzzynutz: Hyperion does mention that he is giving time for an evacuation unlike what Namor did to the planets he killed. I am not sure if this is the same Hyperion because all the SS come from different planets while the old SS all came from one. Before this issue the new Avengers (Avenger Idea Mancanics) were being watched by the SS led by the Maker. That may have something to do with changing personalities too.

I wonder if this had anything to do with Marvel not having the movie rights to Namor.

@mark_stephen: It's not even the greater good though, there planet was going to die either way.

@hercuthor: If you were on one of the other world's you wouldn't feel the same. Captain America also felt it was wrong to kill off other earths.

@hectoruno: I'm not saying morally what the illuminati did was right, killing entire planets inhabited by people is in and of itself horrendous and wrong, but that being said it becomes an arguement of if acceptable losses. Some have die so others can live. Again in a purely moral sense it's not right, but if they hadn't done it they would not have bought Doom and everyone enough time to save everyone in the end, so while horrific the ends justified the means in this situation

Sunspot later proved that they could move the whole earth away. If they started with that strategy the solarsystem would have been full of earths but everyone would be alive. Each earth would have to be moved before the next incursion.

Reed also had pocket dimensions to send people to that were never used.