Marvel, Movies

Marvel, Please Cast Daniel Dae Kim as Namor the Sub-Mariner

On a recent episode of Kevin Smith’s Fatman on Batman podcast, Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada revealed that Marvel Studios has retained the rights to Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Of course, this isn’t the first time Quesada has assumed the rights to Namor had returned to Marvel — and Namor’s movie rights are some of the most confusing in comic book movie world. Still, it’s long overdue for a movie featuring one of the high-profile members of Marvel’s Illuminati, not to mention the fact that Namor is a perfect opportunity to cast an Asian American male as a lead in the MCU!

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If you follow the NOC on the internet, you’re well aware that we made a similar plea a couple years back when Iron Fist was announced for Netflix. Of course, that ship has since sailed (apparently, the High Sparrow has been teaching Ser Loras kung fu all this time) and we still don’t have an Asian American lead in the movie-side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

One of the pushbacks we got with #AAIronFist was that Marvel’s first Asian American superhero in live action shouldn’t be a martial artist. While I still don’t believe that should matter, the fact is there are few classic Asian characters in the Big Two comics that don’t fall into various tropes. But after the debacle of whitewashing characters like The Ancient One in the MCU, this is the right time to announce a Namor movie — or at the very least, make him a part of the upcoming Infinity War. Besides, there’s an actor out there who’s already perfect for the role.

Seriously, the dude’s a natural in the water!

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s high time Marvel casts Daniel Dae Kim as the Sub-Mariner!

In addition to his extensive acting experience, Kim has all the geek cred you need after starring as Jin for six seasons of Lost (in which he proved he had the chops to play an Imperius Jerk and a sensitive romantic). And he’s already down for the idea of playing the character.

Plus, have you seen this dude? He’s already built like a superhero — and has Namor’s cheekbones to match.

Speaking of cheeks, a recent episode of Hawaii 5-0 proved DDK knows how to rock Namor’s skimpy superhero costume as well.

Besides, DC already has Marvel beat when it comes to POC Atlanteans when they cast Jason Momoa as Aquaman — even imbuing the character with Pasifika mythology — and put James Wan in the director’s chair (for now). And before the racist fanboys come at this with Namor’s whiteness, Saladin Ahmed pointed this out on twitter last night:

So, get on that, Marvel. You have a lot to make up for, and an #AANamor will go a long way.

PS, in the event that Daniel Dae Kim is unavailable, you can definitely go with any of the shirtless dudes in this list of actors you didn’t pick for Iron Fist.

15 thoughts on “Marvel, Please Cast Daniel Dae Kim as Namor the Sub-Mariner”

  1. Like you said, DDK is the TOTAL PACKAGE to be NAMOR, except for one thing….the ears. (LOL) Prosthetics will do just fine.

  2. they dont even hire tan white people at marvel so….good luck with that. he would be a great cannon hawke if aspen ever gets into the movie game

  3. I think the bigger picture is the dearth of Asian-American male superheroes in both the Marvel and DC Comics comic book universes. It’s hard to cast a Daniel Dae Kim or John Cho if there are historically no characters for them to play.

  4. My next best candidate would be Cliff Curtis, the whole Maori background would add to the mystique.

  5. No, no, no. They need to cast a strong actor. He has basically one facial expression and one emotive style. He’s WAY too limited.

  7. An almost 50 years old man for a character that it’s not a guy in armor (like Downey/Iron Man or Afleck/Batman) but a guy in Swimwear and in a movie that nobody knows (or if) when will start to shooting?

    You really think that Marvel would hire an actor who would be pushing his 60s when the last movie of Namor trilogy (they always are trilogies) is released?

    Maybe for once you should be a little more realistic and push for actors in their mid twenties. And remenber that Marvel never change the race of their main characters and this could end up being another waste of time as the asian Iron Fist.

    1. Heimdall was played by Idris Elba and in the upcoming Thor movie Valkyrie will be played by a black woman, Tessa Thompson. Remember?

      1. And? I’m just saying that by the time the do the movie Daniel Dae kim probably would be too old.

      2. not main characters. iron drunk, go away hulk, bore thor, and cap all white dudes just like marvel likes it. carol danvers still going to be a blonde white girl though i think jun jihyun, lupita nyongo or kerry washington would have been more inspired choices. but marvel isnt doing that with its leads.

    2. You are aware he’s not human, correct?

      Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne are humans with augmented armor.

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  9. I’m kinda mix about this. On one hand, I like to see Asian in a big superhero role. On the other hand, I don’t know him very well. And from what I gather from Civil War, Earth X, and wiki, Namor seems to be ‘Arrogance Aquaman with unrequited crush on happy married white blond woman who switch side back-and forth’. I’m not really sure he’s a hero that Asian American need.

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