CBM's Sunday Showdown pits two heroes (or villains) against each other to let you, our loyal readers, decide which of them deserves to be crowned the better comic book character.
The half-human, half-Atlantean King of Atlantis was introduced in the pages of More Fun Comics #73 in November 1941. A founding member of the Justice League, Arthur Curry boasts an awesome rogues gallery made of villains like Black Manta and Ocean Master, while his love interest, Mera, is an incredible character in her own right. Despite that, he's often been a subject of ridicule.
Becoming one of DC Comics' cheesier characters thanks to his early, campy adventures, the hero - who can talk to fish - was rebooted in 2011 and became a legit badass in the process. That would ultimately influence how Aquaman was handled on the big screen, and he was reinvented yet again when Jason Momoa took on the role and gave the Justice League member some serious attitude.
Aside from talking to fish, Aquaman also has superhuman strength and wields the Trident of Poseidon>
Namor the Sub-Mariner has a historic place in Marvel Comics history as the star of 1939's Marvel Comics #1. Once one of Timely's top three characters, alongside Captain America and the original Human Torch, he's the son of a human sea captain and a princess of the mythical undersea kingdom of Atlantis, but recent comic books have revealed he is, in fact, a mutant as well.
While this superhero - and occasional anti-hero/villain - is the King of Atlantis, he's also served in the Invaders during World War II, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders, the X-Men, and the Illuminati. Unfortunately, he's yet to make his live-action debut, despite rumours that he was set to appear in everything from 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger to Black Panther in 2018.
Namor is a complex character, and one who is a formidable opponent to any number of heroes and villains (despite rarely lasting is his own solo comic book series due to poor sales).
There's no denying that both Aquaman and Namor the Sub-Mariner are the world's two greatest undersea superheroes, but we want you to decide which of them is better! You can do that by casting your vote in the poll below, while we'd love to also hear your thoughts in the comments section.
Be sure to check back here next week for the results and another instalment of CBM's Sunday Showdown. If you have any characters you think should be pitted against each other here, let us know!
Last week's results:
Green Goblin - 18.8%
The Joker - 81.2%