Aquaman or Namor

[Silver Age Fan]

Let's discuss two water-based superheroes...

Aquaman is a DC Comics superhero who first appeared in 1941. There are some details in the link below.

www.comicvine.com/aquaman/29-2357

Namor, a Marvel Comics superhero, has been around since 1939. There are some details about him below.

www.comicvine.com/namor/29-1476

So who do you prefer, if any?

This is a tough one. Growing up, I had a preference for Aquaman, his world was a rich one, his costume was cool and he interacted well with other superheroes.

In later years, I preferred the depth and the richness of Namor's storylines. Plus, Namor was a more ambiguous character, one who not only clashed with supervillains like Doctor Doom, but superheroes like Daredevil and Spider-Man, too.

However, taking their many adventures over the years into account, I prefer Aquaman. Only slightly, though.

[MacNimon]

It has to be Namor for me, quite simply because I'm much more familiar with the character than I am with Aquaman. I grew up with Namor, who is a character with many different layers. At times you never knew whether he was a hero or a villain, I suppose the anti-hero tag would suit him most. Even when he was cast as a villain though, he wasn't just one of those plain evil bad guys, he had a perfectly good reason for wanting revenge on humanity and so could be seen as a tragic figure of sorts.

Aquaman on the other hand, I have really only read as a member of the Justice League or in a number of solo adventures at least 25 years ago. I don't know too much about his back story or anything so really on this basis alone, Namor wins by default. (I'm not ignoring the information in the links above, I mean more that when previously reading an Aquaman story I was unaware of his background, unlike Namor whose story was very familiar to me. That's simply down to the availability - or lack of availability in DCs case - of the comics here in the UK in the 1970s when I grew up.)

[Silver Age Fan]

The two did battle in the DC VS Marvel mini-series (1996). Do you know who won?

[MacNimon]

I don't, actually. It's a series I've always meant to check out but have never got round to it. Is it any good?

And who did actually win?

[Silver Age Fan]

Surprisingly, Aquaman won. That was a contest I'd have expected Namor to win.