Cause the majority of Namor's past appearances was him in just speedos. Yes, Aquaman was no eye candy either, but at least he was relatively more decent.
And your mention of JL is also true. Especially with Aquaman's exposure in television from Superfriends to DCAU to Smallville.
More mainstream exposure. The 70s featured him regularly on the Super Friends(meaning multiple age groups recognize him), and pop culture refers to him for the butt of jokes. Namor and Aquaman were first published, what, a few months apart? Yet Aquaman is much more iconic. Although the general perception of "the useless hero who talks to fish" may be totally wrong, someone who has never read a comic in their life will lean toward Aquaman before Spock in a scaly-speedo. Translate that to actual comic fans: I think people respond the same way due to more prior experience.
Because Aquaman is more well known, due to the SuperFriends cartoon, and because the fact that Marvel has flip-flopped the Sub-Mariner/Namor from being a hero then a villain then a hero then a villain then a hero enough times to make it utterly impossible for most fans to really care about and become emotionally invested in him.
As somebody who can look at this as something of an outsider to both characters (in the sense I only read about either when they crossover into books I care about), I can say the first thing is that Namor makes a horrible first impression. His character design is god awful, he doesnt have a costume that could be called "iconic" at all, and he has stupid wings on his feat, The second thing is his power set, most people think Aquaman's only ability is talking to fish (as seen in Family Guy, etc), but at least they know that. What does anyone know about Namor? And yes, Namor is a jerk, a pompous a$$, and he behaves in a superior way with his royal background, whereas Aquaman has somewhat humble beginnings and is endearing because he is even the put upon guy of the league, he is related to normal people. And the fact that the New 52, and Arthur himself, even directly acknowledges the fact that he is disrespected.
Namor's personality probably wasn't something networks would want to expose younger audiences to. While Aquaman may be wrongly viewed as a joke character, he was featured in a superhero cartoon a lot of people grew up with. Aquaman was one of the big 7, so he stayed remembered, but Namor was fighting Hulk, trying to drown NYC, doing his own thing, hitting on Sue, and just all over the place.
Aquaman has a bad ass wife, an endearing personality "currently anyway", an all star creative team, and far more pull in the DC universe and by extension all DC media.
More mainstream exposure. The 70s featured him regularly on the Super Friends(meaning multiple age groups recognize him), and pop culture refers to him for the butt of jokes. Namor and Aquaman were first published, what, a few months apart? Yet Aquaman is much more iconic. Although the general perception of "the useless hero who talks to fish" may be totally wrong, someone who has never read a comic in their life will lean toward Aquaman before Spock in a scaly-speedo. Translate that to actual comic fans: I think people respond the same way due to more prior experience.
Plus, Namor is kind of a d*ck.
Actually, try a few YEARS. Namor's first appearance was in 1939, before Batman. IIRC, Aquaman appeared in 1942 or 1941.
@BlackWind said:
Namor's personality probably wasn't something networks would want to expose younger audiences to. While Aquaman may be wrongly viewed as a joke character, he was featured in a superhero cartoon a lot of people grew up with. Aquaman was one of the big 7, so he stayed remembered, but Namor was fighting Hulk, trying to drown NYC, doing his own thing, hitting on Sue, and just all over the place.
Actually, Namor had a cartoon before Aquaman, also, back in 1966 as part of the Marvel Superhero Hour rotation.
Namor's not 'just all over the place." He's just more complicated than Aquaman's standard do gooder.
Because namor is too cool for school. He's been around longer and mainstream media isn't his thing. He's way more established IMO. Aquaman has his own title and is in JL so that's why he's so popular.
Because Aquaman has had a lot more mainstream saturation, Namor hasn't had any. But I say Namor > Aquaman in every possible way, Namor has been an awesome hero since his creation. Aquaman has been a crap character and a joke up until Geoff Johns took over, Namor has been awesome since the beginning...
Namor is a much more complex and interesting character than Aquaman...plus he's leagues stronger than Aquaman, I think he's a much cooler character. And let's not forget that Aquaman is nothing more than a cheap knock off of Namor the ORIGINAL king of the sea.
Wow. This turned from 'Why is Aquaman more popular than Namor' to 'How is Namor/Aquaman so much more awesome than the other?' pretty quick.
But everyone else more or less nailed it. Aquaman has had more mainstream exposure with his own book, the Superfriends cartoon, roles in television both animated and live-action (Smallville), and his place in the Justice League. Namor is naturally well-known to the comic-book reading demographic, but to the general public, he hasn't had much going for him save for some animated series and game appearances.
Aquaman is more exposed , I wouldn't say popular, perhaps among Dc fans. Namor doesn't play that sh*t, he's hardcore, always. I like both characters though, I just favor Namor.
I agree with @toptom. If Namor gets a good writer and an exceptional artist he would get more recognition. Id like to see my favorite writer Jonathan Hickman and artist oliver coipeil work on a Namor series. Namor is one of my favorite characters. His the regal, arrogant , hot headed personality with his power set, long historical background and undersea kingdom make for great stories under the right team.
i've always liked namor more. he's a lot like black adam to me. his appearance in blue marvels mini series was one of my fav. moments and his series a few years back with the jae lee covers was pretty awrsome
Namor is a douchebag. Despite his supposed "superiority", he constantly fails at being able to decide his allegiance, run his kingdom, protect his kingdom, and at life in general. He constantly hits on married women, and then promptly gets rejected, whereas Aquaman goes home to a smoking hot redhead every night. People give Aquaman crap about his look, and yet Namor wears either a speedo, or an Elvis jacket. Do I even need to continue?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!
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