It’s only his third year in operation (and technically just his second year as a super-hero) but 1941 is the biggest year yet for our old pal the Sub-Mariner!

The biggest development in Namor’s status quo happens in Sub-Mariner Comics 001, when Emperor Thakorr is killed in an attempted Nazi invasion of Atlantis. This makes Namor the new Emperor and turns his hatred of the Nazis from a somewhat arbitrary thing based mainly on distaste to a matter of national pride.

1941 is also the year in which Namor battles and defeats the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and although I can’t find anything about it being a title bout in the text, that hasn’t stopped other comics characters in the past. I’d say that he is not the World Heavyweight Champion but he has some bragging rights.

More importantly, Namor gets extremely booed by the crowd at Madison Square Garden, as he should be by all New Yorkers for the rest of comics history. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 020, 1941)

It only lasts a couple of issues, but this is also the year that Namor does his version of a road trip across America in a bid to combat subversive activities in his on-again/ off-again favourite surface nation. To that end he invents a miniature steam-powered jeep that can jump and which is called the Bantam and later on the Blitz-Buggy. This thing ranks among the weirdest bits of Namor ephemera, particularly as a land vehicle with enhanced mobility being driven by someone who can fly. I can only dream of it showing up in one of those comics where a guy has a huge collection of super-hero-related artifacts, parked next to the original Spider-Mobile. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 022, 1941)

Any Emperor worth his salt is going to face a few usurpation attempts, and being in a comic book is a recipe for increasing that number. Namor’s very first coup occurs this year, at the hands of his evil uncle Daka. (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 024, 1941)

Finally, and in contention with the Blitz-Buggy for being the weirdest bit of Sub-Mariner lore this year, the fact that both he and the Angel own small islands near Bermuda, complete with estates and servants, on which they visit one another and, like, hang out. The only time we see these islands, as far as I can tell, is in this specific issue, in which they are invaded by the wicked Nazombies. (Human Torch v1 005a, 1941)