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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFor all that this is a pivotal development in comic book storytelling – where would the 90s comics era be<\/em> without hero-on-hero battling? – the initial salvo is pretty perfunctory: the Sub-Mariner hurls a girder at the Human Torch, who melts it.<\/p>\n\n\n The follow-up to this is not too much better: the Human Torch deploys a ring of flame and then Namor puts it out in what just might be the final appearance of his ability to squirt water out of his pores. Still, he retreats, so Point: Human Torch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I shall refrain from filling this entry up with muddy images. Instead, here’s a summary of the action, which includes a few notable bits of lore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second Encounter: the Sub-Mariner blows out the Torch’s flame with compressed air and then knocks him out. He intends to take him apart to find out how he works, but a malfunction causes the compressed air tanks to go off again and the Torch floats out of Namor’s aerial submarine in a big bubble. Point: Sub-Mariner.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Third Encounter: Namor attempts to draw the Human Torch out with a threatening television broadcast. This works, and they have a running battle to a nearby reservoir, where the Torch traps Namor under the surface with a sheet of flame. Namor almost dies due to due to an inability to breathe chlorinated water (I believe that this has been tactfully ignored since) but is saved when the police bomb the reservoir and hurl him free. There is a brief scuffle that marks the first time in which Namor’s ankle-wings are burned off, rendering him incapable of flight and forcing him to steal an airplane to get away. Point: Human Torch.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourth Encounter: The Human Torch decides that the only option remaining to him is to kill the Sub-Mariner with sulfuric acid. He heads off to a chemical plant to get enough of the stuff to do the job, only to find that his foe is also there, and after a further<\/em> scuffle he finds out why: to acquire one of the huge vacuum-sealed bell jars that people have so often captured the Torch in before. The encounter ends with the Torch in the jar, unable to flame on, but the Sub-Mariner unable to reach him without also allowing enough air in to allow the Torch to combust. Point: Stalemate.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n It is at this point that the State of New York, or at least the NYPD, adopt the position that a few murders might be forgiven now an then, and offer to leave the Sub-Mariner alone if only he would please go away and stop wrecking all of the infrastructure. Not a particularly satisfying end to the first confrontation between Marvel’s to headlining super-guys, perhaps, but a pragmatic one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Marvel Mystery Comics v1 008, 1940) The Sub-Mariner is very annoyed that the State of New York tried to execute him for all the murders he did before declaring himself a good guy. His response? An attempt to conquer and\/or destroy New York City, which incidentally means doing a lot more murders. Enter newly-fledged rookie police officer cum officially sanctioned municipal vigilante the Human Torch to stop him. It’s not the first instance of two comic book heroes meeting each…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theskeletoncurse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/003u220b120namor20marvel20myst20008201940.jpg?wsr\")
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