Let's be real for a second. If you've spent any time at all reading Fantastic Four back issues, you know the vibe. Reed Richards is in the lab, probably ignoring a sandwich Sue made him three hours ago, and suddenly the wall explodes. In walks a guy wearing nothing but green scales and a permanent scowl.
Namor.
The Sub-Mariner doesn't just want to fight the FF. He wants to steal the team’s heart—literally. For over sixty years, the tension between Susan Storm and Namor has been the ultimate "what if" of the Marvel Universe. It’s not just a crush. It’s a messy, weirdly enduring triangle that makes modern reality TV look tame.
The 1960s: Kidnapping as a First Date?
Honestly, the early days were wild. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby reintroduced Namor in Fantastic Four #4 (1962), he didn't exactly start with flowers. He found Johnny Storm in a flophouse, got his memory back, and immediately decided to declare war on humanity. Standard stuff.
But then he saw Sue.
✨ Don't miss: Why the Gomu Gomu no Mi Reveal Changed Everything We Knew About One Piece
Namor didn't just find her pretty; he was obsessed. Within minutes of meeting her, he offered to stop his attack on the surface world if she would just agree to be his bride. That’s a lot of pressure for a first meeting. Sue, being the heart of the team, actually considered it to save New York. It set the tone for decades: Namor is the "bad boy" king who offers her a throne, while Reed is the "reliable" genius who often treats her like a lab assistant.
The weirdest part? Sue didn't just find him scary. She found him magnetic. There’s a classic panel where she’s hiding a photo of Namor behind some books on her shelf. You don’t do that unless there’s a little spark there, right?
Why Susan Storm and Namor Keep Happening
You’ve got to wonder why Marvel writers keep going back to this well. It’s not just about the drama. It’s about the fundamental difference between the two men in Sue's life.
- Reed Richards is intellectual, safe, and often emotionally distant. He loves Sue, but he loves physics more.
- Namor is pure passion. He’s arrogant, yes, but he sees Sue as his absolute equal. To him, she isn't just "the wife" or "the mom"—she’s a queen.
In Fantastic Four #587, writer Jonathan Hickman highlighted this. Even when they’re on opposite sides of a global conflict, Namor treats Sue with a level of respect he doesn't give anyone else. He calls her "magnificent." He means it. For a woman who often has to wrangle three "man-children" (Johnny, Ben, and Reed), that kind of undivided, royal attention is a hell of a drug.
The Affairs That Weren't (And Some That Were)
Did she ever actually cheat? In the main 616 continuity, the answer is basically "no." Sue is famously loyal. But Marvel loves to play with fire in their alternate universes.
Take Fantastic Four: Life Story. In this timeline, the characters age in real-time starting from the 1960s. By the 1970s, Sue gets so fed up with Reed’s obsession with the coming of Galactus that she actually leaves him. She goes to Atlantis. She stays with Namor for ten years. It’s one of the few stories that explores what a long-term relationship between them would actually look like. Spoiler: It’s still complicated.
Then there’s the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610). Namor shows up, threatens to flood Manhattan (again), and says he’ll leave if Sue kisses him and means it. She does. Reed is standing right there, and Sue leans in and gives Namor a kiss that leaves the Sub-Mariner satisfied enough to go home. Talk about an awkward dinner conversation later.
What People Get Wrong About the Attraction
Most fans think Sue is just "tempted" because Namor is ripped. That’s part of it—the man is drawn like a Greek god—but it’s deeper. In Marvel Knights 4 #8, Sue explains it herself. She admits she had a "fondness for Jane Austen novels" as a girl. To her, Namor was the dark, brooding Mr. Darcy of the sea.
But as she grew up, she realized being a Queen in Atlantis meant being a trophy. She’s too independent for that. She chose Reed not because he was the "better" man, but because he was the one she could build a life with on her own terms.
The Impact on Modern Comics and the MCU
Even now, in 2026, the ripples of this relationship are everywhere. With the Fantastic Four entering the MCU (played by Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby), everyone is looking at Tenoch Huerta’s Namor.
During press for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the cast even joked about it. Pedro Pascal mentioned that Vanessa Kirby brings up Namor "every chance she gets." It shows that even the actors recognize this is a core part of who Sue Storm is. She isn’t just a "mom" figure; she’s a woman with a complex history of desire and choice.
Practical Takeaways for Fans
If you're trying to track this relationship through the decades, don't look for a "hookup" issue. It doesn't exist in the main timeline. Instead, look for the moments of quiet understanding.
- Read Fantastic Four #4 (1962): The original encounter. It's campy but essential for seeing where the "marriage proposal" trope started.
- Check out Namor the Sub-Mariner #50 (1994): John Byrne and Jae Lee's "The Courtship of Sue Richards." It's peak 90s tension and has some of the best art of the era.
- Find Fantastic Four: 1234: This Grant Morrison story is a trippy, psychological look at Sue's hidden desires. It’s not "canon" in the traditional sense, but it gets into the "why" of her attraction to Namor better than almost any other book.
Ultimately, the Susan Storm and Namor dynamic is about the tension between the life you chose and the life that "could have been." It’s what makes the Fantastic Four feel like a real family—they have secrets, they have temptations, and sometimes they have a winged-foot king trying to steal their mom.
To really understand the current state of their relationship, keep an eye on the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday storylines. The writers have been leaning into the idea that Sue and Namor share a "special connection" that Reed will never quite be able to quantify with an equation. Whether that leads to a full-blown romance or just more longing stares from the surface of the ocean, it remains one of the most human parts of Marvel’s cosmic mythology.