After sneaking into Wakanda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Marvel’s merman demigod Namor emerges from the water in the darkness. He startles Queen Ramonda and her daughter Shuri in a rural area of their Black utopia. “Who are you?” the queen asks. “And how did you get in here?”
The Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta Mejía is playing a brown antihero, an archetype that has for centuries been used to demonize men from south of the border. But this brown antihero is resplendent and relatable. How did this Namor get onto the big screen?
It took Black filmmakers to bring him to Marvel, bypassing white gatekeepers who are chronically averse to empowering brown roles. Although Latinos make up 19% of the U.S. and half of Los Angeles, they’re only 7% of film leads and co-leads, mostly criminals and poor people. And while Namor is an antihero, he’s no villain. The audience is shown that he is dangerous, yes, but not because of his race. Instead of the usual dehumanized foil, Huerta’s portrayal elevates a brown body as dazzling and divine.
