Issue(s): Uncanny X-Men #6
Cover Date: Jul 64
Title: "Sub-Mariner Joins the Evil Mutants"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Chic Stone - Inker

Review/plot:
This issue starts off with Iceman displaying a new, rarely seen power: the power to generate ice cream.

Either he has that power, or he's suffering from serious delusions. He only makes it for himself, "while no one's looking".

Meanwhile, Xavier is reading a newspaper article about the Sub-Mariner, and wonders if he is a mutant.

Magneto is also looking for Namor, trying to get him to join his mutant brotherhood. I don't like the idea of Namor being a mutant. He is what he is because he is a hybrid of human and Atlantean parents. The argument is that his wings make him a mutant because neither humans nor Atlanteans have wings on their feet. But since Namora had the exact same wings, i would think it was something that happened when Atlantean and human genes were mixed, not a mutation. But Marvel says he's a mutant, so he's a mutant.

Magneto uses his astral form to contact a corrupt lieutenant of Namor's.

Since Namor has been abandoned by all of his people except for a few very loyal soldiers, i found it odd that one would be corrupt, but it's possible that he's decided to throw in with Namor in the hopes that he can somehow gain status. Magneto senses the greed and envy in his heart. The earliest concept of mutants, from Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 and Journey Into Mystery #96, for example, implied that all mutants had mental powers - telepathy and telekinesis. The first issue of the X-Men also had Xavier training the X-Men to read his thoughts. Magneto's mental abilities, totally unrelated to his powers of magnetism, seem to be leftover from those concepts, which are interesting. They also tie into the Hitesh theory that all super-powers are actually TP/TK manifestations.

Despite the fact that the last time he took an ally (the Hulk), he regretted it, Namor decides to head out and meet with Magneto at his latest lair: an island equipped with a giant horseshoe magnet weapon. When he shows up, Magneto realizes that he is too powerful to be controlled using the usual browbeating methods that he keeps the rest of his minions under control with...

...so he pushes the Scarlet Witch up to him, thinking Namor will become smitten and therefore "putty in our hands". Knowing that the Scarlet Witch is Magneto's daughter makes this scene just a little more creepy, but it's not something that either character knew at the time, and it's pretty creepy anyway.

Before Namor and Wanda hit it off, though, the X-Men attack.

    

During the fight, Magneto threatens the Scarlet Witch (because Magneto is about to launch an attack on the X-Men that threatens Quicksilver as well, and she's not happy about it). Namor doesn't like the way Magneto talks to the Witch, so he attacks Magneto.

Magneto, Mastermind, and the Toad run off, with the Toad yelping about how he is much more loyal to Magneto than the Scarlet Witch. Magneto's next thought bubble is why i love his Silver Age persona. He thinks to himself, "Loyalty! Bah! I rule by fear alone!" He's a complete psychopath.

Meanwhile, Namor is still fighting the X-Men because they have Quicksilver. With the Scarlet Witch's help, he starts mopping up the floor with them, until Xavier shows up and tells Namor to stop fighting because he's ready to return Quicksilver. Namor storms off, unhappy to be called a pawn of Magneto, and thinking that while the Scarlet Witch is hot stuff, he's not ready to get involved with another surface woman. As usual, it's nice reading all these Marvel comics together instead of just, say, reading the X-Men series, since you really see how the Invisible Girl's rejection of Namor in FF #27 informs his actions here.

Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch also run off, rejoining Magneto. "I'm glad to see them go!", says Marvel Girl. "That witch is much too attractive." Angel replies, "Know something, Jeanie? So are you!" Yep, Jean is also much too attractive, and she also has to leave the team.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - establishes the Sub-Mariner as a mutant

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Sue Storm spurned Namor in FF #27.
  
• The Namor/Hulk Team-Up was in Avengers #3.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: X-Men: The Early Years #6

It's funny to find a "Hitesh theory" here. I've shared this hypothesis since I've read (in the 1990s) the fight between the FF and Shi'ar Imperial Guard's Gladiator. "All is in their heads."

after reading the paper and deducing the Sub-Mariner might be a mutant, Xavier also goes searching for him. his stated reason is to find the Sub-Mariner before Magneto can get to him. but then as soon as he senses Magneto's astral form nearby, he decides to go back to his body and "let Magneto finish [his] quest for [him]".

wait. what? doesn't that defeat the purpose of searching for Namor in the first place?

later, after Angel reports encountering Namor on Magneto's suave island, Xavier exclaims that it was just as he had feared and they might already be too late. who's fault is that, shirker!!

I liked the Wanda-Namor interaction. As far as I know, their attraction has only been referred to once on panel since this issue, in the second Vision/Scarlet Witch series. And back in the Silver Age she sure had thing for bare-chested hunks, didn't she? ;)... Namor, Hercules, Arkon.

Namor is true to his mutant heritage in recent comics even forming an alliance emma frost, joining the x-men, and becoming one of the phoniex five a mutant only group

Only if there was a female Man-Bull would Bobby's powers truly make ice cream...but I think that the Marvelverse just isn't ready for a She-Cow without chuckles of Power Girl...or unless a writer like Peter David did it as a gag.

Hitesh is SUCH a misunderstood genius, he spells stealed and steeled and other such spelling errors. Possibly, he is using 50/70 Hhs of his power to enable illusions of bad grammar.

If Marvel Girl was not wearing a mask, would Namor have found her more beautiful than Scarlet Witch?

The concept of Bobby making ice cream reminds me of the joke "That lemonade's gonna be pretty crappy unless life also provides you with water and sugar."

I agree with the concept of Namor as a mutant and as far as Namora having the same mutation it could be because as first cousins they have very similar DNA. (Now please don't ask me to explain why the Summers siblings and the Guthrie siblings all have different powers).

There seems to be sugar and cream on the table, enough ingredients for someone with Bobby's powers. But he really should use a bowl and spoon too, pig. Or maybe that's a way to ensure others will not insist sharing.

Offering female members of your group for ogling seems to be a common recruiting tactic in this era. Warren tried to lure Blob on Jean's expense in quite similar way. "Too attractive" indeed. Creep.

Actually, in the situation of Magneto being Wanda's dad, this scene is no more creepy than any marriage arranged by woman's family for political reasons. Creepy, yes, but less so than Warren prostituting Jean.

No-price effort: Continuing on the theory of "Magneto goes insane when he uses his powers too much", he gains (more) telepathy powers too, as side effect. Basically, his power use feeds his insanity, and his madness makes him stronger.

And another: I don't know of any other atlantean/human hybrids, so on that grounds, maybe this cross-breeding is only possible through mutation. Maybe both parents need to have some prerequisite genetic makeup to beget offspring, and it happened first time in Namor's case. Anyway, him being mutant suits me. I want to see some water-based morlock-types proclaim him as their king.