Clint Eastwood Loved This Hot-Headed Marvel Character Since He Was A Kid

Clint Eastwood, one could say, has come to embody a very particular American cinematic archetype. His grizzled, clench-jawed characters — be they gunslingers, cops, or suburban codgers — represent a certain brand of American anger, undergirded by righteous (or sometimes tragic) indignation about a world that is foolishly rejecting them. That's certainly the case with "Dirty" Harry Callahan, a cop who is stymied by criminals' rights. It's true of Will Munny from "Unforgiven," an aging gunslinger living in a world that won't allow him to retire. It's definitely on display in Walt Kowalski, the grouchy old man in "Gran Torino" who literally yells at people to get off his lawn. 

Eastwood, in interviews, is not as angry as all that. He seems like a clear-thinking fellow, definitely old-fashioned, and incredibly to-the-point. He famously cut through a lot of studio B.S. and essentially pushed "The Bridges of Madison County" into production. As a director, he's notoriously efficient, shooting quickly and requiring few takes from his actors (he only gave one piece of direction to Kevin Bacon during "Mystic River"). 

One can see, then, that Eastwood would be drawn to fictional characters who are equally forthright, and perhaps motivated by angry indignation. That's certainly a way to describe the Sub-Mariner, one of the very first superheroes to come out of Marvel Comics back in the 1930s. The original Hero Complex interview where Eastwood talked about the Sub-Mariner is not available, but it was quoted by ScreenRant, and he revealed that he was approached about playing Superman in 1978, but turned it down. He then admitted that Namor the Sub-Mariner — the hot-headed underwater prince of Atlantis — was more his bag anyway.

The biggest surprise of the interview was that Clint Eastwood was approached to play Superman at all. The 1978 "Superman" movie, directed by Richard Donner, ultimately cast Christopher Reeve in the title role, but the role was evidently offered to many big actors of the day, including Eastwood, James Caan, Nick Nolte, and Patrick Wayne, the son of John Wayne. It seems that some of the casting directors wanted a more intense, angry version of the Man of Steel, given that the above actors are mostly all known for playing grizzled and/or fiery characters.

About being cast, Eastwood was quoted as saying: 

"I was like, 'Superman? Nah, nah, that's not for me.' Not that there's anything wrong with it. It's for somebody, but not me. [...] The Sub-Mariner, that's the one I always liked. I had all of those comics when I was a kid." 

This clearly wasn't Eastwood expressing a need to play the Sub-Mariner on film, but a mere declaration of love. Namor the Sub-Mariner, as superhero fans know, first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 way back in October of 1939. He is the prince of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis, the son of a mer-woman and a human man. He can fly thanks to small wings on his ankles, and has a Vulcan appearance, sporting angled eyebrows and pointed ears. 

Over the years, the Sub-Mariner has rotated between being noble and being angry and destructive. Namor's impatience with land-dwellers and his general snippiness are the character's primary personality traits. Namor was the central villain in the 2022 film "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," wherein he was played by Tenoch Huerta. 

Eastwood was drawn to that. How fun.