Movies - TV
Why Does Namor Say Imperius Rex In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
By JAMIE GERBER
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
If you've seen "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," chances are you'd like to know more about the movie's main antagonist, Namor the Sub-Mariner. More importantly, you might wonder why the character utters the phrase "Imperius Rex" during a key moment in the film.
Considered by many to be comics' first antihero, Namor, along with his contemporaries, would be reinvented in the Silver Age of American superhero comics. With those changes came the catchphrase "Imperius Rex!" which Namor mainly uses as a battle cry, though he has said it on other occasions as well.
Imperious does come from the Latin word imperium, which means "command, authority, empire" and rex is Latin for King. However, in 2018’s "Thor" #1, Namor tells a curious Thor that “Imperius Rex” means, “I'm going to feed your sorry Asgardian hide to the biggest sharks I can find!"