"QUEEN OF THE SUB-SEA REALM"

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Unrevealed (see comments) (1950s)

Occupation: Would-be conqueror

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Mephistios, Tarna, and at least seven others

Enemies: Sub-Mariner

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Baby," "Beautiful," "Darling," "Gorgeous," "Lady," "Sister," "Sugar," "Toots" (as called by Namor)

Base of Operations: An undersea grotto, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean (presumably)

First Appearance: Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1 (June, 1954)

Powers/Abilities: Possibly supernaturally empowered (see comments), the Queen was able to survive both above or below water, although her body decomposed after she was taken from her base of operations. She had a low threshold for pain.

The Queen utilized an undersea "wind tunnel" to capture boats.

History: (Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1 (fb) - BTS) - The Queen of the Sub-Sea Realm's past is shrouded in mystery, but at some point, she was tortured and killed. She somehow returned to life and built an undersea "wind tunnel" to catch unsuspecting sailors.

(Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1 (fb) - BTS) - A sailboat (S.S. Lucky), carrying over a dozen teenage boys and girls, mysteriously disappeared while it was at sea -- it was actually captured by the Queen and her forces using the "wind tunnel" device, and the teenagers were imprisoned in the undersea grotto.

(Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1) - After he was contacted by the U.S. Coast Guard, Namor went to search for the missing vessel. The Sub-Mariner noticed some air bubbles coming out of the mouth of an undersea cave, so he went inside to investigate. He found the "wind tunnel" device built within the cave, but was suddenly struck from behind and knocked unconscious.

  Namor was captured by Tarna and another underling, and brought before the Queen's throne when he revived. After some questioning, the Queen thought Namor to be a spy, so she ordered him taken to the torture chamber, but the Sub-Mariner was later freed by Mephistios, who told him where to find the Queen.

  The Sub-Mariner slipped back into the Queen's chamber and took her hostage. Using her as a shield, Namor forced her to order her guards to release the captured teens, then he made her show him the controls for the "wind tunnel". Namor reversed the motor on the device and sent the young victims and their sailboat safely back to the ocean's surface. Taking the captured Queen to the surface, Namor advised her to wait for him ("...or I'll break every bone in your body!!!"), then he went aboard the S.S. Lucky and radioed the Coast Guard to send a rescue boat. Namor returned to the Queen, who begged him not to hurt her, and hinted at her true nature ("I can't stand pain...I had too much of it when I was ALIVE! When I died, I swore I'd get even...I swore I'd find a way to torture every living person I could get my hands on!").

  Namor swam back down and reactivated the "wind tunnel" to blast all of the Queen's underlings from the cave, then returned to the surface again with the Queen as the Coast Guard boat arrived. As he pulled the Queen aboard the boat, Namor found that her body had decomposed and she was reduced to skeletal remains. The Sub-Mariner threw the remains overboard, but he noticed an undertow of current as the "wind tunnel" was reactivated. Namor stayed behind while the rescue boat cleared the current and headed for the mainland.

  As the Sub-Mariner searched the surface, he heard the Queen's taunting voice telling him that he may have won the first round, but he couldn't win forever. Furious, Namor dived back into the depths. Suddenly, there was the shockwave of an explosion as the "wind tunnel" apparently blew up, leaving Namor with no definite answers.

Comments: Created by an unknown writer and Bill Everett.

It's been over fifty years now, and the Queen hasn't been seen yet for "round two".

This story was reprinted in Marvel Super-Heroes I#14 (May, 1968) -- which is where I got these scans -- but I've seen this story in its original form and noticed some skin-color differences: In the original, Mephistios was Caucasian, while Tarna and the others had pale-yellow skin; in the reprint, they were re-colored with blue skin, so I guess we can consider this reprint to be a ret-con and all the Queen's men can now be considered to be Atlantean homo mermani.

The "Queen of the Sub-Sea Realm" was never actually called that in this story, but in checking this issue out on comics.org, I found that they have her listed as such, so for the purposes of this profile, I'll go with that -- I tried to come up with an actual name for her, but couldn't think of anything I liked, so feel free to offer suggestions.

The Queen's apparent demise and revival at the end of the story, plus her ability to survive both above and below water, would seem to imply that she was a supernaturally-based character, but nothing was revealed of her origins, nor does it seem likely that anything ever will be -- it was only a six-page story, so they didn't have time to explain all the intricate details.

(The following is purely speculative on my part, and therefore subject to change)
I'm going to hazard a guess and speculate that maybe the Queen was once a minor sorceress on the ancient continent of Atlantis, who ruled a small kingdom (perhaps she was once even a disciple of Thulsa Doom or Varnae). She was later overthrown and executed for her crimes, and entombed in a cave; but before she died, she made a pact with certain dark forces to return if her tomb was ever opened. Many centuries after the Great Cataclysm, her sunken tomb was unwittingly disturbed by a band of Atlantean outcasts (Mephistios, Tarna, et al), and she was released. But her life-force was somehow tied to her realm, and she could not venture far beyond it without decomposing, so she had her men use Atlantean technology to build the "wind tunnel" to bring her victims (possibly to be used in some type of mass-sacrifice ritual).

BTW - Were I a responsible parent, I think I'd be a little leery about letting my teenaged son or daughter go on an unescorted cruise on a sailboat named the S.S. Lucky...

NOTE - ("I can't torture a guy what used to be my hero!"), -- no, there is not a misspelling, and I know it should be "I can't torture a guy THAT used to be my hero!", but that's the way the ungrammatical Mephistios spoke in the story.

The Queen Of The Sub-Sea Realm resembles Neptina. Inspired by a Venus villain having the same name of the Fin's kingdom Neptunia and one of Namora's 3 names (Aquaria Nautica Neptunia), I would give the Queen Of The Sub-Sea Realm the name Aquaria after the Timely Comics' name for Atlantis (Marvel Mystery Comics#15 (January, 1941; Sub-Mariner story--Atlantis called Aquaria). The Queen Of The Sub-Sea Realm could be from a colony of the aquatic Caucasian race seen in Timely Presents: Human Torch#1 (February, 1999; reprinting Human Torch Comics#5 (Fall 1941), page 5 panel 6 & page 6 panel 1; see the War Council/Delegates--Seal-People, Caucasian People, "Shark-People" (resemble Mako), Namor, Krang, Rathia and either her delegate (green-skinned) or a Lai-Son). Since the Inhumans claimed the continent of Atlantis as their ancestral home (page 10 panels 1 and 2 of Fantastic Four I#401 (June, 1995) ). Then that race of aquatic Caucasians in Human Torch Comics#5 and the Queen Of The Sub-Sea Realm must be Inhumans. This means that Kala and her people are Inhumans too. Dynaman and his city Korug (an advanced civilization) could also be continental Atlanteans and Inhumans.
--Gammatotem

Profile by John Kaminski

CLARIFICATIONS:
The "Queen of the Sub-Sea Realm" has no known connection to:

• any other characters with similar names

Mephistios has no known connections to:

• Mephista, Mephisto's daughter @ Dr. Strange III#6
• Mephisto, Hell-Lord @ Silver Surfer I#3
• Mephitisoid, century old Shi'ar foe @ Avengers I#378
• any other characters with similar names

Mephistios

This simple-minded brute was the Queen's torture-master. The only thing known of his past is that when he was a child, his hero was the Sub-Mariner.

One day, he was ordered by the Queen to torture her latest prisoner, but when Mephistios saw his intended victim to actually be the Sub-Mariner, the big lug had a change of heart ("I can't torture a guy what used to be my hero!"), and he became an unlikely ally to Namor when he released him from captivity.

--Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1

Tarna and the others

Armed with swords, they were the Queen's loyal underlings. They were later scattered by the vortex created by the "wind tunnel," and possibly killed in the explosion of the device.

--Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1

"Wind Tunnel"

A large motor built within an undersea cave, it could generate a current that was strong enough to pull boats down into it.

The motor could also be reversed to create a vortex and send anything it captured back to the surface.

The "Wind Tunnel" was apparently destroyed when it later exploded.

--Sub-Mariner Comics#34/1

images:
Sub-Mariner Comics#34, p2, pan4 (Queen on throne, facing Namor)