Somehow, Atlantis Attacked...again.

I poke fun, but I also don't know if I remember seeing this when it was coming out. If I had, maybe I would've remembered it was five issues, not four. Grrr...From 2021, Atlantis Attacks #4, "Secrets Revealed" Written by Greg Pak, art by Ario Anindito and Robert Gill, color art by Rachelle Rosenberg.

This would've been based on much more recent continuity, not going back to the 1989 annual event, or even to Namor's then fairly recent demise (and return) at the hands of the Squadron Supreme. Instead, this followed the creation of the new Agents of Atlas in War of the Realms and was somehow a King in Black crossover as well. High point recap: Jimmy Woo had both his new and original Agents, mostly defending the Pacific rim. Billionaire Mike Nguyen had built a "portal city" called Pan, which featured a teleportation network that could reach numerous cities worldwide, including Tokyo and NYC. (This would've been when the mutants had Krakoa, did everyone teleport everywhere for that stretch?) But, of course there's a dark secret--uh, no, not the dark you're thinking of when billionaires come up--the city was powered by scales of a captured Atlantean dragon! Namor, of course, won't let that stand: most of the Agents aren't especially keen on enslaving the dragon either, but maybe don't want millions to die if the Atlanteans attack the city. Throw in another underwater faction, the Sirenas; who hated both Namor and the dragon, and partnered up with Nguyen against them.

Even with assorted forces closing in Atlantis, Namor is still prepared to fight his way through whoever and destroy Pan himself. Nguyen appears to him via hologram, wanting to cut a deal, since he thought he had all the cards. Namor realizes, as civilians try to defend their homes, that Nguyen had opened the city to refugees not out of benevolence, but more to use as human shields. Nguyen thinks he, Namor, and the Sirenas would be unstoppable together; Namor counters, no one could stop him now, and he wasn't about to make a deal with someone he couldn't trust...a lesson politicians in the real world are maybe starting to learn in dealing with the U.S, but that's neither here nor there.

Namor's fight with newcomers Luna Snow and Aero is cut short, as M-11 hacks Nguyen's mainframe, which exposes Jimmy Woo's secret: there were more dragons. In fact, earth was perhaps secretly ruled by dragons, including Woo's consigliere of the Atlas Corporation, Mr. Lao. But, Woo went along with it, because if the dragons weren't fighting with human proxies, they could destroy the world themselves. The argument continues, while young hero Wave saves Atlantis from the dragon: the second time she'd save Atlantis in this series, so she was pretty popular there, even when Namor shows up. Back in Pan, Amadeus Cho discovers Nguyen's secret bunker, but Nguyen then takes control of Cho with a robot crab, beefing him back up into the Totally Awesome Hulk! To be continued...which is super-annoying, since I found four issues in the same box. That fifth, though...