Marvel Studios holds ultimate control over the film rights to Namor the Sub-Mariner.

President Kevin Feige explained that, if a movie were to be released featuring the Atlantean anti-hero, it would be from Marvel.

Rumours have previously placed the film rights to the character in the hands of Universal and Legendary Pictures.

Feige denied that Legendary could release such a film, although the control of rights is not completely clear cut.

"[It's] slightly more complicated than that," he told IGN.

"Let's put it this way - there are entanglements that make it less easy. There are older contracts that still involve other parties that mean we need to work things out before we move forward on it.

"As opposed to an Iron Man or any of the Avengers or any of the other Marvel characters where we could just put them in."

Namor is one of the oldest Marvel Comics characters, appearing in Timely Comics' Marvel Comics #1 in 1939.

Marvel does not control the film rights to all its characters, with the X-Men and Fantastic Four at 20th Century Fox and Spider-Man with Sony Pictures.