Latveria

Latveria
Flag of Latveria
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Created by	Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist)
In story information
Type	European country
Notable people	Doctor Doom Lucia von Bardas Dreadknight

A rendition of the fictional nation of Latveria (in green) and its capital Doomstadt. Symkaria borders along the south.

Latveria is a fictional nation in the Marvel Comics Universe. It is an isolated European country ruled by the supervillain Doctor Doom, supposedly located in the Banat region. It is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, and also borders the fictional Symkaria (home of Silver Sable) to the south. Its capital is Doomstadt.

Publication history

Latveria first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #2, published in 1964. Victor von Doom is the ruler of Latveria. Though he has been dethroned a number of times, Victor has inevitably managed to return to the throne of his country within a matter of months.

Victor also has a council who obey him entirely. In Fantastic Four #536 in 2006, he killed his own Prime Minister for claiming control of Latveria in his absence, and threatened to kill two other ministers if they failed to find the landing spot of Thor's hammer.

Doctor Doom's style of rule can best be described as an absolute monarchy, as it was revealed that there is no legislature, and one minister boasted "Doctor Doom decides everything. His slightest whim is Latverian law!" It is shown Doom has devices throughout the Kingdom to watch his people and even has hidden weapons to prevent them leaving without his consent. In one story he is able to activate a force field around Latveria which prevents anybody leaving, though apparently it can be a defence against nuclear attack. (Avengers vol 1 #21)

Fictional history

Latveria was formed out of land annexed from southern Hungary centuries before, and possibly land from Serbia as well.^[1]

Latveria under the Fantastic Four

Due to Doom's constant activities that drive him away from Latveria, the monarch is often absent. After Doom's descent into Hell, the nation became a target for conquest by the neighboring countries. This forces Reed Richards to seize control of the country, attempting to pry the populace out from under the thumb of Doom, while at the same time disarming all of Doom's weaponry and technology, so if he ever returned, he would come back to absolutely nothing. In the process, Richards relocated Doom from Hell into a pocket dimension of his own design, and although Doom used his consciousness-switching abilities to escape, the death of his host body seemingly caused him to die as well, and the Fantastic Four pulled out of the country.

Recently, Doctor Doom has returned from Hell, and has retaken the reins of Latveria. He is however keeping his return a secret as of now, ruling via a puppet Prime Minister. Doctor Doom also uses robotic versions of himself to keep the peace while he's away.

Series of takeovers

After the Fantastic Four left, the United States attempted to fill the void left by Doom by establishing a democracy for the nation. The Countess Lucia von Bardas was elected as Prime Minister. However, when it was revealed that von Bardas was employing the Tinkerer to use Doom's technology to arm various tech-based villains in America, S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Nick Fury took action.

During Secret War, Fury and a number of superheroes invaded Latveria without permission of the US Government and attempted to assassinate von Bardas. While von Bardas survived, she was horribly disfigured and sought to destroy Fury and the heroes responsible. She was killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Daisy Johnson while trying to blow up New York with the armor of the various villains she employed.

Recent devastation

Much of Latveria was destroyed and the population severely reduced by an attack executed by the Marquis of Death (aka "Doom's Master").

S.H.I.E.L.D., under the leadership of Iron Man and his team of U.S. sanctioned Avengers invaded Latveria after discovering Doom's involvement in the release of a symbiote virus on New York. The country was yet again devastated and Doom was taken into custody for crimes against humanity.^[2]

Doom is released from prison due to the influence of H.A.M.M.E.R director Norman Osborn. He restores his nation with the use of his time travel technology.^[3]

Statistics

The common geographic description of Latveria places it as a small nation, around the area where Hungary, Romania and Serbia (Vojvodina) meet in real life. To its south in the Marvel universe is the nation of Symkaria, which is depicted as a benevolent constitutional monarchy in contrast to the dictatorship to its north. The capital city of Latveria is Doomstadt, formerly Hassenstadt (German for "Hatetown"), renamed when Doom seized power, located just north of the Kline River. The administrative center is Castle Doom.

• Population: 500,000 (This is an approximation since the government of Latveria has not allowed an outside census in over 20 years)
• Type of Government: Dictatorship (Victor von Doom prefers to call this an "enforced monarchy")
• Languages: German, Hungarian, English, Latverian (local dialect, derivative of Hungarian), Romany.
• Ethnic Groups: Mixed European stock, Roma, Greek.
• Major Business Centers: None
• Currency: Latverian Franc
• Public Holidays: Doom's Day, Christmas, New Year (Note: Doom's Day is an eclectic holiday, celebrated whenever Doom declares it. It is different from Doomsday)
• Airports: The only airport for the country, Doomsport, lies on the southern outskirts of Doomstadt. It maintains two runways and a modern terminal, but flights into and out of Doomsport are quite limited.

Demographics

The population consists of mixed European stock and Gypsies, in whose welfare von Doom takes a particular interest.

Law enforcement

Because it lacks a native superhero populace, Latveria relies largely on Dooms' robot sentinels called Doombots to keep law and order. One of the few known Latverian superhumans is Dreadknight, whom Doom himself created by punishing Dreadknight's alter ego for hoarding an idea from him.

Other versions

Marvel 1602

In the Marvel 1602 storyline, Latveria is ruled by Count Otto von Doom, also known as Otto the Handsome. It is inhabited by mythical beings, and Latveria experiments on intricate clockwork devices, one of which was used to kill Queen Elizabeth I of England. The native language appears to bear a close resemblance to modern German.

Marvel 2099

In the alternate future called "Marvel 2099", various power struggles over the fate of Latveria end with most of the country destroyed by nanites.

Marvel Zombies

In the Marvel Zombies storyline, Latveria is one of the last few outposts of humanity, as Doctor Doom gathers up the fittest and most fertile of the Latverian survivors in order to send them off to other dimensions. An army of super-zombies lay siege to Doom's castle and eventually break inside. Despite this and Doom himself being bitten, all the Latverian citizens successfully escape.

Ultimate Marvel

Latveria was introduced as a bankrupt peasant nation, but thanks to Doctor Doom it was made the ninth richest country on Earth. The townsfolk wear Doom's dragon tattoos as backup, the tattoos being far more than they seem, should anything ever happen to him. Where this Latveria lies is unclear but there are Belgian Flags on display in the background in the one picture displayed of Latveria.

In Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Latveria was presented as an impoverished dictatorial theocracy, under "his holiness" President Victor von Doom (wearing his traditional Marvel armour and cloak). They attempted, in collusion with the United States via Nick Fury, to steal the Iron Man technology from Tony Stark; this fails, partly due to the intervention of Spider-Man. At some point, however, Doom declared a holy war on America, creating tensions between two countries.^[4][5] This would be ignored and retconned away in later Ultimate Marvel titles.

In other media

Film

• In the Fantastic Four film, Latveria is mentioned initially in reference to Victor Von Doom's past and is described as "the old country", possibly indicating his birth there. After "The End" has appeared, Von Doom's incarcerated body is shown on board a ship bound for Latveria. Also during the scene where he first dons his trademark metal mask, a plaque can be seen declaring it as a gift to Doom from the people of Latveria. In the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Doom is reawakened in his castle by the Silver Surfer's passage through Latveria. The capital's name has been changed from "Doomstadt" to "Hattenstadt".

Video games

• In the 1980s computer game Accolade's Comics the protagonist Steve Keene is offered tickets to the Latverian Ballet.
• In Spider-Man: The Game, a billboard can be seen in the first level advertising tourism in Latvania, a misspelling of Latveria.
• Latveria is referred to in the Spider-Man 2 video game when J. Jonah Jameson says that a Latverian diplomat is landing at the United Nations building by helicopter, although circumstances force the player to miss sighting any such diplomat.
• In the Ultimate Spider-Man video game, the Beetle was reported to have ducked into the Latverian Embassy after evading Spider-Man. In the special edition of the game, the player can look at concept art that shows what happens to Beetle after his confrontation with Spider-Man. He flies into the embassy and walks up to a throne, kneels down, and presents the Sandman vial to Doctor Doom in some plot to develop super-soldiers for Latveria. Later on in the game, the Green Goblin is later seen escaping from the Latverian Embassy.
• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Castle Doom in Latveria is a level. If the player asks about Latveria to Vision, he mentions that there is barely any crime there since Doom's robots are always patrolling the country.
• The Latverian Embassy is featured in The Incredible Hulk video game.
• Latveria is featured in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. The first part of the game is based on the Secret War storyline. Nick Fury leads the heroes to Latveria to deal with Lucia von Bardas after the President does not want to take action against her illegal activities.

References

1. ^ Fantastic Four #504
2. ^ The Mighty Avengers #7-12 (2007)
3. ^ Dark Avengers #4 (2009)
4. ^ Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #4
5. ^ Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #14

External links

• Latveria at Marvel.com
• Article on History of Latveria