History of the Latverian Flag

 

Thanks to my delightful younglings and extended family, I have recently been indoctrinated into the cult known as Fortnite. For those who don’t know on the 16^th of August 2024, the popular video game Fortnite’s Battle Royale released its latest narrative update, Chapter 5: Season 4 called ‘Absolute Doom’, which focuses on Marvel’s premier villain and the Fantastic Four’s most fearsome foe, the self-appointed Monarch of Latveria himself, Victor Von Doom aka Doctor Doom.

 

In terms of plot, Doctor Doom has seized control of the current formation of the Battle Royale Island, known as Helios, remaking much of it to resemble his beloved home country of Latveria as his ‘Kingdom of Doom’. This includes new landmarks such as Doomstadt, Doom’s Courtyard and Castle Doom, all adorned in Latverian Flags. Which finally brings me to my extremely belaboured point, the topic for today: the History of the Latverian Flag.

 

The Kingdom of Latveria first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #2, which also presents the first time we see what could be considered a national flag, emblem or regal symbols. We’ll see a few reoccurring motifs in later stories, such as Doom’s stylised capitalised ‘D’ and the emblem with an eagle.

 

Following this is in Fantastic Four #85-#87 we glimpse various more banners and designs with the most notable this time an eagle on a sceptre, and the return of the ‘D’ logo, the latter of which may simply be Victor’s personal mark.

 

Oddly, Incredible Hulk #143 is the first time we get a clear look at what is unmistakeably a flag for Latveria outside their embassy in New York when Doom brings the Hulk there, and it’s also very different from what has come before. Depicted as a red flag with a completely different black eagle-like design in the centre, with a nighttime exception inverting this colour scheme (presumably a simple case of artistic licence) and on the issue’s final page we see the bird as simply a lighter red, notably alongside other flags.

 

In the 1987 Marvel Graphic Novel Emperor Doom, we again see various stylised capital ‘D’ insignia adorning various items after Doctor Doom uses the Daredevil villain Purple Man’s mind control powers to become ruler of the entire planet Earth.

 

In the graphic novel Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment the eagle and sceptre design returns, helping create something of a throughline across the decades.

 

I’ve discussed the significance of both the Onslaught and Heroes Reborn events to the MC2 in the past, and here we have another situation where it might apply as Doctor Doom was among those who apparently perished saving the world from the psychic entity known as Onslaught. It's revealed that Franklin Richards used his amazing abilities to create a pocket dimension to save his parents and all the other heroes. The reborn heroes would awaken in this pocket dimension to live out new lives, unaware of their pasts. In this new world, Doctor Doom again rules Latveria and we see an assortment of flags on display in Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #4, including the ‘D’ and eagle designs.

 

We get the first iteration of what has become the most iconic Latverian flag on the covers for Doom: The Emperor Returns #1 and #2. It may be argued this is not a national flag at all, but a flag symbolising the sovereign himself, Doctor Doom. This one is a bit questionable as it first appears on the Counter-Earth created by Franklin Richards at a point after the MC2 branches off or diverges from the Main Marvel Universe. Doctor Doom finds himself back on this Counter-Earth and sets about conquering it, dubbing it ‘Planet Doom’.

 

We’ll see versions of the above design continue to crop up back on the regular old Marvel Earth in Secret War #5, Penance: Relentless #4, Books of Doom #6 and Captain America (vol. 5) #23 right up until the date of this writing. A version of this flag is what appears in the video game Fortnite and sparked the idea for this post, which speaks to its popularity.

 

However, it’s worth mentioning we do get at least one more markedly different Latverian flag in the Marvel Atlas #1 from 2007. This depicts an armoured gauntlet grasping lighting bolts. This design does not appear to have caught on however as I haven’t seen it reused anywhere.

 

There may be many more examples of possible Latverian flag designs I am unaware of, but hopefully this has proven informative. With all this context in mind, I wonder what the MC2’s Latverian flag looks like? The war between Namor, the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom left Atlantis destroyed and Latveria’s former capital city Doomstadt in ruins, and in it’s wake Doom was presumed dead for 12 years. We do not know much about its political situation, but the nation’s flag may well have changed to reflect it’s new status. Just something to think about.

 

A huge shout out to the classic Doctor Doom fan site, Doom2099.com for the much-needed obscure fictional vexillological information. I miss discovering such places online and I would encourage you all to seek them out and support them whenever possible while they remain! Major props to arias-98105 as always for the constant support.

 

Until I rescue my beloved mother’s soul from the grasp of the dreaded demon Mephisto, I remain

 

frogoat

 

Wolverine in the MC2

It’s been a good year to be an X-Men fan with the animated revival series X-Men ’97 and the upcoming third Deadpool movie in the series with Deadpool & Wolverine due for release in mere days. As you’d expect by now, today’s post will be focused on the MC2 incarnation of the mutant who’s the best there is at what he does: Wolverine in the MC2.

 

The short, hairy, Canadian mutant known as Wolverine first appeared in a cameo on the final page of Incredible Hulk #180 before making his first full appearance in Incredible Hulk #181, where Wolverine reveals to the Hulk his claws are ‘forged of diamond-hard Adamantium’.. We first see Wolverine without his mask in X-Men #98, which is also where we first learned his claws came from within his body, not his gloves. His current name ‘Logan’ was first used by a leprechaun in X-Men #103, as odd as it might seem.

 

Logan clarifies he has a healing factor in X-Men #116 and mention is made of his ‘unbreakable bones’ in X-Men #124 before X-Men #126 has Logan outright state he has ‘a skeleton made of about three million bucks worth of Adamantium’. We see this ‘Weapon X’ experiment play out in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents #72-#84. Logan survives the experiment due to his mutant healing factor but loses his memory.

 

Then we come to the X-Men storyline known as Fatal Attractions, during which Magneto returns to his villainous ways and uses his powers to rip the Adamantium from Wolverine (X-Men (vol. 2) #25), nearly killing him and shortly afterwards revealing Logan had bone claws beneath the Adamantium the whole time (Wolverine (vol. 2) #75).

 

The final major point I need to touch upon is the fact that despite the mini-series Wolverine: The Origin being published after the MC2 universe branched from the Main Marvel Universe, it’s revelations can or may be considered canon to the MC2 version of the character as it is the resolution to a pre-existing and long-running plot about Wolverine’s origin and past. The main take away for now, barring any future implementations from ‘Origin’, is Logan’s real name was James Howlett and he really is Canadian (The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005).

 

Now let’s get our claws into Wolverine in the MC2! With the introduction of Rina Logan aka Wild Thing we also saw the arrival of her father, Wolverine in J2 #5. Here we learn that Logan is in a relationship with to Elektra Natchios when he heads to New York to find their daughter after she targets J2 to learn what he knows about the fate of the original Juggernaut. Logan arrives to end the fight in his full classic yellow and blue costume (notably without his X-Belt) and tells J2 that Jubilee has vouched for him.

 

 

 

The next time we see Wolverine is in a flashback where, after a few references to the original mutant team in the series, we get our first glimpse of the X-Men in J2 #7 via a flashback to 'The Last Days of the Original Juggernaut'. It's here we learn Cain Marko aka the Juggernaut reformed and joined the X-Men, eventually being lost on a mission while at the Crossroads of Infinity though some details would remain unrevealed. Wolverine leads the X-Men team that Cain Marko joins and other teammates included Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), Synch (Everett Thomas), Siryn (Theresa Cassidy) and 'Hopper'. As Rina mentioned in J2 #5, Logan feels responsible for the disappearance of Marko.

 

Aside from single panel flashbacks to his early X-Men adventures, Wolverine next appears in a fun two-page story from J2 #9 where he spars with Wild Thing, demonstrating just how proud he is of his little girl.

 

We get a great issue featuring J2 on the road with Wolverine when they journey to Madripoor seeking Logan’s daughter Rina after receiving word she was there and assuming she’d been kidnapped. Zane, a huge Wolverine fanboy, gets a very different experience than he bargained for teaming up with his idol. The pair eventually learn Rina is safe and sound with the mutant Daze and the mistress of magnetism Magneta, with the latter attempting once again to recruit other mutants in hopes of forming a super team (J2 #10).

 

In J2 #11, alongside Cyclops, Logan and Elektra watch on Rina runs the gauntlet against Jubilee’s team, the X-People. After Wild Thing proves herself, Jubilee declares she has passed the initiation and may join the X-People as a probationary member. Rina declines, stating she only did it because her father asked her to which Cyclops remarks she reminds him of Logan.

 

In Wild Thing #1 briefly appears after Rina as Wild Thing stops the kidnapping of her classmate Cameron Bryce-Jones. Picking Rina up on his Harley Davidson bike, he assures her that if she were ever kidnapped he would track her down himself and let nothing stop him.

 

Around this time, Wolverine made an appearance in Wild Thing #0 where in he calls upon Doctor Strange to attempt to remove the cure of the Wendigo from the land around Hudson Bay. With the aid of the Hulk, Wolverine and Wild Thing, Doctor Strange successfully lifts the curse.

 

Rina and Logan spend some quality father-daughter time together embracing their animal instincts until they encounter a member of the other-dimensional demon race the N’Garai in the middle of Central Park. The two manage to drive it back and destroy the cairn it used to arrive before they head home (Wild Thing #4).

 

While bonding with his daughter Rina by tracking her through the New Jersey Pine Barrens, Logan is the first super hero to be abducted in a plot secretly masterminded by the Asgardian Loki (Spider-Girl #85, Last Hero Standing #1-#2).

Under the dark influence of Loki’s enchantment, Wolverine is among the super heroes who are returned to Earth and filled with malice, engage their fellow heroes in battle. When Loki enthralls and enrages the Hulk he fights the various assembled heroes including Wolverine. In the end the sacrifice of Captain America ultimately saves the day and Wolverine is among those present to witness his death (Last Hero Standing #3-#5)

 

With Galactus enacting his final solution to resolve his hunger and in the process destroy the universe, the combined forces of the super hero community working to penetrate his force field and combat his doomsday weapon’s launch. Wolverine is among the heroes who inadvertently inspires The Vision to finally join the fray, going against orders from President G.W. Bridge. This issue also appear to be the only time Logan interacts on-panel with his son, Hudson aka Sabreclaw (Last Planet Standing #4). Wolverine soon after witnesses the birth of a new entity composed of the Silver Surfer and Galactus which could harness a new form of energy known as The Power Essential (Last Planet Standing #5).

 

Wolverine’s last appearances are also cameos in the pages of Avengers Next #4 and off-panel in #5. When Loki's daughter Sylene attempts to restore the devastated Asgard by recreating it on Earth, she creates energy duplicates of various super humans to serve her purposes. Logan is among those rendered comatose in the process of creating these duplicates. When Sylene is defeated, Wolverine’s duplicate dissipates, and Logan is presumably restored.

 

I know I’m not alone in hoping we see more from the MC2 incarnation of Canada’s favourite son, especially given the Wild Thing series was abruptly cancelled so we never got to see Sabreclaw, Wild Thing and Wolverine together.

 

Until I can get early tickets to see Deadpool & Wolverine to get ahead of spoilers, I remain

 

frogoat