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

 

Spider-Symmetry: The Sinister and Savage Six

 

Today’s post is part of a very occasional series where I like to highlight the visual or narrative symmetry between the Spider-Man and Spider-Girl comics. For this entry, I wanted to demonstrate a great example, this time from MC2 mainstay and Spider-Girl artist extraordinaire Pat Olliffe.

 

Presented for your consideration, Spider-Girl #25, the double-sized anniversary issue which is probably best known for parallelling and referencing the Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, the first appearance of the villainous team, the Sinister Six. The references include the introduction of a new generation of six (or is it seven?!) super villains who come together as the Savage Six, the Spidey of the day losing their powers, the kidnapping of two supporting characters and the use of gorgeous splash pages to punctuate each battle. Certainly, credit must go to both writer Tom Defalco and artist Pat Olliffe for this loving tribute to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original work.

 

What’s less a direct reference or parallel to the first Sinister Six story is the cover to Spider-Girl #25, which doesn’t homage Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1. Instead, it references the next Sinister Six story. The Return of the Sinister Six is, appropriately, a six-issue story arc spanning from Amazing Spider-Man #334 to Amazing Spider-Man #339. By now, it’s obvious that the cover of Spider-Girl #25 is an homage to Amazing Spider-Man #337.

 

There’s a lot more to breakdown when it comes to this issue, and it’s obviously just a single example of the literally hundreds of references, homages and continuations present throughout the MC2. But that’s it from me for today!

 

Until I lose my powers either before or after fighting a team of six villains whom I’ve faced separately in the past, I remain

 

frogoat

Does Groot Exist in the MC2?

 

Here’s a fun idea I’ve been batting around in my brain for a little while: What characters could exist in the MC2, but where never seen or weren’t introduced until afterwards? I wanted to start by looking at some of the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy to see who could one day appear in the MC2. I’ll focus on one Guardian member per post, with the subject of today’s speculation and examination being Groot.

 

First, we must consider some rules, ironic though it may seem for a thought experiment such as this. Usually the MC2 point of divergence, ‘cut off point’ or ‘branching point’ is comics published after 1998, when the MC2 imprint began publication. There have been exceptions to this, with some characters who were created after this point appearing in the MC2, such as Anya Corazón aka Araña but we’ll stick with some of the individual characters who would go on to form the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Main Marvel Universe. As you’ll see, this itself poses its own challenges.

 

Going in publication order, our first would-be Guardian is everyone’s favourite Flora Colossus from Planet X, Groot. First appearing in the pre-Marvel era Tales to Astonish #13 in 1960, the Groot introduced is of a very different temperament, declaring he is the monarch of Planet X and plans to take an entire town back to his people for study. Proving impervious to fire and weaponry, Groot controlled the nearby forest to ensnare the town, only to be defeated and seemingly killed by specially grown termites.

While this story occurs before the start of the so-called ‘Marvel Age’ (pre-Fantastic Four #1) Groot’s existence in the Main Marvel Universe is confirmed when the Defenders and Hulk foe Xemnu duplicates various monsters that had visited earth in the past and sends them against the Hulk to wear him down. This Groot dupe was destroyed decisively by the Incredible Hulk, but now we can be certain the events of Groot’s first appearance did happen canonically within the history of the Main Marvel Universe (Incredible Hulk Annual #5).

Remaining obscure for decades, we don’t see Groot in print for a long time, and when we do it’s in a very odd publication. In the pages of Marvel Swimsuit Special #2, which believe it or not has a narrative (shallow and sketchy though it may be) that involves the heroes of the Marvel Universe being summoned to Monster Island by way of the Infinity Gems for a party at the behest of Pip the Troll. While there, twin siblings Aurora and Northstar of the Canadian super team Alpha Flight are observed by Groot and various Moloids while the pair…relax in swimwear. So, Groot is now confirmed to be alive and residing on Monster Island, too.

 

Amusingly, Groot makes another pre-MC2 appearance of sorts, in Sensational Spider-Man #-1. Having read various monster comics before bed, a young Peter Parker dreams he and his Uncle Ben are attacked while on a fishing trip by the monsters, including Groot, until awakening and realising it was all a bad dream. Unbeknownst to him, the dream was the work of the being known as Nightmare.

 

It’s worth mentioning that there is some disagreement, retroactively, about whether the Groot who would go on to meet and join other members of the Guardians of the Galaxy is the same as the one that terrorised the town in Tales to Astonish #13. Fortunately, that’s outside the purview of this blog. Thank goodness!

 

There are some later published stories set during the period we are considering but even if they were included, they certainly do not preclude Groot from existing in the MC2. That is about it for appearances that were published before the MC2 saw publication, but it’s enough to confirm that Groot existed and thus has the potential to appear in a future MC2-set story someday. As a favourite of mine, I’d love to see this wooden titan make an appearance in the MC2, in some, shape or form. Probably in the form of a tree, I guess.

 

Until I manage to work ‘I am Groot’ into my daily lexicon, I remain

 

frogoat