Latveria

Not to be confused with Latvia.

Latveria
Fantastic Four location
A rendition of the nation of Latveria (in green) and its capital Doomstadt. Symkaria borders along the south.
Flag of Latveria
Created by	Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
In-universe information
Type	Autocracy
Ruler	Doctor Doom
Location	Europe
Locations	Doomstadt (capital)
Characters	Doctor Doom Lucia von Bardas Dreadknight
Currency	Latverian Franc

Latveria is a fictional country appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is depicted within the storylines of Marvel's comic titles as a small, isolated European country ruled by the fictional Supreme Lord Doctor Doom, supposedly located in the Banat region. It is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, and borders 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 on numerous occasions, he has invariably managed to return to the throne of his country within a matter of months.

Doom also has a Council who obeys him entirely. In Fantastic Four #536 (2006), he kills his own Prime Minister for claiming control of Latveria in his absence and threatens to kill two other ministers if they failed to locate Thor's hammer.

Doctor Doom's style of rule can best be described as an absolute monarchy. Doom has surveillance devices planted throughout the country and has hidden force fields to prevent its residents from leaving without his consent.

Fictional history

Located in southeast Europe, Latveria was formed out of land annexed from southern Hungary centuries before, and possibly land from Serbia as well as Romania.

Latveria under the Fantastic Four

When Doom descends into Hell, the nation is targeted by neighbouring countries, forcing Reed Richards to take control. He disarms Doom's technology and imprisons him in a pocket dimension of his own design. Although Doom uses his consciousness-switching abilities to escape, the death of his host body seemingly kills him as well, and the Fantastic Four pull out of the country. Doom survives and rules Latveria for a time with a 'puppet' Prime Minister and robotic enforcers.

Series of takeovers

After the Fantastic Four leave, the United States attempt to fill the void left by Doom by establishing a democractic government, with Lucia von Bardas as Prime Minister. However, when it is revealed that von Bardas was employing the Tinkerer to give Doom's technology to various tech-based villains in the United States, S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Nick Fury takes action.

During Secret War, Fury and several superheroes invade Latveria and attempt to kill von Bardas. She survives, but is disfigured and seeks revenge before being killed by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson.

Country-wide disasters

Much of Latveria is destroyed and the population severely reduced by an attack executed by the Marquis of Death.

S.H.I.E.L.D., under the leadership of Iron Man and his team of sanctioned Avengers, invade Latveria after discovering Doom's unintentional involvement in the release of a symbiote virus on New York. The country is devastated and Doom imprisoned for crimes against humanity. However, Doom is released with help from Norman Osborn and He restores his nation using his time travel technology.

Statistics

Latveria is a small nation located where Hungary, Romania and Serbia meet in real life. The capital city of Latveria is Doomstadt, formerly Hassenstadt, which is located north of the Kline River and was renamed when Doom seized power.

Points of interest

• Castle Doom - An ancient castle with modern-day technology where Doom lives.
• Doomstadt ("City of Doom") - The capital of Latveria, replacing on the map the real-life Romanian city of Timișoara.
• Doomsport - The sole airport of Latveria, located on the southern outskirts of Doomstadt.

Demographics

The population consists of mixed European stock and Romani people, in whose welfare Doom takes a particular interest. Doom, being Roma, has declared the Romani a protected class and attempts to benefit them. However, due to Latveria's poor economy and oppressive rule, their lifestyles hardly outshine other ethnicities, and the Romani by and large live in the same fear of their own government as do fellow Latverians.

Law enforcement

Latveria relies largely on Doom's robotic sentinels, the Doombots, to keep law and order. One of the few known Latverian superhumans is Dreadknight, who became an enemy of Doom after he punished him for hoarding ideas.

Economy

Much of Latveria's economy depends on Doctor Doom's high-tech inventions. The country's official currency is the Latverian franc - because Doctor Doom refuses to join the European Union or adopt the euro. The Latverian franc is still considered to be reasonably strong against the United States dollar.

State

Latveria is generally depicted as a rural nation with a primitive economy and edieval lifestyle. Nonetheless, the state itself is consistently depicted as a global superpower, largely due to Doom's scientific genius. Doom also proudly claims that the country is free of poverty, disease, famine and crime and while citizens of the nation are commonly shown to be oppressed and to live in fear of their monarch, they are also shown to be relatively well cared for, so long as they do not cross Doom. Other occasions suggest that Doom is at the centre of a self-propagated personality cult and is admired and worshipped by other segments of the populace in spite of his mistreatments and he is often demonstrated to be at least a more stable and less corrupt ruler than other Latverian leaders.

Known inhabitants

• Doctor Doom - The current ruler of Latveria.
• Cynthia Von Doom - The mother of Doctor Doom.
• Werner Von Doom - A talented doctor of the Zefiro Gypsy Tribe and Doctor Doom's father.
• Valeria - The teenage love of Doctor Doom's life who is the granddaughter of Boris. Her life was sacrificed to the Haazareth Three (a group of demons) by Doctor Doom.
• Alexander Flynn - The alleged mutant son of Doctor Doom and an unidentified Romani woman.
• Arturo Frazen - He was installed as Latveria's ambassador during the temporary reign of Prince Zorba Fortunov.
• Boris - Doctor Doom's Zefiro guardian since childhood and closest confidant.
• Cristos Malachi - A one-time member of Doctor Doom's Zefiro Gypsy Clan. He served as the Zefiro Gypsy Clan's fortune-teller.
• Djordji Zindelo Hungaro - The Zefiro mystic who trained Cynthia Von Doom in the mystic arts.
• Dreadknight - A Latverian scientist who had a skull-shaped cybernetic helmet bio-fused to his head by Doctor Doom and developed a vendetta against him.
• Editor - He was tasked with rewriting Latverian history to conform with Doctor Doom's world view.
• Fydor Gittrlsohn - One of Doctor Doom's chief scientists.
• Gert Hauptmann - One of Doctor Doom's chief scientists and the brother of Gustav Hauptmann. His attempt at betrayal led to his death at the hands of Doctor Doom.
• Gustav Hauptmann - One of Doctor Doom's chief scientists. He was a former Nazi that worked for Adolf Hitler and Red Skull. When the flamethrower that Gustav was using to attack Mister Fantastic with endangered his art collection, Doctor Doom reversed the sonic weapon he planned to use on the Fantastic Four and killed Gustav Hauptmann instead.
• Gustav von Kampen - A one-time member of Doctor Doom's Zefiro Gypsy Clan.
• Hans Stutgart - A Latverian agent who is living in the United States.
• Jakob Gorzenk - He serves as the chief ambassador to the United States.
• King Vladimir Vassily Gonereo Tristian Mangegi Fortunov - The tyrannical ruler of Latveria who was extremely harsh to the gypsies that lived on the borders. He was killed by Doctor Doom.
• Kristoff Vernard - The adopted son of Doctor Doom. His mother was killed by a robot that was used by Prince Zorba Fortunov.
• Kroft family - A family of vampire hunters that existed from the 16th century to the 19th century.
• Larin - A Tibetan Monk who helped to construct Doctor Doom's first armor.
• Lucia von Bardas - The Prime Minister of Latveria.
• Mengo Brothers - A pair of international mercenaries.
• Otto Kronsteig - One of Doctor Doom's chief scientists.
• Prince Rudolfo Fortunov - The former crown prince of Latveria before his family was ousted by Doctor Doom.
• Prince Zorba Fortunov - The former prince of Latveria and brother of Rudolfo. He once reclaimed the throne to Latveria when the Fantastic Four had defeated Doctor Doom. With the help of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom was able to reclaim his throne.
• Seven Daggers of Doom - A group of Latverian mutants who serve Doctor Doom. They consist of siblings Dreamer and Ironcloak; Nerium, who possesses four arms and plant manipulation; Slag, who possesses geo-thermokinesis; and Volta, who can manipulate electricity and wields a Vibranium spear.
• Torvalt - A one-time member of Doctor Doom's Zefiro Gypsy Clan.
• Tristian de Sabbat - A member of Doctor Doom's inner circle who produces holy propaganda.

Other versions

Further Information: Doctor Doom#Other versions

In other media

Television

• Latveria appears in Fantastic Four (1994).
• Latveria appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode "Pedicure of Doom!".
• Latveria appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes episode "The Private War of Doctor Doom".
• Latveria appears in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012).
• Latveria appears in Avengers Assemble episode "The Doomstroyer".
• Latveria appears in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.

Film

• Latveria appears in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. This version is not led by Doctor Doom, who is instead a wealthy businessman.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe writer Eric Pearson stated in an interview with IGN that he included an ultimately deleted reference to Latveria in Black Widow, admitting that he always tries to include references to Latveria in the MCU when possible.

Video games

• Latveria appears in Ultimate Spider-Man (2005).
• Latveria appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
• Latveria appears in The Incredible Hulk.
• Latveria appears in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.
• Latveria appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Latveria appears in Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
• Latveria appears in Marvel Heroes.
• Latveria appears in Fortnite.

Miscellaneous

Latveria appears in the Spider-Man comic strip.

Reception

Bustle published a humorous article about how to convince people that Latveria is a real place, saying "Latveria doesn't sound made up [...] in this case, Latveria is very much fake — which doesn't mean you can't still have fun convincing people it's real, though."

Screen Rant writes that ever since The Fantastic Four #5 was published in 1962, "the tiny country of Latveria has long been a thorn in the side of Marvel's heroes", noting that it was long established as a country located in Southeastern Europe, and as of 2020 its location was firmly identified as the Banat region, so that "This fixed location for Latveria grounds the nation more fully in readers' understanding of the real world, suggesting realistic political tensions and even geographical factors which can play into future stories."

Mark Hibbett of Central Saint Martins notes that Latveria in 1964 was described as a small country in East Europe "nestling in the heart of the Bavarian alps", and he explains that "Right from the start Latveria is presented as a very strange place, like a fairy tale village transplanted into the real world, with Jack Kirby's illustrations showing an almost medieval world of peasant cottages and gypsy caravans."

Further reading

• War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film by Marc DiPaolo, McFarland (2014)
• Caped Crusaders 101: Composition Through Comic Books by Jeffrey Kahan and Stanley Stewart, McFarland (2006)
• "Latveria's Place in Marvel Geopolitics" by Josh Weiss, Marvel.com (April 1, 2019)
• The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us by Francis Tapon (2012)

External links

• Latveria at Marvel Wiki
• Article on History of Latveria