LICHTENBAD

Official Name: Lichtenbad

Continent: Europe

Population: Unrevealed

Capital City: Lichtenbad (presumably)

Government: Unrevealed; former absolute monarchy/dictatorship

Major Languages: German (possibly because the name of the nation sounds German)

Monetary Unit: Unrevealed

Major Resources: Cobalt, nuclear energy, robotics (presumably)

National Defense: Unrevealed; formerly a robot army

International Relations: Strained and apparently mostly non-existent

Extraterrestrial Relations: None

Places of Interest: Castle Kruger

Domestic Super Humans: Blue Condor (Emilie Scholz)

Non-Human Population: Klaus Kruger's robot army

Prominent Citizens: Duke Klaus Kruger

Superhuman Residents: Daredevil (Matt Murdock) (temporarily imprisoned)

Domestic Crime: Klaus Kruger's ill-fated attempt at world domination included the abduction and enslavement of intelligent people from around the world including Dr. Van Eyck and Matt Murdock.

International Crime: Castle Kruger was used as base by Transylvanian scientist Victor Vandoom and Todd Ziller (aka. American Kaiju).

First Appearance: Daredevil I#9 (August, 1965)

History:
(Daredevil I#9) - Surrounded by a continuous wall, it was tiny European principality (population unrevealed) ruled as a slave state by the hereditary ruler Duke Klaus Kruger.

   Kruger made his base in the medieval Castle Kruger surrounded by a shark-filled moat. The castle was retro-fitted with complex electronic equipment, and powered by a nuclear reactor.

   The citizens of Lichtenbad eventually revolted, and Kruger fell to his death during a battle with Daredevil on the castle's parapet.

SECRET WARS III HAPPENED

(U.S.Avengers#4 (fb) - BTS) - Mad Transylvanian scientist Victor Vandoom, the great-grandson of Ludwig Vandoom, fled to Lichtenbad and set up shop at the abandoned Castle Kruger for his scheme to make money with the creation of monsters.

   Todd Ziller, the depowered American Kaiju, made his way to Lichtenbad and became a willing test subject for Victor Vandoom, who created a serum from Ziller's blood that could trigger the American Kaiju transformation once again and turn others into monsters as well.

(U.S.Avengers#4 (fb)) - American Kaiju made the news when he rampaged through Lichtenbad and S.H.I.E.L.D. secretly sent in Red Hulk (General Robert L. Maverick) on a one-man mission to apprehend the monster without causing a big scene to avoid an international incident with Lichtenbad's neighboring nations Latveria and Symkaria.

(U.S.Avengers#4 (fb) - BTS) - Deadpool was hired to return the fugitive Victor Vandoom to Transylvania dead or alive.

(U.S.Avengers#4 (fb)) - Deadpool got caught in Castle Kruger by Ziller and Vandoom and injected with the monster serum, which transformed Deadpool into a hulking monster.

(U.S.Avengers#4) - Red Hulk was dropped on Lichtenbad from a plane after midnight and was drawn into a fight with the mutated Deadpool. Vandoom recorded the fight with hidden cameras as an advertisement for his monster serum.

   At Castle Kruger Vandoom injected Ziller as part of their deal with another dose of monster serum to trigger the American Kaiju transformation once again.

   The beating Deadpool took from Red Hulk led to his healing factor dealing with the monster serum in his bloodstream and eliminate it. Red Hulk and Deadpool then worked together against the American Kaiju. Victor Vandoom already celebrated his victory after Red Hulk was seemingly squashed by American Kaiju like a bug and Deadpool was going to get eaten alive, but Red Hulk had survived and hurled American Kaiju at Castle Kruger, which was heavily damaged on impact. Vandoom seemingly perished in the castle's destruction and Ziller was arrested after reverting to human form. Latveria and Symkaria both demanded answers after the incident in Lichtenbad.

(Avengers Assemble III#4) - In Lichtenbad at the Latverian border Doctor Doom's former betrothed Victorious (Zora Vukovic) was left stuck outside Latveria and used her Power Cosmic-enhanced strength in an attempt to break through a mystic barrier erected around Latveria by Doctor Doom, the current Sorcerer Supreme. She was unable to break through the barrier, but the Power Cosmic reflected by the barrier caused massive damage to Lichtenbad, Attania, Serbia, Puternicstan and any other nearby nation. The AVENG.E.R.S. (Hercules, Lightning/Miguel Santos, Photon/Monica Rambeau, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walter, Wonder Man/Simon Williams) ultimately calmed down Victorious, who reabsorbed the reflected Power Cosmic and undid the damage caused by her.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Wally Wood, and Bobby Powell.

On Earth-7848 Daredevil lost his superhuman powers during his adventure in Lichtenbad.

The tyrant and country in Strange Tales of the Unusual#10/6 (June, 1957) were never identified, but considered Dr. Peter Rostov's name, I'm guessing the story took place somewhere in eastern Europe--maybe it was set in one of the smaller countries unique to Marvel's Earth, such as Carnelia (@ Iron Man I#117) or Lichtenbad.
--Ron Fredricks

Blue Condor was revealed as a citizen from Lichtenbad in Euroforce's profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z#4.

   According to various maps of Europe in Marvel Atlas#1, the tiny country of Lichtenbad is sandwiched between the borders of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic. (see left)
--Ron Fredricks

   And then this changed in U.S.Avengers#4 where Lichtenbad was said to have borders with Symkaria and Latveria. I am also 99% sure that it also borders Transylvania because the mad scientist Victor Vandoom was a fugitive from there. So it should presumably be right where Symkaria, Latveria and Transylvania meet on the map (see right)
--Markus Raymond

   Like so many times before I blame Secret Wars for the nation's new location and the bad education Franklin Richards obviously received. Blaming the soft reboot is far easier than to blame Al Ewing or Tom Brevoort for not checking where the Marvel Atlas had placed this minor nation that had not been mentioned in comics since 1965.

Pure assumption by me, but maybe Lichtenbad is a microstate like San Marino because all we ever saw of the country was the walled in city and an airport.
--Markus Raymond

Profile by Ron Fredricks & Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Lichtenbad should not be confused with:

images: (without ads)
Daredevil I#9, p5, pan6 (jet plane about to land in Lichtenbad; Matt Murdock's thought-balloon)
Daredevil I#9, p9, pan1 (inside Kruger's castle, Daredevil uses his radar-sense to "see" complex electronic equipment)
U.S.Avengers#4, p20, pan2 (American Kaiju destroys Castle Kruger)

Appearances:
Daredevil I#9 (August, 1965) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Wally Wood (layouts/inks), Bob Powell (pencils), Sam Rosen (letters)
U.S.Avengers#4 (May, 2017) - Al Ewing (writer), Paco Medina (pencils), Juan Vlasco (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Assemble III#4 (February, 2025) - Steve Orlando (writer), Valentina Pinti (artist), Alanna Smith (editor)

First posted: 04/12/2025
Last updated: 04/12/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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