RUDYARDARUDYARDA
Official Name: Republic of Rudyarda
Continent: Africa
Population: 1,650,000
Capital City: Viceroy
Government: Republic
Major Languages: Afrikaans, English
Monetary Unit: Rudyarda shilling
Major Resources: Aircraft,
coal, diamonds, gold, iron ore, machinery, metallurgy, mining, steel,
timber, uranium
National Defense: Armed Forces of Rudyarda
International Relations: Rudyarda is a member of UNESCO, the United Nations and the World Health Organization. It shares an alliance with nearby country Azania and has enough relations with the United States of America to have a consulate there. It is often an enemy of the African nation of Wakanda, even causing a diplomatic incident when they jailed Wakandan King T'Challa.
Rudyarda was formerly an economic and political ally
of the mutant-hating nation of Genosha.
Extraterrestrial Relations: None
Places of Interest: City
Prison, an abandoned metal works factory, airport, tenements
Domestic Super Humans: Rock Python (M'Gula)
Non-Human Population: None
Prominent Citizens: Nathan Kumalo, Ronald
Pershing, Jeth Robards
Superhuman Residents: None
Domestic Crime: Rudyarda has had several
violent clashes within its borders between the black and white classes.
International Crime: Klaw
once traveled to Rudyarda to broker a deal for Wakanda's Vibrotron
device with Jeth Robards, only to kill Robards and get imprisoned for
his crimes after being apprehended by the Thing and Human Torch.
Following abuse suffered in prison, Klaw vowed revenge on Rudyarda.
First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#119
(February, 1972)
History: (Marvel Atlas I#2 -
Rudyarda entry - BTS) - The Republic of Rudyarda was founded by
voortrekkers who had left South Africa during the early 20th century,
frustrated by the second Boer War. Named in honor of British author
Rudyard Kipling, whose 1899 poem "The White Man's Burden" was seen by
many as championing imperialistic superiority. Known for its metallurgy
and mining, Rudyarda was protected by its own Armed Forces.
(Fantastic Four I#119 (fb) - BTS) - Rudyarda became
known as one of the last remaining strongholds of white supremacy in
all of Africa.
(Marvel Atlas I#2 - Rudyarda entry - BTS) - Over
time, Rudyarda was plagued with strife due to the black vs. white class
struggle, leading to several violent reprisals on both sides. At some
point, Rudyarda became a member of the United Nations, UNESCO and the
World Health Organization. They maintained a close alliance with the
nearby Azania, opened an United States consulate in Manhattan, New York
and were at one point an economic and political ally of Genosha.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master
Edition I#2 - Rock Python entry - BTS) - M'Gula was born in Viceroy,
Rudyarda.
(Marvel Atlas I#2 - Rudyarda entry - BTS) - M'Gula
became the supervillain Rock Python and amassed a criminal record in
Rudyarda.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master
Edition I#2 - Rock Python entry - BTS) - Rock Python was expatriated
from Rudyarda.
(Fantastic Four I#119 (fb)) - Jeth Robards and Nathan
Kumalo stole the Vibrotron device from Wakanda and planned to meet and
sell the device in Rudyarda, a neighboring country to Wakanda. Having
overheard the thieves' plans, Wakandan King T'Challa pursued the
criminals into Rudyarda alone. Arriving inconspicuously in Rudyarda,
T'Challa attempted to stealthily blend in with the natives but he was
soon arrested for not having proper identification and, unable to
convince the local police that his Black Leopard costume was not a
terrorist sect uniform, T'Challa was placed in City Prison.
(Fantastic Four I#119) - Two days later, the Wakandan second-in-command Taku contacted the Fantastic Four in America and informed them of T'Challa's trek into Rudyarda and expressed concern that T'Challa was in trouble. Agreeing to help, the Fantastic Four sent the Thing and Human Torch to Rudyarda to investigate and following a tense moment in which the two heroes halted an attempted skyjacking, the two arrived in Rudyarda, where the airport was divided into separate lines for skin color. Not thrilled to see the segregation in the airport, Thing and the Torch watched as several taxicabs ignored their request to stop until finally, the Thing grabbed one of the cabs and demanded the driver take them where they wanted to go. Soon arriving at the tenement address of Nathan Kumalo, Thing and the Torch interrogated Kumalo, who gave up information willingly since Robards had since double-crossed him. Learning where Jeth Robards was to meet the buyer of the Vibrotron and that T'Challa had been imprisoned in City Prison, the Thing and Torch stormed City Prison, finding it full of political prisoners and freeing T'Challa. They then assisted T'Challa in retrieving his Black Leopard costume from the police before heading towards the abandoned metal works where Jeth Robards was set to meet the Vibrotron buyer. Confronting Robards, the trio of heroes soon learned that the Vibrotron buyer was the Black Leopard's old enemy Klaw. Following a brief battle, the trio of heroes defeated Klaw and he was arrested and when the heroes were expected to exit the abandoned metal works through segregated doorways, the Thing, annoyed with the class struggle in Rudyarda, ripped out the wall housing the doorways.
(Avengers I#126 (fb)) - After he
was arrested in Rudyarda, Klaw was dragged away by Rudyardan police and
incarcerated, where he received constant beatings because his skin was
colored red. While in prison, Klaw vowed to destroy Rudyarda and their
sort of "justice."
(Avengers I#126 (fb) - BTS) - Following his own
incarceration in Rudyarda, T'Challa held a certain amount of contempt
for the white supremacists in Rudyarda. Rudyarda eventually sent an
ambassador, Ronald Pershing, to their consulate in the United States
and Pershing remained in the USA for some time, even meeting T'Challa
at various functions over time.
(Avengers I#126 - BTS) - Disguising himself as
Rudyardan ambassador Ronald Pershing, Klaw visited Avengers Mansion and
was greeted by T'Challa, now having returned to his original codename
of Black Panther. Unaware of Klaw's ruse, Black Panther exchanged brief
tense remarks regarding Rudyarda's supremacist policies before the
"ambassador"
admitted he needed the Avengers' help, prompting the Black Panther to
summon the heroic team. Introducing "Pershing" as the representative of
Rudyarda, Black Panther allowed "Pershing" to explain how members of
the Rudyardan consulate had recently been experiencing threats of death
by sound and fire. As he continued his story, noting the death of a
gardener at the Rudyardan consulate, the Avengers were attacked by a
solid-sound Klaw construct and his ally Solarr.
The Klaw construct revealed his treatment at the hands of the Rudyardan
police and Solarr blasted "Pershing" (to keep up Klaw's ruse) before
the two villains disappeared. After being revived by the Scarlet Witch,
"Pershing" constantly tried to talk Black Panther into giving up his
throne in Wakanda while the Avengers searched for Klaw and Solarr and
eventually, the Black Panther deduced that Klaw was posing as Pershing
in an effort to take over Wakanda to use as a base of operations for
his revenge on Rudyarda. After Klaw and Solarr's defeat, the Black
Panther admitted that while Rudyarda did not like Wakandans, Klaw's
over-playing of his role is what had tipped him off to Pershing not
being who he claimed to be.
Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott.
This profile was completed 9/22/2021, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 20th anniversary 's celebratory event.
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Rudyarda has no known connections to:
City Prison is a centralized prison in Rudyarda in which T'Challa was sent to after being arrested in Rudyarda for not having proper identification. Upon learning that T'Challa was in City Prison, the Fantastic Four's Thing and Human Torch stormed the prison and found it full of political prisoners before freeing T'Challa.
--Fantastic Four I#119
images: (without ads)
Marvel Atlas I#2, p46, Rudyarda entry main image (location of Rudyarda
on a map and flag of Rudyarda, main image)
Marvel Atlas I#2, p46, Rudyarda supplemental image (Thing and Human
Torch arriving at Nathan Kumalo's Rudyarda tenement)
Avengers I#126, p10, pan2 (Klaw arrested in Rudyarda)
Fantastic Four I#119, p12, pan1-3 (City Prison)
Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#119 (February, 1972) - Roy Thomas (writer), John
Buscema (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Avengers I#126 (August, 1974) - Steve Englehart (writer), Bob Brown
(pencils), Dave Cockrum (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition I#2 (January,
1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer, editor), Len Kaminski, Jamie Tost,
Glenn Herdling (writers), Keith Pollard (pencils), Josef Rubinstein
(inks)
Marvel Atlas I#2 (May, 2008) - Michael Hoskin (head writer,
coordinator), Anthony Flamini, Stuart Vandal, Eric J. Moreels (writer),
Eliot R. Brown (cartographer), Jeff Youngquist, John Denning (editors)
First Posted: 09/29/2021
Last updated: 09/27/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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