As the Marvel Comics universe continues to expand and as the films get larger and more sprawling, it’s never a bad time to learn about Marvel’s various fictitious countries. From Wakanda to Transia, here’s some of Marvel’s most important locations.
Latveria
Capital: Doomstadt
Head(s) of State: Victor von Doom, Lucia von Bardas
Latveria first appeared in the Fantastic Four comics as the home of Doctor Doom. Bordering Hungary, Romania, and Serbia, its capital is Doomstadt – named after its ‘benevolent’ dictator.
Debuting in Fantastic Four #2 (1964), it has been a staple of the Marvel Universe since. The political system and nature of Victor von Doom as a leader changes with iterations. One of the popular versions is that Doom is a great leader to his people, who do have a cult of personality, but it’s not as bad as the outside world views it.
Originally a stand-in of sorts for the Soviet Union, since the collapse of the USSR it has been often a proxy for the “Hermit Kingdom” North Korea.
Wakanda
Capital: Birnin Zana
Head(s) of States: Black Panther (Bashenga, T’Chaka, T’Challa), Shuri
The secretive and reclusive technologically advanced nation of Wakanda was introduced in Fantastic Four #52 from 1966. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, this issue was the debut of T’Challa Black Panther. Located in East Africa, Wakanda is one of Marvel’s best known locations.
Wakanda was even added to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s official website as a “trade partner”. According to the department, this was a mistake… but it’s much more fun to think of it as a neat reference.
Wakanda appeared in several Marvel Cinematic Universe movies since its introduction in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther (2018), is involved in development for a Wakandan based Disney+ series.
Sokovia
Capital: Novi Grad
Head(s) of State: Kamil Novoty, Red Skull
A recent addition to the Marvel mythos, Sokovia was created for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Likely intended to be a replacement for Latveria which Marvel did not have the rights to at the time, Sokovia is set in Eastern Europe. Since its introduction in the 2015 blockbuster, it has appeared in mainstream Marvel comic stories.
Birthplace of Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Helmut Zemo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was mostly entirely decimated during the events of Age of Ultron. As of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the territory has been annexed by neighbouring nations… perhaps even Latveria.
Symkaria
Capital: Aniana
Head(s) of State: Silver Sable, Norman Osborne, Katarina Karkov, Klaus Limka
Bordering with Latveria. Several Marvel characters are from Symkaria, such as Silver Sable. Sable has been shot into popular culture after featuring in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man game in 2017.
In the game series, Symkaria is in a state of civil war. During the events of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mary-Jane Watson is covering the war for the Daily Bugle with Peter Parker as her photographer.
Symkaria maintains strong relations with Latveria in the comics, as well as fellow fictitious nations like Bosqueverde and Belgriun.
Transia
Capital: East Transia
Head(s) of State: Unknown
Bordering North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia is Transia. Analogous to real life Transylvania and multiple Balkan states, they curiously speak Romanian, German, Hungarian, and Symkarian.
Best known as the birthplace to Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman, Transia had a quirky habit of producing intelligent human hybrids with cows, pigs and tigers. Don’t ask how it works, or why they do it.
In canon, Transia is a former communist state with heavy uranium deposits. Major exports being pig-men and uranium is very normal.
