Savage Land
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Savage Land is a hidden prehistoric land within the fictional Marvel Comics Universe. It is a tropical preserve hidden in Antarctica. It was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in X-Men #10 (March 1965). Throughout time it has served as a basis for many story arcs in Uncanny X-Men as well as in related books.
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[edit] Fictional history
The Savage Land was created by the alien Nuwali at the behest of the other-dimensional, nigh-omnipotent aliens known as the Beyonders (not to be confused with "the Beyonder of the Secret Wars"). The Beyonders sought to observe the process of evolution under relatively controlled conditions and had the Nuwali set up a number of game preserves on several planets. One of these planets was Earth during the Triassic period where the Nuwali chose a valley in Antarctica surrounded by active volcanoes, where they installed a number of advanced technological devices in order to maintain a tropical climate. The aliens then stocked the area with all manner of Earth life over the following several millennia. They also brought over the Man-Apes, earlier hominid ancestors of "Homo sapiens."
The Beyonders eventually grew bored with the experiment, and the Nuwali stopped maintaining the Savage Land during the Late Pleistocene (the Ice Age era). However, the self-maintaining technology that allowed the pocket of tropical climate was left running, and many species which became extinct in other areas of the Earth continued to thrive within.
Later on, a group of human survivors from Atlantis sailed to Antarctica before the "Great Cataclysm" which sank their continent. There, they discovered a cavern where they found an immense climate-controlling device and harnessed the technology used to keep the Savage Land's volcanoes working. They named their location "Pangea", which is Atlantean for "paradise".
They mastered genetic engineering, which had been used on the Man-Apes when the Nuwali were still maintaining the Savage Land area. They used their genetic engineering techniques to transform other Savage Land inhabitants, like the Tubanti Fish People and others, who they then forced to work for them until these animal people revolted. After a time of war, the animal people demanded civil rights and the Atlanteans used technology to expand the Savage Land's surface area for the animal people to live in. When the Great Cataclysm struck, the Atlantean empire fell and thanks to the machines, the Savage Land locations were spared from sinking into the sea.
In more recent years, the Savage Land was rediscovered by Lord Robert Plunder, who took back a sample of the metal known as "anti-metal" or "Antarctic vibranium" with him. This mysterious metal had the ability to produce vibrations which would liquefy all other metals. Fleeing from those who sought to steal this discovery, Plunder took his eldest son Kevin with him for a second trip into the Savage Land. Unfortunately, the elder Plunder was killed by a local tribe of Man-Apes.
Kevin survived, thanks to the timely intervention of the orphaned sabretooth tiger later known as Zabu. He grew to adulthood in the Savage Land, becoming the adventurer known as Ka-Zar. Ka-Zar had many team-ups with the X-Men, Spider-Man, and many other superheroes who had visited the Savage Land. He later met and married Shanna the She-Devil.
At one point, the Savage Land was decimated by an evil alien named Terminus (or one of his pawns) when he destroyed the machines that maintained the tropical climate. Ka-Zar, Shanna, and Zabu wandered until the High Evolutionary restored the region allowing them to return to the Savage Land with their newborn son.
Many villains have threatened the Savage Land, including Garokk, Magneto and Thanos.
The Savage Land's existence is common knowledge throughout the world. At one time, there were press junkets, sponsored by the oil company Roxxon. Daily Bugle photographer Peter Parker was sent and helped uncover Roxxon's unethical and dangerous manipulation of the local resources.
Evidence in the pages of the New Avengers suggests that S.H.I.E.L.D. is operating in the Savage Land, mining vibranium while using the indigenous population as slave labor, but these operations have been classified, and the operation was apparently decimated by a missile strike from the Helicarrier during an attack by the New Avengers; the team only survived thanks to Iron Man's force field.
The Savage Land is featured in the limited series Claws, serving as a place of revenge for Wolverine and Black Cat on Arcade and White Rabbit. After defeating the two villains, the heroes left them stranded.
In X-Men: Divided We Stand, Cyclops and Emma Frost were vacationing there until Archangel contacted them about San Francisco looking like the 1960's.
Alyosha Kravinoff fled to the Savage Land after Punisher sabotaged his zoo.
In the Secret Invasion storyline, Ka-Zar and Shanna discover Skrulls mining for vibranium. The New Avengers and the Mighty Avengers head toward the Savage Land where a downed Skrull ship was sighted. Luke Cage opens the downed Skrull ship a large group of Marvel superheroes with older appearances and costumes come out, speaking as if they believe themselves to be authentic. They soon break out into a fight where the Spider-Man and Hawkeye from the ship are killed by a Tyrannosaurus. This causes the superheroes from the ship to scatter into the jungle. When Spider-Man confronts Ka-Zar and Shanna and accuses them of being Skrulls, the Captain America from the ship attacks.
[edit] Savage Land races
There are many types of races in the Savage Land and Pangea. Examples of Savage Land races include the bird people called Aerians, the Fall People who are friends of the X-Men, the monkey-tailed Tree People, the amphibious Tubanti fish-people of the inland Gorahn Sea, the Lizard Men of Vali-Kuri City, and the nomadic cat people of Pandori. Popular races in the Savage Land are the Man-Apes, the Lemurans, the Pterons (pterodactyl-like people), the human Sun People, the Swamp Men, and the Zebra People.
[edit] Super-powered inhabitants
A number of superhumans have lived in the Savage Land, notably:
- Sauron
- Garokk
- Zaladane
- The Savage Land Mutates
- Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy
- Stegron the Dinosaur Man
- Chtylok the Che-k'n Kau
The supervillain Magneto has lived there on several occasions when he led the Savage Land Mutates.
[edit] Other versions
[edit] 2099
In this alternate future, an alien attack floods much of the earth, rendering the Savage Land the only inhabitable space. Thousands of refugees, including Miguel O'Hara and most of X-Nation and X-Men make new homes here. It is not without its own dangers.
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse, Avalon is a haven for humans and mutants, located in the Savage Land. A method to reach it exists, but it will only cost the refugee everything they own and even then, there is no guarantee of arriving alive. It is led by Destiny, a pacifist Juggernaut and Douglas Ramsey, the latter of whom provides a field that allows everybody to understand each other despite speaking different languages. Avalon's peace was destroyed by the Shadow King who mind-controlled its inhabitants into killing each other. He was defeated, but casualties were high.
[edit] Transformers
In the Transformers Marvel comics continuity, shortly after the Ark's crash on earth, the computer aboard the spaceship detected Shockwave landing on the prehistory Savage Land. The Ark used the last of its capabilities to revive the five Autobot warriors by scanning the Savage Land's dominant lifeform: dinosaurs, and rebuild them into the Dinobots. The Dinobots fought Shockwave, a battle that ended in permanent stalemate when Snarl brought down the mountain that Shockwave stood upon, knocking all of them into a tar pit. They remain deactivated until the year 1984.
[edit] Ultimate Savage Land
In the Ultimate Marvel comics, the Savage Land is a large island somewhere in the southern hemisphere. It was created by Magneto, using theories and methods developed by Professor Xavier, as the site for genetic experiments. Magneto's goal was to create a new human race who would be less trouble to rule than the current one. He decided to re-start evolution from scratch, and control the process to his own specifications; as a result of this, at its current level of advancement, it has dinosaurs. Magneto has seemingly shown no further interest in advancing the evolution of the Savage Land, and it has remained in its dinosaur state since the departure of Professor X.
Magneto's original base was on the Savage Land. When it was destroyed in the first arc of Ultimate X-Men, the computer controlling the base gained self-awareness, and hijacked the genetic experiment project to create an army of nanotech-enhanced, zombie-like thralls. It planned to take over the world, but was stopped by Wolverine, Cyclops and Kitty Pryde.
The Savage Land is now the home of Longshot, who managed to get there in a small boat which launched from Genosha. Longshot recently aided Magneto in breaking out of prison, and the two may be planning something.
In Ultimates 3 it is revealed that the Dinosaurs were conjured by Scarlet Witch and not by Magneto's creation.
[edit] 1602
In Marvel 1602, the "New World" is depicted with many similarities to the Savage Land, most notably its population of dinosaurs.
[edit] Other media
[edit] Television
- The Savage Land appeared in the 1981 Spider-Man episode "The Hunter and the Hunted."
- The Savage Land appeared in some episodes of the X-Men TV series.
[edit] Video Game
- The Savage Land is Wolverine's stage in the arcade and console-imported game X-Men: Children of the Atom. It is also the first stage of X-Men, the Sega Genesis X-Men game, and the fifth stage of X-Men 2: Clone Wars.
- In the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, which is loosely based on the Age of Apocalypse storyline, Avalon is Magneto's base in the Savage Land. The X-Men and Brotherhood use Avalon as their headquarters during their stay in the Savage Land.
