Uruguay

Uruguay is a country in South America, bordered by Brazil to the north, by Argentina to the west, by the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and to the south,^[1] by the Río de Plata,^[2] an estuary on the other side of which is Terra Nueva.^[1] The official language is Spanish, though many Uruguayans, specially in positions of authority, can also speak English. The Policía Nacional de Uruguay is the national police body; some of its officers patrol on horseback in Montevideo and can ask any person for their identification.^[3]

The capital city of Uruguay is Montevideo, on the coast of the country.^[4][5] The city has a market close to the water where farmers offer their wares. The Montevideo harbor is reasonably well equipped technologically, with at least one good control tower and access for transantlantic boats, cargo ships and watercraft to pass through. The harbor provides access and supplies for ships wishing to travel to locations including Antarctica and United States of America.^[3]

Uruguay is a member of the United Nations (at least in most realities),^[6][7] and has had significant disputes with neighboring Argentina.^[1]

More than 6 years ago, mutant terrorist Stryfe kept several secret bases over the world, including a citadel in a subterranean bunker in a rugged mountain pass of the Cordillera de Carabaya mountains, Uruguay, staffed by men wearing orange armors and using high-technology guns. Stryfe also operated a base in Afghanistan which he used to maintain an illegal opium route for criminal entrepreneur Tolliver.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]} Both Stryfe and Tolliver had links with Cable, a time-travelling telekinetic mutant coming from Earth-4935's 41st century to the present, and both Stryfe and Tolliver were timetravellers from Cable's same future:^[10][11] Stryfe was secretly^[8] Cable's clone,^{[11][10][8][14]} although Cable did not know about this (partly because Stryfe, whose face was identical to Cable's, wore a mask);^[15][11][10] yet Stryfe and Cable had been openly enemies in their future.^[15][8][12] Tolliver was secretly Tyler Summers, Cable's adoptive^{[8][10][11][14]} (estranged)^[8] son.^{[8][10][11][14]} By then, Cable had time-travelled to that era to learn about it by working as a mercenary and became a core member and leader of the six-member mercenary team Wild Pack^{[11][10][12][8][16][14]} (later rechristened Six Pack).^{[15][11][10][8]} The other Pack members (G.W. Bridge, Domino, Grizzly, Hammer and Kane), mostly motivated by adrenaline and money,^[11][10] did not know Cable's real origin.^[11][10][8] Without Cable knowing Tolliver's real origin, Tolliver often hired the Wild Pack,^[11][10][8] including an operation in Afghanistan^{[15][17][18][19]} to protect Tolliver's opium route^[11][10] from Russian interference;^[20][11][10] however, Tolliver had arranged this mission so that Cable and Stryfe would meet each other and re-take their conflict in this era,^[11][10] which he succeeded in.^[15] Determined to fight Stryfe,^[20][8] Cable had the Pack blow up Stryfe's Afghan base,^[20][12] but Stryfe escaped^[8] and worse: The Pack was perceived as having betrayed their employer,^[20][11][10] so they spent eight months^[12] chased by Tolliver's men,^[20][12][14] other mercenaries and agencies, while Cable still refused to reveal the reasons of his own vendetta against Stryfe^[11][10]

The Pack found out about Stryfe's secret lair in Uruguay^[12] and Cable convinced them to raid it instead of dealing with Tolliver,^[12][14] claiming that this non-paid operation^[20][11][10] was to steal data from Stryfe's computer which would be likely useful in their future missions (However, Cable really wanted that information for his own personal war against the mutant Apocalypse, whom Cable know would eventually appear in that time).^[11][10] Thus, more than six years ago,^[20][11][12] the Wild Pack sneaked in the bunker,^{[15][17][18][19][8]} as Cable hoped to find and kill Stryfe before the latter could teleport away like he had done in Afghanistan. The Pack killed several platoons of troops, sabotaged the security cams, and finally reached Stryfe's control room.^[20] There, Pack's technician^[12] Hammer^[20][14] began downloading Stryfe's secret information from the computers into a disc^{[20][12][8][14]} and the Pack wired the citadel to explode^[20][11][10] with a three-minute timer.^[20] However, just when the disc was ready^{[20][11][10][8]} and the Pack was ready to escape by teleporting,^[20] Stryfe teleported behind^[20][12] Pack's youngest member Kane^[11][10] (who was also Hammer's best friend),^[12][14] capturing him^{[20][11][10][12][8][14]} by choking his neck. Stryfe's personal force field protected him against Domino's and Grizzly's shots,^[20] and the Pack found out that Stryfe had also disabled the Pack's own teleport technology. Stryfe threatened to kill Kane^[20][11][10] lest Hammer returned him the disc.^{[20][11][10][12][8][14]} Hammer, valuing Kane's life,^[11][10][14] was willing to comply^{[20][11][10][12][14]} but Cable refused, claiming that the disc was too valuable^{[20][11][10][12]} (In fact Cable valued the disc more than his teammates' life,^[11][10] and he wanted to kill Stryfe even if it costed Kane's life).^[14] As Hammer insisted otherwise,^[20][12] Cable shot Hammer on the back,^{[20][11][10][12][8][14]} severing Hammer's spine,^[11][10][12] yet Stryfe nonetheless recovered the disc with his telekinesis^[20] and teleported away with the disc.^{[20][11][10][8]} With his own teleporting technology active again since the moment Stryfe escaped, Cable teleported after him,^[20][11][10] but he chose to leave the Pack behind to possibly die,^{[20][11][10][8][14]} as the citadel was going to explode in just ten seconds.^[20][11][10]

The Pack barely escaped with their lives,^[20][16] but Kane lost both his arms^{[15][11][10][8]} and legs in the base's explosion,^[15][11][10] and Hammer, who had to be caried to safety by his teammates,^[12] was left quadriplegic (thou he later recovered the use of his arms).^[11][10][12] After the Uruguay fiasco, the Pack, demoralized by Cable's betrayal^[8] and perceiving that he had put his own needs above the team's,^[16] disbanded.^[11][10][8] Kane was rebuilt as the cyborg Weapon X for the Canadian government's Department K, G.W. Bridge joined SHIELD, Hammer isolated himself in his mother's home,^[15][11][10] Domino returned to solo mercenary operations, and Grizzly's activities are unclear.^[11][10] Six years after the operation in Uruguay,^[11] Cable was leading the mutant team X-Force, and Bridge arranged a SHIELD-sponsored team, including Kane and Grizzly, to capture him, but they failed;^{[11][10][12][8][14]} seeing Cable apparently abandoning X-Force, Bridge thought this justified his own earlier sense of betrayal.^[8] Cable later made peace with Bridge and Kane after a campaign against Stryfe,^[11][10][14] and Cable offered to restore Hammer using cyborg technology.^[20][12][19] Hammer however refused,^[12] still angry at Cable,^[15][12] although he eventually agreed to have a business relationship with him.^[12] The Pack as a whole decided they did no longer trust Cable,^[12][14] and Bridge agreed to not consider Cable either a friend or a foe^[8] (even if he and Hammer would eventually turn against Cable again).^[11][10]

During the War of the Realms, the Dark Elf Malekith and his allies invaded Midgard (Earth). With every continent becoming a battleground, Amora the Enchantress rose an army of roaring, living dead to take over South America,^[21] as she was supposedly queen of everything that was dead (the race known as Draugr); she also led the Spiders of Hel. After the Asgardian leaders Odin and Frigga, who helped Midgard against Malekith, were all but lost, Thor was able to join the Midgard defenders, with a thunderous sound that was heard at once in Wakanda and Montevideo, stifling the undeads' sound. The Enchantress' Draugr forces then confronted Balder, Doctor Strange, the Ghost Rider (who did not recognize her as his queen), and Spider-Man in Montevideo: The Rider allowed Balder and Strange to ride his vehicle, Hell Charger, in battle. When the Enchantress tried to mock the Ghost Rider, he reacted by unleashing his inner demon on her. Meanwhile, the Spiders of Hel decided that Spider-Man was an avatar of the Great Weaver and changed sides to support him, albeit in a gruesome way by eating the Draugr.^[4] Amora was then captured and put in chains, in one of the events that led to Malekith's eventual downfall after his allies had been beaten.^[22]

Conan the Barbarian, accidentally transported to the present day, and his associate the Punisher, were in Antarctica and took a ship from Halley Research Station to Montevideo; the captain secretly reported the passengers' presence to Doctor Doom. In Montevideo, they parted ways: the Punisher took another ship to America, but Conan refused to accompany him and instead, when a local officer on horseback demanded his passport, Conan defeated the officer and took the horse,^[3] which he used to travel through South America to Brazil,^[23][24] where, now horseless, he was captured by Doctor Doom.^[3]

Alternate Reality Versions

Earth-1218 (Our Reality)

A number of Marvel artists are natives to Uruguay. Ordered by their birth dates:

• Eduardo Barreto (full name Luis Eduardo Barreto Ferreyra, sometimes credited as Ed Barreto) was born in the Sayago barrio (neighborhood) of Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 1st, 1954, and lived his youth in calle Calaguala (Calaguala street). From an early age he became a fan of both Club Nacional de Football and art, deciding to become an artist when he was 7 years old. Influenced mostly by Russ Manning, Hal Foster and Warren Tufts, he looked for job as an artist in newspapers when he was 15, offering to write a biography of Richard the Lionheart (in a style reminiscent of Hal Foster's Prince Valiant). He was hired in the journal El Día to work for the supplement El Día de los Niños, but was instead prompted to do something more Hispanic: An adaptation of the epic comic Cantar de mío Cid. Circa 1974, he began working on a science-fiction and space fantasy epic, "El Poderoso Halcón", based on Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier's book Le Matin des Magiciens, but when trying to sell it, he was restricted due to his limited contacts in Uruguayan industry. He eventually distributed it through United Press in 16 Latin American journals, but when he tried to translate it to English, the oil and paper crisis of the mid-1970s stopped him. He visited Buenos Aires to try to reach Editorial Columba, and spent the late 1970s living between Uruguay and Argentina, until in 1979 his publisher recommended him to try the United States, as Barreto had hit a high point in the Latin American market. He began working for Marvel in 1979 with Marvel Team-Up #88, now dividing his time between the United States and Uruguay. He obtained especial recognition as the best-known Uruguayan artist in the international market, and the only one with a regular series there, and was known even among non-comic fans as "el dibujante uruguayo de Batman" (Batman's Uruguayan artist), thou he did many other works, and was especially active in the Uruguay comic industry in the 2000s.^[25] Due to complications from meningitis,^[25][26] Barreto temporarily left his job, although he later returned to it at times from a hospital bed.^[25][26] He died on December 15, 2011.^[25][26]
• Jorge Lucas (real name Jorge Luis Pereira, also credited as Jorge Pereyra)^[27] was born in Salto, Uruguay, on January 22nd, 1963. When he was 10 years old, he moved to Buenos Aires with his family and got Argentinean nationality. In 1986, he began publishing in the Argentinean comic magazine Fierro, "Subtemento Óxido" with the story "La última leyenda sobre Sadom", and later "El Cazador de Aventuras" which became a top-selling comic-book. He started working for Marvel in 2000.^[27][28]
• Richard Bennett (full name Richard James Bennett Lamas)^[29] was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on April 25th, 1968.^[29][30] He worked in several mutant-related titles for Marvel from 1992, later moving to other companies, and as of 2024 he has left the comic industry and instead is a designer and storyboard artist for mainstream American movies.^[30]
  • Bennett's wife Monica Bennett (birth date unrevealed),^[29][31] also from Uruguay,^[31] also worked for Marvel as a colorist in the 1990s.
• Pier Brito was born in Uruguay on November 1st, 1974.^[32] He was active as an inker for Marvel in the 1990s.
• Ignacio Calero was born in Uruguay in either 1976^[33] or 1977.^[34] He began working for Marvel in the 2000s, and also collaborated with other publishers like DC Comics, Avatar Press and Visionary. In Uruguay, he became the publisher of Grupo Belerofonte, which published Calero's own book Crímenes, and directed the magazine Side-Kick, where he also collaborated, as he did in the magazine Quimera. Unfortunately, he suffered a fatal heart attack at 43,^[33] and died on June 26, 2020.^[33][34]
• Christian Duce (full name Christian Duce Fernandez) was born in Uruguay. on November 18th, 1980.^[35] He was the penciler and inker of Guardians of the Galaxy: Ozone Heroes #1 (2017).
• Martin Coccolo (real name Martín Cóccolo, with diacritics, but credited without them) was born in Colonia del Sacramento, Colonia, Uruguay,^[36][37] on May 25, 1983. His birthplace was just across the river from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Interested in art and especially comic-books from an early age, he decided to pursue them as a career after finishing high school at Liceo Juan Luis Perrou. After helping other artists (including Christian Duce, another Uruguayan who became a Marvel artist), he finally worked from the American comic-book industry since 2005.^[36]
• Matías Bergara was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, on November 6th, 1984^[38][39] As a kid, he received several Astérix comics from his father and obtained American comic-books to. When he was 15, he was sent to the comic-book and cartoon workshop of Tunda Pranda and Ombú (Fermín Hontou), where he decided to become a comic artist. In 2008 he began his career for the Latin American market, and eventually moved to the US comic-book industry in the 2010s.^[38]
• Andrés Genolet was born in San Jacinto, Canelones, Uruguay, on February 17th, 1990. He studied to be a technician in digital animation at Universidad ORT Uruguay, and a graphic designer at Academia BIOS; during his studies, he filmed the short Completed, that won the category of best Uruguayan short in the 2010 Animation Festival of ORT. In 2018 he began working for the American comic market with Marvel with X-Men: Blue and Spider-Girls, and the following year he became the regular artist for Runaways (Vol. 5). He has also worked for publishers from other countries^[40]

Note: Rafael T. Pimentel was born in Estância Velha, a Brazilian town close to the Uruguayan border, leading to some sources mistakenly saying he is Uruguayan.^[41]

In the comic Incredible Hercules #118 (2008), editor Mark Paniccia credited "MaGnUs" of Montevideo, Uruguay, as the person who came up with the idea of naming Amadeus Cho's coyote puppy as "Kirby, short for Kerberos", both after the mythological guard dog and the computer network authentication protocol.^[42]

Earth-1610 (Ultimate Universe)

On Earth-1610, Uruguay had important manufacturing facilities, but tensions between Argentina and Uruguay were especially high, with border skirmishes barely controlled and escalating to the point where S.H.I.E.L.D. considered an open invasion highly likely in the near future^[6] (although S.H.I.E.L.D. was monitoring other major threats to global peace at this time, including trouble in Europe and the South East Asian Republic).^[6][43] Through its ambassador to the United Nations, the United States promised the United Nations Security Council the support of the superhuman group Ultimates if the Council chose to act on it.^[6] The Kratos Club, a secret cabal of amoral billionaires, decided to use the occasion to manipulate the conflict, hoping to damage Uruguay's manufacturing facilities (as well as cause other problems elsewhere around the globe) so that they could increase their own assets.^[44]

Kratos' manipulations were first noticed in the South East Asian Republic,^[5] but also prompted an Argentine attack on Uruguay.^[45] After Uruguay massed troops on its southern border, an Argentine fleet of warships, remotely controlled (i.e. without a human crew on board) and with their controls protected by shielding, crossed the Río de la Plata approaching Uruguay's capital city Montevideo. More importantly, at least one of the ships, equipped with an atomic bomb manufactured by Stark Industries, was heading toward Montevideo on a collision course to detonate it. The Security Council authorized the Ultimates to act to stop the attack.^[5] S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Director Nick Fury summoned Tony Stark (Iron Man) to lead the attack; Stark did so remotely, from Japan, using his Telepresence Armor,^[5][43] who would lead S.H.I.E.L.D.'s armored Rocketmen troops to protect Montevideo. When the ships fired missiles at the Rocketmen, Iron Man responded with blasts, and when he boarded one ship, he found it empty. He discovered that the controls were shielded and also found a nuclear bomb manufactured by his company. Iron Man was unable to prevent the bomb from detonating in Uruguay with a thermonuclear explosion^[5] that leveled the city, causing at least 300,000 direct casualties and, according to early estimates, at least 600,000 indirect casualties from radiation poisoning. The explosion damaged the armor, returning Stark's consciousness to Japan (and causing him serious injury). S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly dispatched a specialized team in hazmat suits to assess the severity of the situation. Stark contacted Fury as soon as he recovered, and theorized that the Kratos Club was responsible for what had happened. Although Stark was eager to deal with them quickly, Fury explained that there were other major crises in Europe and the South East Asian Republic, and insisted that Iron Man go to Germany first.^[43] Even so, Fury admitted that "the nuke in South America" ​​was one of the most important issues in the world at the time, and one of his most notable failures, as he later told Steve Rogers.^[44]

When Stark finally got a chance to speak with the Kratos Club in Paris, they did not deny the accusation and admitted^[44] that they had used Stark's technology to kill hundreds of thousands of people in Uruguay,^[45][44] explaining that their actions had made them five times richer, in part by financially taking advantage of the demise of the Uruguayan industry. The Club also accused Stark of having caused the deaths of over twenty-five million people in Europe with his own technology and means at one time, calling him a hypocrite.^[44]

Earth-6160 (New Ultimate Universe)

On Earth-6160, the chef of the prestigious restaurant Torre Trattoria in Manhattan was a woman from Uruguay; Harry Osborn and his wife Gwen Stacy-Osborn were familiar with that woman's excellent dishes. When they invited their friends Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson-Parker to the restaurant, and Mary Jane was delighted at the food, Harry mentioned the chef's origin but mistakenly said she was from Argentina; Gwen was quick to correct him.^[46]

Earth-21766 (Fantastic Four: Life Story)

On Earth-21766, Doctor Doom was incarcerated in the United Nations Headquarters due to jurisdiction problems on where he could be kept. From his cell, Doom saw the Uruguay representative passing by and demanded that the Uruguayan went to see him - which he did not.^[7]

Earth-199999 (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

On Earth-199999, Uruguay was a South American country that was far from the vanguard in scientific research.^[47] The CIA was active there, and when CIA Chief Special Agent William Rawlins III began is service abroad for the Agency from 2001 to 2004, he worked in Uruguay, as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq.^[48]

In 2017,^[49] scientist Karl Malus had to close down his secret, illegal research laboratory Industrial Garments & Handling,^[50] and had plans to leave for Uruguay,^[51] even if that would probably mean ending his career as a researcher because of the limited job opportunities there (Malus was possibly considering retirement in a different country where he could not be prosecuted).^[47] Years before that, Malus had treated widow Alisa Campbell, turning her into an unstable, violent superhuman, and had been hiding her ever since; they had fallen in love during that time^[52] and, as she felt unprepared to be released,^[50] he convinced her to go with him to Uruguay.^[49] Campbell's estranged daughter Jessica Jones found about Malus' link with her mother and confronted Malus. Jones decided to help Malus leave for Uruguay if he did not return and abandoned his immoral work, and she even decided to help him forge a passport^[51] and trace a route through Montreal.^[49] However, while Malus was waiting for Jones' help, Jones' estranged friend Trish Walker kidnapped Malus to try and coerce him so that he'd give her superhuman powers. Jones confronted Walker, the experiment apparently failed, and Walker was injured. Malus decided to commit suicide by burning his laboratory with him there.^[47] Afterward, Jones tried to convince Campbell to travel to Uruguay following Malus's plan, but Campbell refused it because Malus was no longer with her.^[49]

Earth-TRN1071 (1893 Branched Timeline)

On Earth-TRN1071, the 1893 Chicago World Fair included the flags of several countries, including Uruguay, in escutcheons. Loki from Earth-TRN732 and Mobius from Earth-TRN870's TVA walked under an arch featuring Uruguay's escutcheon.^[53]

• Colonia del Sacramento, Colonia^[36]
• Cordillera de Carabaya^[20]
• Stryfe's secret lair (destroyed)^[20]
  • Control room (destroyed)^[20]
• Salto, Salto^[27][28]
• San Jacinto, Canelones^[40]
• Montevideo^[6]
  • Independence Plaza^[6]
    • Salvo Palace^[6]

• Cable - Blood and Metal #2 (1992) unambiguously places Cordillera de Carabaya in Uruguay. In the real world Cordillera de Carabaya is in Peru; and a previous story, "Five Claws of Tryphon" published in Vampire Tales #2 (1973), places Cordillera de Carabaya in Peru. Furthermore, the highest elevation in real-life Uruguay is a 1,600 feet hill.
• Even thou Savage Avengers #6 clearly shows Conan traveling by boat from Antarctica to Uruguay, a map in Savage Avengers #7 supposedly describing Conan's travels suggests that Conan went by boat from Antarctica to Brazil.