Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa
Name	Addis Ababa
Location Details
Reality	Earth-616
Galaxy	Milky Way
Star System	Sol
Planet	Earth
Continent	Africa
Country	Ethiopia
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Ben Thompson
First	Marvel Mystery Comics #20 (April, 1941)
First	Marvel Mystery Comics #20 (April, 1941)

History

Addis Ababa was the capital city of Ethiopia and the birthplace of technosmith and supervillain Moses Magnum.

In 1941, during the Italian fascist occupation of Ethiopia, the Italians established a powerful military garrison in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a fort filled with barracks and ammunition sheds, which was supplied with weapons and troops via freight trains from Ethiopian territory. British jungle adventurer Ka-Zar the Great opposed the Italians in Ethiopia and, after destroying a Nazi airport hidden in the jungle with a herd of wild elephants, decided, emboldened, to attack the Addis Ababa garrison, for which he gathered an army of apes, leopards, lions, monkeys, snakes, and zebras, in addition to elephants. On the way, they encountered a heavily loaded troop train heading toward the capital along a steep mountain grade. Ka-Zar had his apes attack the train from cliffs as it passed through a narrow pass at the summit of the mountain range. Unable to move forward, the train backed into its valley; but Ka-Zar rode a zebra up to the locomotive, dodging bullets from its troops, knocked out two engineers, and threw them off the train. Ka-Zar then operated the brakes and throttle to send the train careening uncontrollably downhill toward a curved bridge over a gorge that, in its present condition, it would be unable to cross again. Ka-Zar jumped from the train, as did several other soldiers, but failing to negotiate a curve, the train plunged over the cliff, taking hundreds of Nazi troops with it and breaking the bridge, cutting off Addis Ababa's supply line.

The Addis Ababa garrison's destruction.

On the way to Addis Ababa, Ka-Zar prepared many small bundles of grass wrapped with strong vines to use as torches, in order to set fire to the Italian fort. In the city, Ka-Zar assigned Chaka, alpha male of a monkey tribe, to lead the first attack, climbing the garrison walls with great pythons to eliminate the sentries before they could give them warning. Ka-Zar then had elephants charge the walls to break them, and then led a panther attack that terrorized the surprised fascists. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ka-Zar lit a torch in a barracks and used it to light the other torches. He had monkeys ride on elephants as torchbearers to throw the incendiaries into the flammable buildings, setting the garrison ablaze. When Ka-Zar saw the flames spreading towards the ammunition sheds, he ordered his animals to retreat, and they watched from a safe distance the destruction of the Italian fortress of Addis Ababa. After that, Ka-Zar allowed his animal army to disband and return to their home points, keeping only the apes and elephants, which he used in a later engagement against a column of fascist tanks in Unguda River Valley, and after that Ka-Zar continued his campaigns against the Axis in Italian Somaliland and elsewhere in Africa.

Eventually, during World War II, the fascists were driven out of Ethiopia, and the monarchy was restored, purportedly taking the capital as the seat of government.

Points of Interest

• Fascist garrison during World War II (destroyed)

Residents

• Moses Magnum (birthplace)
• Unnamed Italian fascists manning the Addis Ababa garrison during World War II

See Also

• 1 appearance(s) of Addis Ababa
• 2 image(s) of Addis Ababa

Links and References

• Addis Ababa on Wikipedia.org