Marvel Database
Register
Advertisement

History

Pre-Inhuman Attilan[]

50,000 years ago, Attilan, the Island of the Gods, was a technologically advanced city,[5] located in the North Atlantic Ocean.[6]

Phadion and Rhaya were exiled off the island for opposing Kadir, along with Tuk,[5] heir of Attilan, possibly their son,[7] and the first offspring of the Inhumans. Tuk lived among the mortals, and his genetic code passed down through generation, increasing the ordinary humans' susceptibility to mutation.[8]

Inhuman settlement[]

This section contains material that has since been modified/retconned.

About 7,000 years ago,[1][9] or even since at least 10,000 BC (12,000 years ago),[9] the Inhumans settled on Attilan, founded by their leader King Myran, developing their civilization.[10]

About 2,500 years ago[10] (or nearly three millennia ago),[11] a floating city known as Aerie was built above Attilan as a new home for the winged Inhumans known as the Bird People. However, increased antagonism between the arrogant "people of the sky" and the "groundlings" soon led to the Winged Ones deciding to secede from Attilan. After hundreds of screams were heard coming from Aerie, King Nestor acknowledged their secession by having the sky-city cut free from the pylon that had anchored it above Attilan, allowing the winds to carry it far away.[10][11]

20th Century[]

Moved to Himalayas[]

With humanity's technological advancement, the Inhumans began to worry that their city might be found. After listening to scouting reports from Triton, who recommended the creation of a safer refuge where the Inhumans could remain forever hidden, Black Bolt agreed and set out in search of a suitable haven.[12] Black Bolt examined multiple desolate areas but rejected them because they weren't sufficiently isolated. Then, while searching in the Arctic, Black Bolt encountered Ikaris who brought him to Olympia to meet other Eternals. Learning of Black Bolt's quest, Zuras offered the help of his people and together they found a suitable location in an isolated valley in the Himalayas range where the Eternals used their combined powers to excavate a great pit in which the foundation of a new city could be built.[13] After returning to Attilan, Black Bolt authorized his council of engineers to prepare for the transference of their civilization via massive sky-arks. However, before the preparations were completed, an encounter with a little girl who was crying because she and her parents would have to leave their home inspired Black Bolt to adopt the much more ambitious plan of moving the entire city and the island upon which it rested. After many weeks of preparation, Attilan was successfully transported from the North Atlantic to the Himalayas where it was landed in that excavated pit.[14]

Modern Age[]

Through the manipulations of Maximus, the mad brother of Black Bolt, the rest of the royal family was forced into exile.[15] After living in exile for many years, and the Royal Family returned to the Great Refuge, and forced Maximus to relinquish the throne. In an insane attempt to strike back against humanity, Maximus activated a device called the Atmo-Gun. By reversing the Atmo-Gun's polarity, he generated a null barrier that completely surrounded the Great Refuge, cutting them off from the rest of the humanity forever.[16]

Attilan from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol 2 1 0001

Map

The Great Refuge (as it came to be known) came to the attention of world leaders after being discovered by the Fantastic Four. With the Inhumans growing ill from pollution caused by humanity, the city was moved again. This time to the Blue Area of the Moon.[17] The royal family was once again put into exile years later, this time by the Genetics Council after the unlawful birth of Black Bolt and Medusa's son, Ahura.[18] In a scheme involving Morgan le Fey and the Genetics Council, Attilan was shrunk down to bottle-size and transported back to Earth, where it expanded on the site of water-breathing Atlantis, recently raised to the surface.[19]

Black Bolt once again began to fear human involvement in their lives, and orchestrated an elaborate ruse to make it appear as if Attilan was destroyed when in fact it was teleported back into isolation in the Himalayas.[20] Attilan was later stolen by Ronan the Accuser as property of the Kree Empire, and the Inhumans chose to remain in space for a time absent the royal family.[21] Eventually, however, it was re-established on the Blue Area of the Moon, with permission of Uatu the Watcher.[22]

Into Space & Above Hala[]

Following Black Bolt's capture and an attack on Attilan by Skrulls, a machine developed by Maximus was utilized to send Attilan into space, powered by Black Bolt's words. Once in space, the Inhumans destroyed numerous fleeing Skrull ships before arriving at Hala. There, an assault was launched, leading to Black Bolt being declared ruler of the Kree. Attilan then settled on Hala, hovering above the Kree capitol city.[23]

When Black Bolt learned the secret history of the Inhumans and the Supreme Intelligence's attempted genocide of their people, he and the Inhumans abandoned the Kree.[24] Attilan was moved over New York City,[25] and was destroyed during Thanos' invasion on Earth in the search of his secret Inhuman-descendant son, when Black Bolt unleashed a powerful attack on the Mad Titan and destroyed his home in the process.[26]

New Attilan[]

The ruins were repurposed into New Attilan, which sat above the Hudson River along the New York/New Jersey border near the Upper New York Bay.[27]

Alternate Realities[]

Counter-Earth[]

Attilan from Exiles Vol 1 81 009

Franklin Richards created an pocket universe for the heroes to flee to after the Onslaught. When they returned, they left a Counter-Earth on the opposite side of the sun, complete with their own version of Attilan.[28]

After the Earth-616 heroes left Counter-Earth, Attilan was taken over by the Thunderbolts.[29]


Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)[]

Attilan (Earth-1610) from Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual Vol 1 1 0001

Attilan looks more like a beehive in the Ultimate Universe.[30]


Iron Doom (Earth-42777)[]

Attilan (Earth-42777) from Exiles Vol 1 23 0001

Iron Man ruled the world and was hell-bent on tracking down the Inhumans and exterminating them from the planet. Black Bolt, along with his Queen, Susan Storm, hid the city from him for a long time below the surface of the ocean, but eventually had to come out of hiding.[31]


2010s Marvel Animated Universe (Earth-12041)[]

At some point around 30 years prior, the Inhumans became infected with a Terrigen plague so they used Attilan to leave Earth and venture out into space to locate the Kree in hopes of a cure, being the ones who created them centuries past. That is until the Guardians of the Galaxy helped rid of the plague.[32]

A few years later, the Inhumans returned to Earth and placed the location of Attilan within the Himalayas, but remained hidden from the human race while place a reflected force filed around their hidden city. However after meeting the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., the force field was taken down as they decide to make contact with Humans again.[33]

Attilan later appeared floating above New York City, as part of Maximus plan to wage war, as a last resort he cause the city to descend thus crushing the city below, but was stopped by Black Bolt with help of Spider-Man when he used his voice to push Attilan away.[34]

Attilan was taken over by Ultron, when he planed on using the city to fly to over ones below while using the Seekers technology and Black Bolt to create a blast that will eliminate the humans on the ground. This plan was foiled by the Avengers and instead gave birth to new Inhumans within the city of New York.[35] Some time later, Attilan became open to the public as a sign of peace between humans and Inhumans, but the city was ultimately destroyed when Maximus angered Inferno, causing him to burn away the whole city, leaving the Inhumans to find a new home.[36]

Points of Interest

Residents

Attilan was populated by the Inhumans, among them the Inhuman Royal Family, the Genetic Council and the Inhuman Royal Guard.

It was also the home of the Alpha Primitives. For some time, the city was also inhabited by the Universal Inhumans, including Incentaurians, Wraith Inhumans, White Room Kymellians and Moord Badoon.

Population[]

The population was regulated at just under 1200 for centuries.[38]

Across the 1980's, Attilan was stated to be the home of 1,124,[2] then 1,160 Inhumans,[6] then finally 1,230.[39][37]

In the end of the 90's, Attilan was stated to be the home of around 4,000 Inhumans,[40] though in the 2000s, the number of Inhumans in Attilan (still supposed to have been regulated to 1200) was unclear due to losses at the end of the US military and to Inhumans being in space with the Kree.[38]

When the Universal Inhumans joined the Earth-born brethren, and the Inhumans installed Attilan over New York City, Attilan was stated to host between 15,000 and 20,000 Inhumans.[4][41]

Notes

Retcons and errors[]

The Inhuman History

  • In Fantastic Four #47, the Great Refuge was first referenced as appearing in the Andes Mountains. However, all subsequent references changed the location to the Himalayans, except for Incredible Hulk Special #1 who located it in the Alps.
  • Attilan's entries on Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #1 state that Attilan was founded 7,000 years ago (5,000 BC). The Inhumans' entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Fantastic Four 2005 #1 put the creation of Attilan between 25,000 (creation of the Inhumans) and 18,000 BC (the Great Cataclysm).
  • The story of how Attilan became known as the Great Refuge varies: It became known as such after...
  • Attilan and the Great Refuge were originally intended to be different cities. As established by the Origin of the Incomparable Inhumans series in Thor #146-152, Attilan was the name of both the city and the island where the Inhumans lived for millennia, from prehistoric times until the reign of Black Bolt. The last page of the final chapter showed Black Bolt flying away from the Isle of Attilan in search of a safer haven with a caption describing him as setting out "to find what will one day be known as -- the Great Refuge!" A blurb at the bottom of the page added, "And, find it he does -- but that's another tale, for another time!" As it turned out, that tale was never written and in 1975 the first Inhumans ongoing series treated Attilan and the Great Refuge as two different names for the same place, with early issues featuring devices that the Kree had secretly buried deep beneath the palace royal millennia earlier. However, the presence of those weapons buried deep underground in the Himalayas was inconsistent with the idea that the city had supposedly only been built there fairly recently, during Black Bolt's reign. It was presumably to correct this continuity error that Marvel Two-In-One #72 revealed that, three decades earlier, the Inhumans had excavated their island-home from its original location in the Atlantic Ocean, transported it undetected across the sky and re-established it in its current location in the Himalayan Mountains. The entry for Attilan in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 confirmed that the entire island complex had been moved and a side view showed that a great deal of the ground beneath the city had been transplanted as well, including the subterranean "Tombs of the Captroids," the Kree weapons from Inhumans #2.

Trivia

  • The "Afterlife" as depicted in Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the home of the Inhumans on the Earth located in the mountains range of China and is isolated from society and led by Inhuman elders and Jiaying before its collapse during the war with S.H.I.E.L.D., It bears strong similarity to the "The Great refugee" version of Attilan which is also located in the mountains range of China.
  • Attilan has been relocated several times.

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #1 ; Attilan's entry
  2. 2.0 2.1 Marvel Two-In-One #72
  3. FF (Vol. 2) #15
  4. 4.0 4.1 Inhumanity #2
  5. 5.0 5.1 Captain America Comics #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5 ; Inhumans' entry
  7. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #14
  8. History of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #1
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #1 ; Attilan's entry
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5 ; Inhumans' entry
  11. 11.0 11.1 Thor Annual #12
  12. Thor #152
  13. What If? #29
  14. 14.0 14.1 What If? #30
  15. Inhumans Special #1
  16. Fantastic Four #48
  17. Fantastic Four #240
  18. Fantastic Four Unlimited #2
  19. The Atlantis Rising crossover.
  20. Inhumans (Vol. 2) #12
  21. Inhumans (Vol. 3) #14
  22. Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) #5154
  23. Secret Invasion: War of Kings #1
  24. FF #67
  25. New Avengers (Vol. 3) #7
  26. Infinity #3
  27. Inhuman #2
  28. Fantastic Four (Vol. 2) #9
  29. Thunderbolts #66
  30. Ultimate Fantastic Four Annual #1
  31. Exiles #2325
  32. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy S1E12
  33. Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. S1E22
  34. Ultimate Spider-Man S3E20
  35. Marvel's Avengers Assemble S3E10
  36. Marvel's Avengers Assemble S3E23
  37. 37.0 37.1 Fantastic Four Annual #18
  38. 38.0 38.1 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #5 ; Inhumans' entry
  39. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (Vol. 2) #6 ; Inhumans' entry
  40. Inhumans (Vol. 2) #5
  41. All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe #1
  42. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Fantastic Four 2005 #1
  43. Thor #147

References[]

Advertisement