Benito Mussolini (Earth-616)

Benito Mussolini
Name	Benito Mussolini
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Fascist Italy, Axis
Marital Status	Married
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Bald
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Deceased
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	No Dual
Citizenship	Italian
Occupation	Prime Minister of Italy (Circa 1922-1943), dictator, politician
Base of Operations	Italy
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Carl Burgos
First	Human Torch #5 (Fall) (October, 1941)
First	Human Torch #5 (Fall) (October, 1941)
Death	Combat Kelly #29 (December, 1954)
Death	Combat Kelly #29 (December, 1954)

History

Preface

Benito Mussolini (July 29, 1883 – April 28, 1945) is based on the real life leader of Fascist Italy. Presumably, the fictional character's history is mostly the same as his real life counterpart. The scope of this article is to cover the activities of the fictional character and his interactions in the Earth-616 universe. For a full history of the real life Mussolini, consult his Wikipedia entry.

Further, as it has been revealed that a number of wartime adventures were fictional accounts of actual events, some of the appearances listed below are as accurate as their depiction in Timely Comics publications. In addition to the slanted propaganda of these publications, a number of appearances by Mussolini may have been the work of impersonators, as much like Hitler, Mussolini employed actors to pose as him in public.

1922

In 1922, following a post-World War I period of financial depression, Benito Mussolini's fascists came to power and soon established a dictatorship.

He later allied with Nazi Germany.

1934

In 1934, Engelbert Dollfuß allied himself with Mussolini's fascists, with the purpose of keeping Austria sovereign and apart from Germany. He was assassinated later in that year by Austrian Nazis.

World War II

Mussolini was the Prime Minister of Italy during World War II. When the war broke out, his government allied itself with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Unlike Hitler and Hirohito, Mussolini had very few encounters with the various super-humans active during the war.

1940

In 1940, Italy led an unsuccessful invasion of Greece. Mussolini then persuaded Hitler to direct Germany's military into the southern Balkans.

1941

By May 1941, Greece was under joint military occupation by Nazi Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria.

1942

In the summer of 1942, Mussolini and Hirohito accepted an invitation from Hitler to come to Germany to discuss the war. There Hitler attempted to allay fears from both his Axis allies over their enemies gaining ground in the conflict. During this visit Hitler's compound was invaded by the Victory Boys who had one of their members captured by one of Hitler's guards. Mussolini and his allies were delivered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the youths.

In his last recorded appearance, Mussolini joined Hitler and Hirohito to answer an offer from the mad scientist known as the Torso to eliminate Captain America and Bucky. They accepted the offer and agreed to fund the Torso's operation, however the Torso ultimately failed in his appointed task.

Death

After losing much ground in Italy to Allied Forces, Mussolini was incarcerated but freed by German forces. Continuing to lead parts of Italy that had not fallen to the Allies, Mussolini attempted to flee to Switzerland when it became apparent that the battle was lost in April 1945. He and his mistress Claretta Petacci took a large cache of gold and jewels when they fled, however they crossed paths with American soldiers Combat Kelly and Cookie Novak who forced the couple to crash their car. They attempted to bribe Combat and Cookie to assist their escape, but they refused, Combat even slapping the deposed dictator around before Nazi forces attacked them. Benito and Carletta then fled. However, they were not free for long as the next day, on April 28th 1945, the pair were both captured and executed for his crimes.

If this is the final fate of Mussolini remains to be seen, as many of those involved in the Axis Powers have managed to evade capture or cheat death.

See Also

• 7 appearance(s) of Benito Mussolini (Earth-616)
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Benito Mussolini (Earth-616)
• 14 mention(s) of Benito Mussolini (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Benito Mussolini (Earth-616)
• 2 image(s) of Benito Mussolini (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Benito Mussolini on Wikipedia.org