History
Overview[]
Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam.[1]
During the 20th century, the territory of Vietnam was involved in several international conflicts, including World War II (1939-1945), First Indochina War (1946-1954) and Vietnam War (1955-1975). Conflicts mostly subsided in 1990. Ever since 1976, Hanoi has been the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
First Indochina War (1946-1954)[]
During the First Indochina War (1946-1954), Hanoi was south of Route Colonaile No. 4, a road used to supply the French military base at Cao Bang. French military traffic along it had previously been subject to an ongoing series of ambushes during 1947–1949, and in 1950, the French decided that outposts close to the Chinese border like Cao Bang were too dangerous to be kept, so the 3rd Battalion Legionnaires in Cao Bang were ordered to evacuate, and join a French rescue column on Route No. 4. Both French groups were ambushed by the Viet Minh before they could join forces, but a small number of survivors reach the allied base of That Khe.[2]
Vietnam War (1955-1975)[]
During the Vietnam War (1955-1975), a number of American soldiers were captured and stayed in Hanoi was war prisoners for years. One of them was Jim Arsdale of the US Army, who was imprisoned for four years. After returning home, Arsdale was surprised to find that his country was against the war, disapproving the sacrifices he had made. Back home, Arsdale found himself in conflict with countercultural young people and corrupt entrepreneurs.[3]
After the death of Hồ Chí Minh, President of Vietnam who had fought in both the First Indochina War and the Vietnam War and succeeded in expelling the French and the Americans, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum was built in Hanoi to bury his mortal remains.[1]
Recent times[]
German-born Gustav Brandt lived in Hanoi for a time before becoming the villain Libra, and while being there, fathered the superheroine Mantis[1] with his wife Lua Nguyen Brandt.[4]
Hatchi Corporations Hanoi headquarters
In more recent times, Vietnam-born mutant Xuân Cao Mạnh (Karma) became the CEO of[5] Hanoi-based Hatchi Corporation.[6] Karma claimed she was aiming to provide mutants with a mutant-run business that would give them employment,[7] as was the case with Prodigy (David Alleyne),[5] but she had been secretly manipulated by her telepathic brother Trân Cao Mạnh who aimed to turn magic into a weapon, purportedly to help mutants so as to calm Karma's conscience.[7] Karma hired the New Mutants as their agents, to investigate strange, impossible or paranormal phenomena,[5] and provided them with a base in Hanoi.[6] Karma had also secretly hired Mirage (Danielle Moonstar) to investigate a possible presence of their missing teammate Warlock, but Moonstar was infected by Warlock's Techno-Organic Virus and Karma scratched Moonstar as missing in action.[7] New Mutant leader Magik (Illyana Rasputin) found that she had been tracking Tran through Hanoi's Hatchi offices, Hatchi's Alabama relief center and a Paris cemetery,[6] and she eventually confronted Karma about what the later had been hiding, but this led to Tran revealing himself and eventually to all of the New Mutants, Karma and Tran being infected by the Virus in the Hanoi offices.[7]
Later, the new mutant island-nation Krakoa created Gateways that allowed for teleportation of mutants (and of humans under controlled circumstances) between important locations around the world and Krakoa. These portals were in public places, openly known[8] and one of them was in Hanoi.[9] Krakoa-based teenage mutants Cable, Pixie and Armor arranged a date for the three of them after Cable fought and won in the Quarry; Armor had chosen Hanoi and already booked rooms in a hotel there; but they cancelled the trip when young mutant Curse asked for their help to find his lost friend Fauna.[10]
More recently, the Agents of Atlas were summoned for a mission on Hanoi; Sword Master and Wave expected to travel there after they finished a monster-fighting situation in Cebu, Philippines. However, Agents of Atlas leader Jimmy Woo cancelled the Hanoi trip because they had a situation with a shape-shifting fox demon Kumiho in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea which was priority because the last known Kumiho alive, White Fox, was an agent of Atlas.[11] It is unclear what was the situation in Hanoi that required the Agents of Atlas and that was not responded.
Alternative Realities[]
The 'Nam (Earth-85101)[]
Earth-85101 is very similar to Earth-1218, with most events of the Vietnam War and other Vietnam-related conflicts happening either exactly the same way or very similarly.[12]
Similar to what happened in other universes, during World War II, Japan invaded Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia. In the process, Japanese forces executed farmer Duong's wife, prompting him to change his life. Duong enlisted in Hanoi's college Lycée Albert Sarraut, where he met Phan Bội Châu, described by Duong as a nationalist professor under house arrest for saying the Vietnamese people should have freedom. Duong finished his studies and joined the Viet Minh.[13]
Decades later, the Vietnam War took place very similarly to Earth-1218's Vietnam War. As in Earth-1218, Hanoi-born Xuân Thủy, Foreign Minister of North Vietnam from 1963 to 1965, was his country's main negotiator in the Paris Peace Talks of 1968. In 1968, American soldiers[14] stationed in Tay Nih, Vietnam,[15] including Michael "Iceman" Phillips and "Pig" Meachum, witnessed bomber planes taking off, and wondered whether they were going to attack Hanoi, but they understood this was not likely at that point.[14] Phillips ended his tour in June 1969, imagining that a successful attack on Hanoi would have been a cool idea,[15] and even in 1972, Hollander believed that they should be bombing Hanoi; he wanted to be personally ordered to do that, and foresaw that Vietnam would surrender two weeks after that, should it happened.[16]
Hanoi being bombed during Operation Linebacker
In 1972, the Americans started bombing strategic targets in North Vietnam, including in and around Hanoi, as a part of Operation Linebacker, with support of SAM and MIG, and EB-66 radar jamming, with other troops opening a corridor. At that point, several Vietnamese veteran soldiers, including disabled Hoan Than, had been sent to Hanoi to work in non-combat positions; in the case of Hoan, he worked in Thai Nguyen, a uniform factory north of Yen Vien Railyards, his wife in a vehicle repair plant, and he secretly was glad to be far from the most horrific events of war. Hoan followed the simulacra that protected the workers in underground bunkers, but believed that Hanoi was far from the conflict zone. Hoan was surprised when the workers' meal was interrupted by another supposed simulacrum, so he limpingly delayed his walk to the bunker - then discovered that Blue, one of three three-plane cells from Guam (the others being green and white) was really bombing the area, under the false pretense that the area was not populated and the uniform factory was really of ammunition. Hoan was killed by the bombing that destroyed the factory, and in a parallel situation, the pilot of the plane that killed him was forced to eject and fell on the nearby jungle, surrounded by the Viet Cong.[16]
Marvel Anime (Earth-101001)[]
On Earth-101001, A.I.M., a criminal organization of scientists, intervened in the Vietnam War with the V Project, by giving a team of special-ops U.S. Marines deployed in Vietnam blood transfusions and a microchip as a part of a supposed special assignment. This turned the whole unit into unwilling vampires. When their base was attacked and all the marines were scratched as dead, all of the soldiers burned their chips committed suicide by sunlight, except for Sergeant Major Stan Davis, who reached Hanoi at some point and eventually survived until recent times by stealing blood from blood banks, cursing his vampire state and having a recurrent nightmare. An almost-suicidal Davis was confronted by Blade and eventually was killed by Kikyo Mikage, which marked the end of the V Project.[17]
MAX-Universe (Earth-200111)[]
On Earth-200111, a world lacking superpowered humans, Frank Castle, later known as Punisher, fought in the Vietnam War. During his first tour, ending in late 1968, Lieutenant Castle commanded the Fourth Platoon, Kilo Company, Third Battalion of the Twenty-Sixth Marine Regiment.[18] During this time, the Tet Offensive took place: A coordinated attack by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the United States Armed Force and their allies, including the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, including surprise attack, among those to the Khe Sanh Combat Base, controlled by the United State Marine Corps. One unit of the First Marine Regiment recently replaced another one in the defense of Khe Sanh, and received orders to patrol the area beyond the perimeter to get familiar with it; but they were ambushed by Viet Cong soldier Ly Quang, who killed at least five of them and captured a lieutenant, delivering the later to her officer Colonel Letrong Giap of the People's Army of Vietnam. Giap questioned the lieutenant about both his orders, and the situation in the United States.[19] Giap then ordered the lieutenant to be sent to the headquarters in Hanoi, in a long trip north, with Giap apparently going with the prisoner and the escort detail to return to the Khe Sanh area soon afterward. While Giap was away, Ly Quang, obsessed with revenge against Lieutenant Castle, manipulated the situation to unleash a battle against Castle's platoon and have a chance to kill him, knowing that Giap would not allow her to do it. This information was years later uncovered later by writer Michael Goodwin, who wanted to write a book on Castle.[19][20]
During Castle's second tour in Vietnam, an unidentified American three-star officer related to the I Corps flew onboard a McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II over a dangerous zone, only to be shot down by Vietnamese MIG's, and then sent to Hanoi prisoner camps. The American command, fearing that the prisoner may be compelled to reveal valuable information to the enemy, sent Castle northward to rescue the man. En route through the jungle, Castle found a tiger, which reminisced him of previous events.[21] It is unclear whether the officer was rescued in time or not.
Unknown Earth[]
Iron Man helps the U.S.A.F bomb Hanoi, Earth-85101
Points of Interest
- Flag Tower of Hanoi[1]
- "Hanoi Hilton" (American slang for prisoner camps in Hanoi, Earth-200111)[21]
- Hanoi Opera House[1]
- Hanoi Tower[1] (Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower)
- Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum[1]
- Hoan Kiem Lake[1]
- Lycée Albert Sarraut[13]
- One Pillar Pagoda[1]
- Park of Reunification[1]
- Temple of Literature[1]
- Yen Vien Railyards[16] (Yên Viên station)
- Thai Nguyen uniform factory north of Yen Vien Railyards (Earth-85101, destroyed)[16]
Residents
- Jim Arsdale (former war prisoner)[3]
- Gustav Brandt (later known as Libra)[1]
- Sergeant Major Stan Davis (Earth-101001)[17]
- Duong (student during his stay in Hanoi)[13]
- Hatchi Corporation[5]
- Shatterstar (Gaveedra Seven)[7]
- Hoan Than (deceased) and family (Earth-85101)[16]
- Phan Bội Châu (Earth-85101) (Earth-85101)[13]
- Xuân Thủy (Earth-85101)[14] (Xuân Thủy is a Hanoi-born historical character whose Earth-85101 counterpart makes a short appearance in the comic The 'Nam #59. Lacking any further information, the reader is to assume that the past of this Xuan mimics his real-life's alternate version.)
Notes
- Due to the Sliding Timescale, several events related to Hanoi during the Vietnam War have been rewritten, as the involved characters are not old enough to be Vietnam War veterans. For example:
- In Iron Man #144 (1981), Anthony Stark reminisces his time in the Vietnam War, just after becoming Iron Man. While fighting Viet Cong enemies, he calls the enemy soldiers "Hanoi hotshots".
- Similarly, Gustav Brandt's presence in Hanoi was initially explained (e.g. in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #13, 1984) because Brandt was a German who had fought in the First Indochina War.
See Also
- 10 appearance(s) of Hanoi
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Hanoi
- 16 mention(s) of Hanoi
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Hanoi
- 5 image(s) of Hanoi
- 1 article(s) related to Hanoi
Links and References
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Marvel Atlas #1 ; Vietnam's profile
- ↑ Savage Tales (Vol. 2) #1 ; "Avenger"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fear #18
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #7
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 New Mutants: Dead Souls #1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 New Mutants: Dead Souls #4
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 New Mutants: Dead Souls #6
- ↑ House of X #1
- ↑ X-Men / Fantastic Four (Vol. 2) #4
- ↑ Cable (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Death of Doctor Strange: White Fox #1
- ↑ Per Wikipedia's article on the comic series, the actions were based on fact: Not every action depicted in the book was accurate, but all the historical events actually occurred, sourced from: Tran, Mark (September 20, 1986). "Vietnam War Breaks Out Again in Comic Strip". The Guardian.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 The 'Nam #7
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 The 'Nam #29
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 The 'Nam #41
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 The 'Nam #59
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Blade S1E08
- ↑ Punisher MAX: The Platoon #1
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Punisher MAX: The Platoon #4
- ↑ Punisher MAX: The Platoon #5
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Punisher: The Tyger #1