Didja Know... The Savage Land

Didja Know digs into the fun facts, strange stories, and divine details that helped build the hallowed halls of the House of Ideas!

Sometines ya gotta not only Face Front, but just stand up and shout “Savage!” at the bottom of the world, right, True Believers? A few characters took their turns doing that—or, at least, behaving savagely—in the perfectly pulse-pounding pages of the all-new X-MEN #3!

That's right, this mag is bursting its britches with the latest look at that singularly special vacation spot we call the Savage Land! Based in the chilly Antarctic, it’s cold on the outside but oh-so-warm on the inside—just like our little hearts here at Didja Know Central. But they’re actually big today as we open up on the Savage Land for your enjoyment and edification…

Didja Know… aliens created the Savage Land?

Yep, for once we’re startin’ out plain and simple, Didja Know Diehards. It’s true! The nutty nabobs named the Beyonders desired a gnarly game preserve or three throughout the galaxies a few hundred-million years ago and another alien race known as the Nuwali whipped one up for ‘em right here on Planet Earth… smack dab in the middle of Antarctica!

Now, according to MARVEL ATLAS (2007) #2—never leave home without it!—the Nuwali stocked the soon-to-be-tagged Savage Land with ancestors of ours called Man-Apes, but the stocking didn’t stop there! Nossir, in short order—over millions of years—the heavenly little haven became home for Lizard Men! Reptile Men! Golden People! And all kinds of wondrous weirdos! Even Atlanteans!

In fact, the Savage Land became such a popular hot-spot that even the X-Men built a base there many years later, as seen in UNCANNY X-MEN (2016) #1. Ahh, just thinkin’ about the Lost Lake, the Mystic Mists, the Eternity Mountains, and our foolish favorite the Valley of Geysers makes us go all giddy and goofy inside…. Good times.

Didja Know… the Savage Land played an important role in World War II?

Truth is stranger than any fiction! During the War, Adolf Hitler set his eyes on not only Poland and France, but also Antarctica! In the mighty Marvel Universe, he even went so far as to try to set up a base there, and after his defeat, rumors rolled about Nazi stragglers sailing for its chilly clime as a hideout!

But one of the strangest stories of the Savage Land unfolded in MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #22 when the Vision—the first one, the alien named Aarkus—tested his mystic mettle against Khor the Black Sorcerer there and rescued a whole passel of passengers from a sailing ship. Then, it was called The Land Where Time Stood Still and Khor dominated the domain with dastardly deeds, but Aarkus defeated the dummy and the world went right on spinning, blissfully unware of the Savage Land until many years later…

Didja Know… J. Jonah Jameson once went to the Savage Land?

Soak that one up, Sammy…the Daily Bugle’s pernicious publisher placing his patent-leather pumps down on the silky soil of the Savage Land. The mind boggles! But it’s true—it all transpired in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (1963) #103-104.

See, by modern times, the Savage Land had become more than a raucous rumor to the citizens of the world. The X-Men traveled there in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #10, Lord Plunder made it a destination point, etc., etc., and so when Jolly Jonah carved cash to keep the Bugle bugling he saw the Savage Land as a quick cash-cow…and booked passage for himself and a perky photog by the moniker of Peter Parker!

Did we mention that Gwen Stacy went along? And that she was grabbed by a giant goombah called Gog? And that Kraven the Hunter was behind it all? And Spider-Man saved the day with a little help from his friends Ka-Zar and his sabretooth Zabu?

We just did. And you’ve got homework now, Harry.

Peruse these eye-poppin' publications with Marvel Unlimited right now! Then visit your local comic shop to pick up X-MEN #3 today!