Val Verde (fictional country)
Fictional Latin American country used in action and adventure media.
Val Verde is a fictional country created by Hollywood writer and producer Steven E. de Souza for use in stories requiring a South or Central American setting without causing legal or diplomatic complications. The name, which translates to 'Green Valley' in Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish, first appeared in the 1985 film Commando. It has since been featured in numerous films, television programs, comics, and video games, often serving as a stand-in for real Latin American nations.
Quick Facts
- First appearance
- Commando (1985)
- Creator
- Steven E. de Souza
- Name meaning
- Green Valley (Portuguese, Italian, Spanish)
- Typical portrayal
- Poor nation with military presence and vintage 1950s cars
Facts from the source article.
Background
Val Verde was conceived by Steven E. de Souza as a fictional locale to avoid diplomatic issues when depicting a South or Central American country. It debuted in Commando (1985), where exiled dictator Arius blackmails John Matrix into assassinating the current president. The country is described as an 11-hour flight from Los Angeles, roughly 5,500 miles from California. In Die Hard 2 (1990), former dictator General Ramon Esperanza is extradited to the United States from Val Verde.
The country also appears in the television series Supercarrier, where the USS Georgetown docks there during a civil war, and in Adventure Inc., which features an outbreak on an island off its coast. De Souza later moved the setting of the Sheena comic from Africa to Val Verde. The country is also referenced in the video game Predator: Hunting Grounds, where audio logs voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger explicitly place the events of the original Predator film 'over the border' in Val Verde, though other sources have placed that film in Guatemala or Colombia.
More in Characters & Cast
Elsewhere in Die Hard
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