Captain Nemo

Real Name: Prince Dakkar

Identity/Class: Normal Human

Occupation: Captain of the Nautilus, revolutionary, agent of the British government

Affiliations: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Enemies: Fu Manchu, the Si Fan; Professor Moriarty; the Martians

Known Relatives: Unnamed wife and child, unnamed father (an Indian Rajah), Tippu Sahib (uncle)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Secret Wing of the British Museum, the Nautilus

First Appearance: (this version) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1 (America's Best Comics)

Powers/Abilities: Incredible inventor, access to incredible weaponry

History: (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) An Indian, Nemo's past before he became the Captain of the Nautilus is unknown to practically everyone. All that is known for sure is that, after the Sepoy Mutiny, Nemo used his scientific genius to construct the submarine Nautilus, the Sword of the Ocean, then gathered together a crew of like-minded mariners, and launched a secret war against War itself. After destroying a number of vessels, he picked up Professor Pierre Arronax, his assistant Conseil, and harpooner Ned Land, taken from the Abraham Lincoln, a science ship which had been hunting the Nautilus. Eventually they escaped from him, and Nemo and the Nautilus seemed to be destroyed.

(The Mysterious Island) Years later Nemo was found by stranded travellers on an island dominated by giant mutations, and appeared to die. However this story proved to be fake, deliberately spread by Nemo through the author Jules Verne as a way of stopping people from hunting for him.

(League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) Eventually, he was somehow contacted by Campion Bond and asked to act as a member of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in a mission to reclaim stolen Cavorite for the British Government. For reasons of his own he accepted the offer. Curiously enough, he developed a quick friendship with "great white hunter" Allan Quatermain, despite the two men being at such opposite ends of the spectrum that they appeared more suited to being enemies rather than friends.

Although Nemo did not aid the rest of the League in the raid to reacquire the Cavorite, he did save them from drowning after their narrow escape from the HQ of the Chinese crime lord known only as 'the Doctor' (apparently Fu Manchu). Since both he and Quatermain distrusted agent Campion Bond, they had Griffin follow him to discover the truth about their employer when Bond took the metal to his superior. M turned out to be Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime. Moriarty and Fu Manchu's forces engaged in a massive aerial battle over London, while the League set out in a hot air balloon supplied by Nemo to board Moriarty's airship, and take back the Cavorite once more. Using weapons of his own invention Nemo helped hold the soldiers back while Moriarty was defeated.

(League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume II) Following this struggle, Nemo and the rest of the League were put in charge of co-ordinating the world's defense against the invading Martians. After Griffin turned traitor and Mina and Quatermain were sent off to find Doctor Moreau, Nemo and Hyde took up a position in the Nautilus in the Thames, where they could destroy any Martians attempting to get to the rest of London. Eventually, Griffin managed to clue the Martians in on a way to immobilise the Nautilus, but Hyde then dealt with the traitor for good; however his brutality so sickened Nemo that he nearly attacked Hyde himself.

In the final battle with the Martians, Hyde sacrificed his life to trap the Martians in one area of London, allowing the British Government to unleash their secret weapon: a hybrid virus. Nemo, outraged at this and thinking that Mina and Quatermain were aware of it all along, resigned from the League in a fit of rage, informing them to never seek him out again after this mission.

Comments: Adapted by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neil from the character created by Jules Verne. As Darci notes In the original Jules Verne novels Nemo had an unspecified origin in "20000 Leagues". His publisher refused to use the origin Verne planned (Nemo was to be an exiled Pole, which would have offended the Russians, which France could not afford to do at the time), so Verne left it undefined. The identification with India only came out in the later "Mysterious Island."

Thanks to "David" for much of the above profile.

Captain Nemo, LXG movie version

Real Name: Prince Dakkar

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Captain of the Nautilus, revolutionary, agent of the British government

Affiliations: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Enemies: The Fantom, Dorian Gray

Known Relatives: Unnamed father (an Indian Rajah), Tippu Sahib (uncle)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Secret Wing of the British Museum, the Nautilus

First Appearance: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a.k.a. LXG, 20th Century Fox, 2003)

Powers/Abilities: Incredible inventor, access to incredible weaponry, master of martial arts and swordfighting.

History: Initial history as per the novels (detailed above)

Exactly how Nemo eventually was recruited for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by the British Empire is unknown - his animosity for most governments and the Empire which ruled his homeland meant the reasons must have been pressing, and it seems unlikely he was captured, given that the Nautilus was far more powerful than anything they possessed - indeed, this was what made his technology so appealing to the Fantom. Probably it was the threat of a world war looming which made him set aside his differences with Britain, at least while a greater threat was on the horizon.

To begin with there was some animosity between Nemo and team leader Quatermain, given their different backgrounds. However they soon recognised their common sense of honour. Nemo transported the League in the Nautilus, first to Paris to capture Mr.Hyde, then to Vienna to stop the Fantom from sinking the city. In their fight with the Fantom's forces in Venice, it was Nemo who fired the missile that interrupted the chain of collapsing buildings and saved Venice.

The Nautilus then pursued the fleeing villain and his ally, Dorian Gray, to the Fantom's hidden lair in the far East, slowed somewhat by sabotage inflicted on the ship by the treacherous Gray. In the assault on the Fantom's stronghold, where stolen technology was being used to create at least eight copies of the Nautilus, Nemo aided Hyde in freeing the Fantom's captive scientists and their families. He also helped Hyde fight one of the Fantom's soldiers who, having imbibed a version of Jekyll's drug, had become an even stronger version of Hyde. After Quatermain's funeral, it was Nemo, motivated by the sacrifice of Allan Quatermain, who suggested the League stay together, with the Nautilus as their base, and use their combined abilities to protect the world.

Comments: Played by Naseeruddin Shah.

Thanks to "David" for some of the above profile.

CLARIFICATIONS: None

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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