Allan Quatermain (comic version)

Real Name: Allan Quatermain

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Adventurer; former hunter, agent of the British government

Affiliations: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,

former Umbopo; Umslopogas

Enemies: Fu Manchu, Professor Moriarty, the Martians, Dr. Moreau

Known Relatives: Unidentified wife and son (both deceased)

Aliases: Allan Quatermain Jr.

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

First Appearance: (original version) King Solomon's Mines (1885); (this iteration) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1 (America's Best Comics, March 1999)

Powers/Abilities: Skilled hunter and fighter. Unparalleled marksman with a rifle. Immortal.

History: Following his retiring from the public eye after his many adventures, Quatermain came to live in Cairo, where he became an opium addict and a recluse. However, he was eventually sought out by Mina Murray to be a part of her League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a group being gathered on behalf of the British government to retrieve the stolen metal Cavorite, vital for the country's space race. Initially he refused, but when locals tried to rape Mina his old heroism kicked in, and he saved her. Pursued by an angry mob, the two fled to the docks and the safety of the Nautilus; unable to return to his home in Cairo, Quatermain agreed to join Mina and Captain Nemo. He subsequently aided Mina and Inspector Auguste Dupin in the capture of Edward Hyde in Paris, although he was also responsible for Mina getting captured by Hyde in the first place.

After capturing and recruiting Hawley Griffin, a.k.a. the Invisible Man, the League started to track down the missing Cavorite. Quatermain and Henry Jekyll (Hyde's alter ego) scouted out the Limehouse area where it was believed to have been taken. They then infiltrated a poorhouse built over a hidden base where the Cavorite was being kept in the clutches of a tong led by a Chinese crimelord called 'the Doctor'. Successfully (and brutally, thanks to the involvement of Hyde) retrieving the mineral, they handed it over to their superiors, only to discover their orders had come from the infamous Professor Moriarty, another crimelord who immediately used it to launch a vast airship and initiate an aerial battle over London against the army of his Chinese rival. The League boarded the airship, and during their attack Quatermain managed to take out Moriarty's personal bodyguards, although he failed to kill Moriarty himself.

Subsequent to this the League was sent to investigate the meteorite landings that preluded the Martian invasion. After Griffin betrayed the League and attacked Mina, she and Quatermain were sent away together to track down Doctor Moreau and recruit his aid in fighting the Martians.It was during this period that he and Mina became lovers, although things were briefly complicated by Quatermain discovering the scars left on Mina's neck by Dracula. Having found Moreau, Quatermain and Mina returned to London, but were horrified to learn that the creature Moreau had given them was a hybrid virus, that would kill innocents as well as the Martians. With Griffin and Hyde dead, casualties of the brief war, Nemo resigning from the League in a fit of rage at their use of germ warfare, and Mina leaving Quatermain due to confusion about her feelings, Quatermain was left alone in the League, uncertain what to do with himself now...

Comments: Created by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, based on the character created by H. Rider Haggard.

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

Allan Quatermain (movie version)

Real Name: Allan Quatermain

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: (former) hunter; (current) agent of the British government

Affiliations: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Enemies: Professor Moriarty/Fantom, Dorian Gray

Known Relatives: Unidentified son (deceased)

Aliases: None

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

First Appearance: (original version) King Solomon's Mines; (this version) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a.k.a. LXG, 20th Century Fox, 2003)

Powers/Abilities: Skilled hunter and fighter. Unparalleled marksman with a rifle.

History: Though Allan Quatermain was once Britannia's greatest hero, he had slipped away from the Empire. His final adventure cost him his only son, whom he'd promised to protect, sending him off to retirement in Kenya, where he befriended a man called Nigel who posed as him to get rid of anyone looking for him just for stories of his adventures. However, when a criminal known as the Fantom brought Europe to the brink of war, a representative of the British government, Sanderson Reed, was sent to recruit Quatermain to head a new incarnation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, unique adventurers who had protected England (and later Britain) through many centuries. Quatermain was tracked down at the Britannia club in Africa, but initially refused to take the mission. However, after Nigel and the other members of the club were killed when the Fantom's men attacked the club while trying to kill Quatermain, he was drawn back into action to save the Empire. He came to enjoy his new adventure, not only because of the friendship of his teammates and the thrill of being out in the action again, but because he met someone who reminded him of his lost son; Special Agent Tom Sawyer, of the American Secret Service.

Having recruited the reclusive Dorian Gray and had their first skirmish with the Fantom's men, the League proceeded to Paris, where Quatermain managed to capture the previously uncatchable Edward Hyde, and add him to their numbers. They then travelled to Venice, during which trip Quatermain taught Sawyer the true art of the gun, and how to take out a target at almost nine hundred yards away. In the Italian city the team thwarted an attempt to destroy the city and a vital peace conference. During this episode, they battled the Fantom's men once more, and Quatermain managed to unmask the Fantom himself, revealing him to be their superior, M. The group pursued the fleeing villain, but treachery within their own ranks nearly destroyed them and left them far behind in the chase. Thanks to the cunning of the Invisible Man though, they regained the trail, and tracked their prey to the far side of the world.

In the attack on the Fantom's fortress, the team split up. Quatermain and Sawyer went after the Fantom, and the former proved himself far more than just a hunter when he deduced the true identity of the Fantom - Professor James Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime. Quatermain took on Moriarty in single combat, but although he did well, when he turned away to shoot down the Fantom's invisible man, Sanderson Reed, who was holding Sawyer hostage, Moriarty stabbed him in the back. With Quatermain wounded, and the Fantom getting away, Sawyer took up Quatermain's elephant gun, taking out the Fantom with the method taught to him by Quatermain. As Quatermain died, his last words to Sawyer were:

'May the new century... be yours, son... as the old one... was mine.'

The League buried him back in Africa, beside his son, and decided to stay together after they had said their goodbyes to their lost friend and comrade. However, given that a witch doctor began chanting above his grave as the League left, and that Quatermain himself claimed he had been told "Africa would not let him die", the legend of Allan Quatermain may not be over yet...

Comments: Created by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill, based on the character created by H. Rider Haggard. Played by Sean Connery in the movie version of the series.

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

CLARIFICATIONS: None.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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