The most notable fictional countries from movies and TV

There’s a reason why the “Black Panther” sequel was subtitled “Wakanda Forever,” and why the TV series is called “Eyes of Wakanda.” Well, there are a couple reasons, one of them the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman. Within the MCU, though, Black Panther’s home country of Wakanda is as lush and detailed as anything. Ryan Coogler gave it an Afrofuturist aesthetic and the country became a crucial part of the world of those movies and TV shows.

Before there was Wakanda, there was Sokovia. Okay, so it’s more generic Eastern European than anything else, the kind of place Elizabeth Olsen can get away with having an inconsistent accent as a resident. The country is the home of Wanda and Pietro, not to mention “Civil War” villain Helmut Zemo. There’s even the Sokovia Accords, another key element of the MCU.

Soon enough, Latveria will likely be a big part of the MCU. It is, after all, the home of Doctor Doom, who will be played by Robert Downey Jr…eventually. Of course, Latveria has already appeared in old Marvel TV shows and 2007’s “Rise of the Silver Surfer.” You know, that old version of the Fantastic Four.

“Duck Soup” is the best Marx Brothers movie, and one of the best comedies of the 1930s. If you are wary about giving it a shot, also know it doesn’t even hit 70 minutes of runtime. Groucho Marx plays Rufus T. Firefly, who becomes the leader of a small nation called Freedonia. Chaos, and hilarity, both ensue.

Obviously, Gulliver does a lot of traveling. Among his travels, though, Lilliput is the one that has always stuck with people the most. That’s probably even true in the terrible “Gulliver’s Travels” adaptation starring Jack Black. Lilliput is the island nation with the tiny people. Thus, when Gulliver shows up, he is viewed as a scary giant and an enemy of the people.

In the first “Fallout” video game, New California Republic is but a brief mention. Then, in the second game, the country birthed in the post-apocalyptic wasteland gets more backstory and detail. Even if you haven’t played the games, if you’ve seen the Amazon Prime show, the New California Republic gets even more fleshed out. Also, even if you haven’t played the games, “Fallout” the show is quite good.

Pottsylvania is Cold War paranoia taken to the extreme. It’s a country where the newspaper is printed in invisible ink and basically the only jobs are to be spies and government agents. Their leader is literally just called “Fearless Leader.” Of course, it’s all comical, given that Pottsylvania is from the world of “Rocky & Bullwinkle.” Boris and Natasha, forever after “moose and squirrel,” are both Pottsylvanians.

Hey, Oz is a fictional country. It has neighborhoods, infrastructure, and, of course, a leader. Sure, there are also wicked witches to deal with, but sometimes a house will drop on one of them and things get a bit easier on Lollipop Guilds and Cowardly Lions. While, canonically, Oz seemed to just exist in Dorothy’s dream once upon a time, the world has been expanded on to a point where that no longer is the case.

Steven de Souza is famous for being a quick screenwriter. It helps him expedite the process by using the fictional Latin America country Val Verde whenever he needed to set something in Latin America. That kept things from being too political or from being inaccurate. “Commando” and “Die Hard 2” both feature references to Val Verde, and de Souza has said he believes the unnamed country in “Predator” is also Val Verde.

Themyscira is not for tourists. The land of the Amazons in the DC universe is hidden away from the public at large. It’s a country of all women, all warriors, all seemingly superpowered. That includes Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman. You can see it in a lot of DC properties. Plus, for some reason “Space Jam: A New Legacy.”

It’s one of the most-famous fictional countries, one that has been part of culture for almost a century. Shangri-La has even become shorthand for paradise on Earth. The country was introduced in James Hilton’s 1933 novel “Lost Horizon.” It’s hidden away in the mountains of Tibet where the people live in peace and also live unusually long lives.

No, we aren’t talking about Biryani rice. “The Gods Must Be Crazy” is not exactly accurate, but it did become an unexpected hit. A remote tribe finds a Coca-Cola bottle, and believe the gods have deposited it there. Meanwhile, in the nation of Birani, a coup attempt has led to a military pursuit that comes to complicate the plot as well. Maybe Birani is also in the sequel. Nobody has bothered seeing the sequel.

An overcorrection has occurred. “Ishtar,” set in part in the fictional North African country of Ishtar, was long labeled as one of the worst movies of all-time. It was a bomb, and it did have two big stars in it. Then, the movie began to be reconsidered, and that ramped up to “Actually, ‘Ishtar’ is really good!” Elaine May directed four movies. All four of them are pretty good. Not great, not really good, not disastrous. Pretty good. “Ishtar” is one of those movies. It’s pretty good.

Interestingly, San Lorenzo has been used for multiple fictional countries. In “Leverage,” it’s in the Mediterranean, for example. However, we were thinking of the San Lorenzo from “Hey Arnold!.” It’s the country where Arnold’s parents disappeared, and in the series-concluding “The Jungle Movie,” Arnold and his cohorts travel to San Lorenzo, which is in Central America, for answers.

The James Bond movies, especially before the ‘90s, were not known for cultural sensitivity. As sure, maybe it’s a little surprising that the film adaptation “Live and Let Die” bothered to invent a fictional Caribbean nation. Ian Fleming, of course, didn’t bother with that. Bond has to travel to San Monique to try and take down the drug kingpin Mr. Big, as well as San Monique’s dictator Dr. Kananga. It’s the first Roger Moore movie, and all things considered it’s pretty good.

“Surf Ninjas” is a ‘90s classic. By “a ‘90s classic,” we mean that it’s goofy and dumb but if you were a kid in the ‘90s it was fun. Also, that its silliness makes it watchably bad as an adult. Two surfer kids find out they are royalty in the fictional island nation of Patusan, where they learn the way of the ninjas. See, they’re surf ninjas.

Yeah, we mentioned the country from “Surf Ninjas” before the country from “Frozen.” Sue us! Arendelle needs no introduction. You know the deal. You probably are just hoping we get done with this section before “Let It Go” gets stuck in your head. Oh no, it just happened, didn’t it? Sorry about that. Either way, Arendelle has obviously become one of the iconic fictional countries.

“The Princess Switch” doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It is built on the well-worn trope of two people who look exactly alike changing places. One of them is royalty. See how the other half lives and all that. Hey, Netflix was able to make three of these movies starring Vanessa Hudgens as a princess from Belgravia and some lady. Clearly Belgravia landed with plenty of people.

While Phineas and his half-brother Ferb are busy creating inventions, Dr. Heinz Doofensmirtz is trying to take over Danville, or even the Tri-State Area. It all goes back to his comically-tragic childhood. Doofensmirtz grew up in the backwoods country of Drusselstein. It’s comically old-world Eastern European, perfect for giving an evil scientist his tragic backstory.

We end at the end of the alphabet. Also, with a movie that was an undeniable success. “Coming to America” is one of the totemic Eddie Murphy movies. He plays Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of the African nation of Zamunda. While he lives a life of luxury, he throws it all away, moves to Queens, New York, and tries to find love. Comedy ensues. You can’t really say that about the sequel, though.