| Madame Rouge's floating island | |
| Category: | Island |
| Planet: | Earth |
| Continent: | Africa |
| Country: | Uganda |
| 1st appearance: | New Teen Titans, Vol. 1 #13 |
Madame Rouge's floating island is a fictional location featured in comic books published by DC Comics. It first appeared as an underground city in New Teen Titans, Volume 1 #13 in November, 1981. It was first revealed as a floating island in New Teen Titans, Volume 1 #14. It made its final appearance in New Teen Titans, Volume 1 #15 in January, 1982 where it was destroyed.
Description & History[]
Madame Rouge's floating island was a vast artificially created subterranean facility built by the costumed supervillain Madame Rouge, as well as her comrade, General Zahl. The city's systems were maintained by a legion of Zahl's shock troops, all of whom bore bio-mechanized armor. It was first constructed beneath the ruins of an ancient temple in Uganda, Africa. Beneath the city-wide environs were a system of powerful engines that enabled the entire structure to uproot itself from its moorings and fly short distances. During time's where flight was necessary, a transparent dome was erected shielding the entire city.
American industrialist Steve Dayton was the first outside to discover the ruins beneath the temple. He tracked Madame Rouge and General Zahl to Uganda while seeking to avenge the murder of his wife, Rita Farr - the former superhero known as Elasti-Girl. Dayton's old Doom Patrol ally, Robotman went searching for Dayton after he went missing. He tracked him down to the underground facility, but was captured by Rouge and Zahl's men. He was rendered inoperative and left hanging outside the ruins as a warning to others to stay away. The Teen Titans went searching for Dayton as well and first came across Robotman. Cyborg resuscitated him and they continued on inside in search of Dayton. After fighting through several posted guards, they came upon the cell that Rouge had been keeping him in. [1] They rescued him, but this was actually all part of Madame Rouge's plan. She had mentally brainwashed Dayton into turning against Robotman and the Teen Titans and the tactic nearly succeeded but for the intervention of Titans member Raven.
Believing the Titans to no longer be a problem, Rouge activated the city's engines and it uprooted itself from the Earth and began soaring across the sky towards the Baltic Sea. The teen hero Changeling latched himself onto a rocky outcropping and went with the floating island to it's destination - Zandia.
Zandia was a sovereign island nation governed by butchers, murderers and tyrants. Rouge and Zahl sought to take control of the island for their own malefic purposes and used the floating city as a siege weapon. It anchored itself in the sky above Zandia and began raining fire down upon its population centers. The Teen Titans caught up with the island via their T-Jet, but Rouge shot them out of the sky with a hi-tech assault rifle. [2]
The team was captured and placed inside a special chamber of Zahl's design, which de-evolved them into a primitive state. The only one unaffected by this cage was Robotman. Changeling, having been separated from the group, found that the Titans were not the only group interested in bringing Madame Rouge and General Zahl to justice. He discovered a new Brotherhood of Evil had formed and wanted revenge against Rouge for past grievances. Changeling was forced to enter into an uneasy truce with the villains.
Robotman managed to free the Teen Titans and they returned to normal. They engaged Zahl's shock troops in combat and were joined by Changeling and the Brotherhood of Evil. During the ensuing battle, Zahl was killed when his own bullets ricocheted off of Robotman's body back onto himself. Changeling cornered Madame Rouge with the intent of possibly killing her. Refusing to be taken alive, Rouge activated a self-destruct sequence on the floating island. Changeling tried to stop her, but a mishap caused an instrument panel to explode, seemingly killing Madame Rouge. The Brain - leader of the Brotherhood of Evil hacked into the island's guidance systems and navigated it away from Zandian airspace. His cohort Warp opened a spatial rift, pulling the Brotherhood, the Teen Titans and Robotman off the island before it exploded. [3]