Qurac
Qurac | |
---|---|
Notable characters | Onslaught |
Publisher | DC Comics |
Qurac is a fictional country in the DC universe. It is a Middle Eastern country on the Persian Gulf, wedged between Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Qurac is a state sponsor of terrorism.
History
Qurac had a metahuman terrorist/mercenary strikeforce dubbed Onslaught (formerly known as The Jihad), a frequent opponent of the Suicide Squad. The Joker served as Quraci ambassador to the US on two occasions, gaining diplomatic immunity (a retcon of a story in which he represented Iran and tried to assassinate the U.N., only being stopped when Superman - posing as a security guard - inhaled the Joker's lethal laughing gas and dumped it in space before it could do any damage).
Weapons designed by John Henry Irons, the future Steel, were leaked by Amertek Enterprises to rebels in Qurac, resulting in many civilian deaths. Later, terrorists from Qurac staged a massive assault on the White House but were stopped by the Cyborg Superman in one of his first appearances.
In the Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian language "Qurac" is pronounced just like the vulgar version of the word for the Human penis in these languages.
Cheshire
The assassin Cheshire detonates a nuclear warhead over the capital city, utterly destroying it in Deathstroke, the Terminator #19. She is later captured and put on trial, as chronicled in The Titans. Many of the Quraci survivors mutate into superhuman forms as a result of the bomb's radiation. A confrontation with one of the many Titans teams led some of them to being forcibly removed to another dimension as a form of self-defense.
The rest of the country manage to persevere, as indicated in Justice League Of America #85, 2003. Under the influence of an outside telepathic force, working through the Martian Manhunter, the Quraci ruler draft plans of a merger between his country and Bialya.
The novel Inheritance by Devin Grayson mentions Dabir, son of the new president of Qurac in the wake of Cheshire's attack, and his cousin Rashid.
One Year Later
Checkmate
The country shows up several times in Checkmate volume 1 when the agency attempted to foment civil war within its borders by backing pro-western rebels and again in (vol. 2) #6, when Rick Flag is rescued from a secret Quraci prison by the Bronze Tiger.
Trials of Shazam
Achilles (the god of magic, not the mythological hero) surfaced in Qurac as a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, asking Freddy Freeman, who sought to take up the mantle of the new Captain Marvel, to prove his courage to Achilles in combat against a hate empath, a beast able to feed on emotion. Sabina, a young magician girl linked to the "Council of Merlin", sets free the beast while looking to draft some of Shazam's powers for herself and the Council.
The New 52
Red Hood & the Outlaws
Qurac is mentioned as having overthrown a "brutal dictator" and replaced him with a regime which is "just as bad", although the neutrality of the narrator, Jason Todd, is suspect in this matter since Roy Harper is imprisoned by the new regime for unspecified "trumped-up war crimes".
Other media
- In the Young Justice episode "Bereft", Qurac is mentioned by Batman as being next to the Bialya, that is being ruled by the Queen Bee. In the episode "Image" it is shown to be a democracy, similar to present Iraq. Queen Bee attempts to use Psimon to force its President Rumaan Harjavti (the Bialyan leader Queen Bee ursurped in the comics) to agree to combine their countries, however the plan is foiled by the team. Notable residents are Garfield and Marie Logan. In the season two episode "Beneath", however, Qurac has been assimilated into Bialya.
- Qurac is briefly mentioned in the "Suicide Squad" and "Sara" episodes of Arrow.
- It is also briefly mentioned by random criminals and Deathstroke on the videogame Batman: Arkham Knight.