title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: "Captain Scarlet" is widely regarded as "darker" or more "mature" in tone than earlier Supermarionation productions. According to Andrew Billen: "Whereas "Thunderbirds" was about rescuing people, "Scarlet" was about damnation, the soul of a resurrected man being fought for between Captain Scarlet and the equally indestructible Captain Black. It was Anderson's Gothic period." Marcus Hearn writes that the series has a "militaristic" feel, with less emphasis on "characterisation and charm" compared to its precursors and "Joe 90". For Jim Sangster and Paul Condon, the optimism of "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds" is noticeably absent, the heroism and unqualified victories in those series being replaced by desperate games of "damage limitation" as Scarlet and Spectrum rush to counter every Mysteron move, sometimes unsuccessfully. Discussion of the series' presentation of death and destruction has led some commentators to question its suitability for younger viewers: media historian Daniel O'Brien notes that "Captain Scarlet" is "rated by some as the most violently destructive children's show ever". The horror of the Mysterons has also been recognised: in 2003, the depiction of the aliens was ranked 82nd in Channel 4's list show "100 Greatest Scary Moments".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Commentators have drawn parallels with the state of international relations at the time the series was made. Robert Sellers writes that "Captain Scarlet" arose from "1960s sci-fi obsession with alien forces infiltrating society", which he suggests were derived from fears about the Cold War and communism. For Nicholas J. Cull, the "war of nerves" between Earth and Mars is a reflection of contemporary geopolitical conflict, while the "enemy within" scenario of Martians taking over human beings is comparabe to plots of films such as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956). Mark Bould argues that the series "seemed in tune with a decade of civil disobedience and anti-imperialist guerrilla wars" – a view echoed by Rebecca Feasey of the University of Edinburgh, who regards it as one of several series that "exploited the fears of 1960s America" in its portrayal of "civil disobedience and the potentially negative impact of new technologies". Since 2001, comparisons have also been made to the September 11 attacks and the ensuing War on Terror. Sangster and Condon argue that for a 1960s series, "Captain Scarlet" was "incredibly perceptive" in its conception of the Mysterons, whose tactics they liken to terrorism.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: To others, "Captain Scarlet" remains a "camp classic". According to Bould, it is one of several Anderson productions to depict "a utopian future benefiting from world government, high technology, ethnic diversity, and a generally positive sense of Americanisation. They articulate the commonly made connection between technological developments and economic prosperity." He also writes that the series espouses "Euro-cool consumerism". A recurring concept in the Supermarionation productions, world government was inspired by Gerry Anderson's thoughts on the subject: "I had all sorts of fancy ideas about the future ... we had the United Nations and I imagined that the world would come together and there would be a world government." On the depiction of technology, Peter Wright notes the "qualified technophilia" that "Captain Scarlet" shares with "Thunderbirds".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: The series has been criticised for its camerawork, which some view as too static due to the crew's inability to move the puppets convincingly. Criticism has also been directed at the characterisation and writing. Sangster and Condon consider the plots uncomplicated and the characters perhaps "even more simplistic" than those of "Stingray". Some have blamed the return to 25-minute episodes, coming after "Thunderbirds" 50-minute format, for a lack of subplots and perceived drop in the quality of the storytelling. In a 1986 interview, script editor Tony Barwick described "Captain Scarlet" as "hard-nosed stuff" that lacked humour, adding: "It was all for the American market and to that extent there was no deep characterisation. [The characters] all balanced one against the other." Sylvia Anderson likened the presentation to that of a "comic strip", arguing that the action format came at the expense of the character development. In contrast, Jeff Evans believes the characters to be "more detailed" than before, arguing that "Captain Scarlet" was the first Anderson production to give them "private lives and real identities". Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping praise the writing, judging it "neither as silly as previous Anderson efforts, nor as po-faced as later ones".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: In a comparison to "Thunderbirds", writer John Peel sums up "Captain Scarlet" as "better puppets, bigger action and a huge step backwards in stories", arguing that the advances in Century 21's special effects were to the detriment of the writing. He compares this to the relative failure of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" following the success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark": "Anderson made the same mistake that George Lucas made, assuming that if the effects were praised in "Thunderbirds", the public wanted a show with more effects." Peel also finds fault with Scarlet himself, arguing that an "indestructible" hero who freely risks his safety to foil the enemy served as a poor role model for children and made the episode endings too predictable. Sangster and Condon echo the latter point, writing that Scarlet's abilities weaken the suspense and make him "a difficult hero to believe in".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Considered a cult programme by some, "Captain Scarlet" came 33rd in a 2007 "Radio Times" poll to determine the greatest science fiction series of all time. It was ranked 51st in Channel 4's 2001 list show "100 Greatest Kids' TV Shows". Cornell, Day and Topping argue that the series is perhaps Gerry Anderson's best production. However, Anderson's own verdict was clear: "Nothing was as successful as "Thunderbirds". "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" was very successful, but once you've had a smash hit, everything tends to look less successful in comparison."


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: "Captain Scarlet" has attracted both positive and negative commentary on its use of female and mixed ethnicity characters – an aspect that according to Daniel O'Brien gives the series a "more cosmopolitan" feel compared to "Thunderbirds". During its 1993 re-run on BBC2, the series drew some criticism for its use of the codenames "Black" and "White" in reference to the benevolent Colonel White and the villainous Captain Black, which some commentators interpreted as a form of negative black-and-white dualism. Defending the series against claims of racist stereotyping, Gerry Anderson pointed out that it features heroic non-white characters in the form of Lieutenant Green and Melody and Harmony Angels. Green is the only black male regular character in any of the Supermarionation series.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: For Sellers, the inclusion of Green and especially Melody Angel, a black female character, shows that "Captain Scarlet" was "actually ahead of its time in respect to race relations". He also regards the Angel squad's all-female composition as significant from a point of view of women's emancipation. O'Brien is less complimentary on this latter point, arguing that while it was progressive for the 1960s, to newer audiences it comes across more as a "conventionally sexist male fantasy".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: The diversity of the characters in terms of race and gender has been viewed highly in academic publications. Bould praises the "beautiful, multi-ethnic, female Angel fighter pilots" and "secondary roles played by capable women". In a 2003 interview, Anderson noted the effort made to feature ethnic minorities: "... I think people who make television programmes have a responsibility, particularly when children are watching avidly and you know their minds can be affected almost irreversibly as they grow up. We were very conscious of introducing different ethnic backgrounds."


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Cy Grant, the voice of Green, believed that "Captain Scarlet" had both positive multicultural value and an allegorical nature. He argued that religious symbolism was implied, with Colonel White serving as an analogue for God, Captain Black as the Devil and Scarlet as the Son of God; the allegory extended to Cloudbase, which represented Heaven and was guarded by a fleet of fighters codenamed "Angels". On dualism, he argued: "The 'darkness' of the Mysterons is most easily seen as the psychological rift – the struggle of 'good' and 'evil' – of the Western world as personified by Colonel White and his team. Dark and light are but aspects of each other. Incidentally, green is the colour of nature that can heal that rift."


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: The ATV game show "The Golden Shot", hosted by Bob Monkhouse, used "Captain Scarlet" as the theme for its 1967 Christmas special. Broadcast live on 23 December, the programme featured guest appearances from Francis Matthews and The Spectrum.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Since its first appearance, the TV series has been supplemented by merchandise ranging from toy action figures to video games. Among the early tie-ins were a series of five audio plays released by Century 21 Records in 1967. Taking the form of a vinyl EP record, each play was approximately 21 minutes long and featured the voice cast from the TV series. Angus P. Allan wrote the first play, "Introducing Captain Scarlet" (set during the denouement of the first TV episode) as well as "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" and "Captain Scarlet of Spectrum". The other two – "Captain Scarlet is Indestructible" and "Captain Scarlet versus Captain Black" – were written by his assistant, Richard O'Neill. To mark "Captain Scarlet"s 50th anniversary in 2017, Big Finish Productions digitally remastered the plays and re-released them on CD; the seven-disc set also includes audio adaptations of eight of the TV episodes with narration by Ed Bishop as Captain Blue.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: During the 1960s, Century 21 granted more than 60 licences for "Captain Scarlet" products and released a range of friction-drive model vehicles through its subsidiary Century 21 Toys. Meccano Ltd manufactured "Captain Scarlet" Dinky Toys to great success: its SPV was its best-selling die-cast toy of all time and continued to be produced until 1976. Waddingtons released a "Captain Scarlet" board game based on snakes and ladders. In 1993, Vivid Imaginations launched a new range of toys to coincide with the BBC2 repeats.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Between 1967 and 1968, Armada Books published three "Captain Scarlet" children's novels by John William Jennison (who wrote under the pseudonym "John Theydon"): "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons", "Captain Scarlet and the Silent Saboteur" and "The Angels and the Creeping Enemy". As implied by its title, the third novel features the Spectrum Angels as the main characters. In 1993, Young Corgi Books released children's novelisations of "The Mysterons", "Lunarville 7", "Noose of Ice" and "The Launching".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: From September 1967, comic strips based on the series were printed in "TV Century 21" (later "TV21"), published by City Magazines in association with Century 21. The comic had already featured "Fireball XL5", "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds" strips as well as crossovers between the three, indicating that they were set in a shared fictional world of the 2060s; "Captain Scarlet" was integrated into this setting. Elements of the new series, including Captain Black, had been introduced as early as June 1967. The initial "Captain Scarlet" strips were drawn by Ron Embleton, succeeded first by Mike Noble and then Jim Watson. After the TV series finished its original run, the comic continued the story of Spectrum and the Mysterons, with subsequent adventures showing that the Mysterons deactivate their city on Mars and relinquish their control over Black while Scarlet leaves Spectrum to fight Earth-bound threats. The Mysterons eventually reawaken, prompting Scarlet and Spectrum to resume their struggle. "Captain Scarlet" was also featured in "TV21" and Century 21 annuals for 1967, 1968 and 1969. In September 1969, the series was dropped from "TV21".


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: The series' "TV21" debut had been preceded by spin-off adventures in the sister comics "Lady Penelope" and "Solo". In January 1967, "Lady Penelope" launched a comic strip about the Angel pilots; this ran until May 1968 but introduced no elements of the Spectrum Organisation until August 1967. "Solo" printed two strips: the first from June to September 1967; the second, following a merger with City Magazine's "TV Tornado", from September 1967 to February 1968. The first, "The Mark of the Mysterons", bore little relation to "Captain Scarlet" besides featuring the Mysterons as villains; it was set in the 1960s and the presentation was similar to that of "The Invaders". The second, simply titled "The Mysterons", saw the aliens travelling to the Andromeda Galaxy on a campaign of conquest.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: After the series' discontinuation in Century 21 and City titles, Polystyle Publications printed further strips in "Countdown" comic and annuals between 1971 and 1972. From 1993 to 1994, Fleetway Editions published a dedicated "Captain Scarlet" comic to coincide with the series' first run on BBC2. New annuals were published by Grandreams in 1993 and 1994 and Carlton Books in 2001.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: In Japan, "Weekly Shōnen Sunday" serialised a manga adaptation of "Captain Scarlet" between 1967 and 1968. A separate adaptation was published in "Shōnen Book" from January to August 1968.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: The series' first VHS release in the UK was by Precision Video in 1982. Precision was later acquired by Channel 5 Video (a partnership of PolyGram and Heron International), which issued further "Captain Scarlet" cassettes over the course of the 1980s. Between 2001 and 2002, Carlton Video re-released the series in volumes and as a box set. These featured the remastered picture and sound quality that had been introduced for the 2000s repeats. The box set includes an extra tape containing "Captain Scarlet: The Indestructible", a behind-the-scenes feature.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Since September 2001, "Captain Scarlet" has also been available on Region 2 DVD in both its original mono soundtrack and new Dolby Digital surround sound. Bonus features include audio commentaries by Gerry Anderson on two episodes, "The Mysterons" and "Attack on Cloudbase", as well as the five audio adventures from the 1960s. As with the VHS releases, the DVDs have also been released as a box set; this includes an extra disc featuring a production documentary, "Captain Scarlet S.I.G.", along with a set of five alternative title sequences. A Region 1 box set by A&E Home Video was released in 2002. In 2004, Imavision released a French-language box set for the Canadian market.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: On the series' 50th anniversary in September 2017, British company Network Distributing announced that it was releasing "Captain Scarlet" on Blu-ray Disc with all episodes remastered in high definition using the original 35 mm film negatives. The Blu-ray range was released between 2017 and 2018 both in volumes and as a box set.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Between 2002 and 2006, three "Captain Scarlet" video games were released. A further game was cancelled.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Since the 1980s, the rights to the ITC catalogue have changed hands a number of times. They were acquired first by PolyGram Entertainment, then, following a partial sale to the BBC, by Carlton International. In 2004, Carlton merged with Granada to form ITV plc; the rights to "Captain Scarlet" and other Anderson series now reside with its subsidiary ITV Studios.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: In the early 1980s, Robert Mandell and ITC New York combined several episodes of "Captain Scarlet" to create two compilation films: "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars" and "Captain Scarlet vs. the Mysterons". Promoted as "Super Space Theater", these were broadcast on American cable TV with the aim of reviving transatlantic syndication sales. Other Anderson productions, including "Stingray" and "Thunderbirds", received similar treatments. Released on British VHS in January 1982, "Revenge of the Mysterons from Mars" was "Captain Scarlet"s UK home video debut. In November 1988, it aired as the second episode of the movie-mocking series "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on Minnesota TV station KTMA.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Plans for a live-action film adaptation of "Captain Scarlet", announced by Gerry Anderson in 2000 and 2002, remain undeveloped.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: In 1999, Anderson supervised the production of a computer-animated test film, "Captain Scarlet and the Return of the Mysterons", to explore the possibility of updating some of his 1960s puppet series for a 21st-century audience. Produced by the Moving Picture Company under the working title "Captain Scarlet – The New Millennium", the four-minute film was made using a combination of Maya animation software and motion capture technology and saw Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop reprise the voices of Captains Scarlet and Blue. Set a few years after the Mysterons apparently cease hostilities against Earth, the film features the reappearance of Captain Black, setting the stage for a revival of the war with Mars. The film was screened at a Fanderson convention in 2000 and a science lecture in 2001. It was released on Blu-ray in 2017.


title: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

text: Plans for a full computer-animated "Captain Scarlet" series eventually resulted in "Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet". A reboot of the original, this was first broadcast on the ITV children's show "Ministry of Mayhem" in 2005. In a nod to Supermarionation, the animation used to make the series was promoted as "Hypermarionation". "New Captain Scarlet" was the last TV series to be produced by Anderson, who died in 2012.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Asia is the largest and most populous continent and the birthplace of many religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, and Zoroastrianism. All major religious traditions are practiced in the region and new forms are constantly emerging. Asia is known for its diversity of culture. Islam and Hinduism are the largest religions in Asia with approximately 1.2 billion adherents each.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Asia is the birthplace of 11 major religions, whose written records include Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism and the Baha'i Faith.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Judaism is the predominant religion in Israel (75.6%), which has a nominal Jewish population of about 6.1 million.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Outside of Israel there are small diaspora communities of Jewish people living in Turkey (17,400), Azerbaijan (9,100), Iran (8,756), India (5,000) and Uzbekistan (4,000).


title: Religion in Asia

text: Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ, whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament which are brought together in the Christian Bible as canonical scripture. It is the world's largest religion with about 2.4 billion followers and is culturally and traditionally diverse. Christianity is a widespread minority religion in Asia with more than 286 million adherents according to Pew Research Center in 2010, and nearly 364 million according to Britannica Book of the Year 2014. constituting around 12.6% of the total population of Asia.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Only six countries are predominantly Christian: Asian Russia which predominantly adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church; Cyprus, which is predominantly Orthodox; the Philippines, which is the third-largest Roman Catholic nation in the world; Timor Leste, which is the most overwhelming Christian (99.6%) and Roman Catholic nation in Asia (97.6%); Armenia, which was the first state to adopt a Christian denomination as its state religion; and Georgia (88.1). Christianity also accounts for 29.2% of South Korea's population (54.5% of its religious population) and is now the predominant religion in South Korea, Christianity is also a large minority religion in Lebanon accounting for 40% of its population. Christianity is also a large minority religion in Kazakhstan (26%), Singapore (18.3%), and Kyrgyzstan (17%).


title: Religion in Asia

text: Asian countries with large Christian populations are Philippines (84 million), China (68 million), India (30 million), Indonesia (28 million), Kazakhstan (4.7 million), South Korea (15 million), Vietnam (7 million), Georgia (4.6 million), Armenia (3.2 million), Malaysia (2.6 million), Japan (2.5 million), Pakistan (2.5 million), Uzbekistan (2.5 million), Syria (1.8 million), Sri Lanka (1.5 million), East Timor (1.2 million) and Taiwan (one million).


title: Religion in Asia

text: There are still large ancient communities of Middle Eastern Christians and Arab Christians in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Palestine numbering more than 3 million in West Asia. There are also a large populations of expatriate workers which include a sizeable Christian communities live in Arabian Peninsula numbering more than 3 million.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله Allāh) and by the teachings and normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of hadith) of Muhammad, considered by them to be the last prophet of God. Islam is one of the two largest religions in Asia with about 1.3 billion adherents. Asia constitute in absolute terms the world's Muslim population. South and Southeast Asia are home of the most populous Muslim countries, with Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh having more than 100 million adherents each. According to U.S. government figures, in 2006 there were 20 million Muslims in China. In Western Asia, the non-Arab countries of Iran and Turkey are the largest Muslim-majority countries. In South Asia, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the countries with the largest Muslim-majority. In Central Asia, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are the countries with the largest Muslim-majority.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Indonesia is 86% Muslim and is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Pakistan is 97% Muslim, Bangladesh is 89%.


title: Religion in Asia

text: India's Muslim population is 14% of the total, approximately 200 million people. Around 6-11 percent, some 6 - 12 million people in the Philippines are Muslim.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Thailand's Muslims make up 4.6 percent of the population, or approximately 3 million people. Also Sri Lanka's Muslims make up 10 percent of the population, or approximately 2.5 million people


title: Religion in Asia

text: Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kuwait, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Maldives, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon are the 27 Muslim majority states in Asia.


title: Religion in Asia

text: The Baháʼí Faith is an Abrahamic religion although it is quite different from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It was so founded by Bahá'u'lláh in what was then Persia (also known as Iran). Today the largest national population of Baháʼís is in India with between 1.7 million to over 2 million, where there is also the Lotus Temple. Significant populations are found in many countries including Vietnam and Malaysia where "about 1%", some 260,000, of the population are Bahá'ís. In other places, like Kazakhstan there are 25 Local Spiritual Assemblies.


title: Religion in Asia

text: In modern-day Iran, the religion is severely persecuted (see Persecution of Baháʼís). In neighboring Turkmenistan, Baháʼí Faith is effectively banned, and individuals have had their homes raided for Baháʼí literature.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Druze are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group originating in Western Asia who self-identify as The People of Monotheism ("Al-Muwaḥḥidūn"). Jethro of Midian is considered an ancestor of Druze, who revere him as their spiritual founder and chief prophet. It is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad and the sixth Fatimid caliph, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, and Zeno of Citium. Druze do not identify as Muslims.


title: Religion in Asia

text: The number of Druze people worldwide is between 800,000 and one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant. The Institute of Druze Studies estimates that 40–50% of Druze live in Syria, 30–40% in Lebanon, 6–7% in Israel, and 1–2% in Jordan. About 2% of the Druze population are also scattered within other countries in the Middle East.


title: Religion in Asia

text: The Lebanese Druze are believed to constitute about 5.2 percent or 250,000, Syrian Druze are believed to constitute an estimated 3.2 percent of the population (as of 2010), or approximately 700,000 persons (including residents of the Golan Heights). In 2019, there were 143,000 Druze living in Israel, 1.6% of the total population of the country. The Jordanian Druze are believed to constitute about 0.5% of the total population of Jordan, which is around 32,000.


title: Religion in Asia

text: East Asian religions (also known as Far Eastern religions, Chinese religions, or Taoic religions) form a subset of the Eastern religions.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Confucianism was founded in ancient China by Confucius (551 B.C.E. - 479). Confucianism is a complex of moral, social, political, philosophical, and religious concerns that permeated the culture and history of East Asia. Confucianism emphasizes family, social hierarchy, and personal integrity and is manifested in practices and attitudes rather than institutions and is centered on the family and local society. It was, however, considered the state religion of East Asian countries in some periods. Today the Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese diasporas have brought Confucianism to all parts of the world.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Taoism (also romanized Daoism) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition that emphasizes living in harmony with the Tao (also romanized "Dao"), a term that means "way", "path" or "principle". The concept is shared with other Chinese philosophies and religions. In Taoism, however, "Tao" denotes both the source and the driving force inherent in everything that exists. It is ultimately ineffable: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao."


title: Religion in Asia

text: Laozi is traditionally regarded as the founder of Taoism and is closely associated with "original", or "primordial", Taoism. Whether he actually existed is commonly disputed; however, the work attributed to him – the Daodejing – is dated to the late 4th century BC.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Taoist propriety and ethics vary according to the particular school, but in general tends to emphasize wu-wei (action through non-action), "naturalness", simplicity, spontaneity, and the Three Treasures: compassion, moderation, and humility.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Significant Taoist communities can be found in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and among the Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese diaspora communities.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Chinese folk religion is a label used to describe the ethnic religious traditions which have been a main belief system in China and among the Han Chinese ethnic group for most of the civilization's history. This group of diverse beliefs comprises Chinese mythology and includes the worship of various Shen (神, shén; "deities", "spirits", "awarenesses", "consciousnesses", "archetypes") which can be nature deities, Taizu or clan deities, city deities, national deities, cultural heroes and demigods, dragons and ancestors. Chinese folk religion is sometimes categorized with Taoism, since over the world institutional Taoism has been attempting to assimilate or administer local religions. More accurately, Taoism can be defined as a component of Chinese religion, since it sprang out of folk religion and Chinese philosophy. Chinese folk religion is sometimes seen as a constituent part of Chinese traditional religion, but more often, the two are regarded as synonymous. With around 454 million adherents or about 6.6% of the world population, Chinese folk religion is one of the major religious traditions in the world. In China more than 30% of the population adheres to folk religions or Taoism.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Kami-no-michi is almost unique to Japan and the Japanese diaspora. It is a set of practices carried out to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 7th and 8th centuries. Still, these earliest Japanese writings do not refer to a unified "Shinto religion", but rather to disorganized folklore, history, and mythology. Shinto today applies to the public shrines suited to various purposes such as war memorials, harvest festivals, romance, and historical monuments, as well as various sectarian organizations.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Shinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, yet only a small percentage of these identify themselves as "Shintoists" in surveys. According to surveys carried out in 2006 and 2008 show that 3% to 3.9% of the population of Japan are members of Shinto sects and derived religions.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Muism ("religion of the Mu") or sometimes Sinism ("Shingyo", "religion of the gods", with "shin" being the Korean character derivative of the "Hanja"), encompasses a variety of indigenous religious beliefs and practices of the Korean people, the Korean sphere and the Korean diaspora. In contemporary South Korea, the most used term is "Muism" and a shaman is known as a "mudang" (, ). The role of the "mudang", usually a woman, is to act as intermediary between a spirit entity, spirits or gods and human beings.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Women are enlisted by those who want the help of the spirit world. Shamans hold "gut", or services, in order to gain good fortune for clients, cure illnesses by exorcising negative or 'bad' spirits that cling to people, or propitiate local or village gods. Such services are also held to guide the spirit of a deceased person to higher realms. Today this religion is a minority, but has in recent years seen a resurgence.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Vietnamese folk religion or "Vietnamese indigenous religion" (, , sometimes just called , Chữ Hán: 道良), is the largest religion in Vietnam with about 45.3% of the Vietnamese population that are associated with this religion. Vietnamese folk religion is not an organized religious system, but a set of local worship traditions devoted to the thần, a term which can be translated as "spirits", "gods" or with the more exhaustive locution "generative powers". These gods can be nature deities or national, community or kinship tutelary deities or ancestral gods and the ancestral gods of a specific family. Ancestral gods are often deified heroic persons. Vietnamese mythology preserves narratives telling of the actions of many of the cosmic gods and cultural heroes.


title: Religion in Asia

text: The Vietnamese indigenous religion is sometimes identified as Confucianism since it carries values that were emphasized by Confucius. Đạo Mẫu is a distinct form of Vietnamese folk religion, giving prominence to some mother goddesses into its pantheon. The government of Vietnam also categorises Caodaism as a form of Vietnamese indigenous religion, since it brings together the worship of the thần or local spirits with Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, as well as elements of Catholicism, Spiritism and Theosophy.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Dharmic religions are the oldest religions of Asia. All Indian religions originated in the Indian subcontinent. These religions all have the similar concepts like dharma, karma, and reincarnation, but the interpretation of these concepts varies with each religion.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Hinduism is the largest religion in Asia with about 1.3 billion followers, mainly in South and Southeast Asia. Hinduism, like all Dharmic religions, originates in India. More than 94% of the global Hindu population live in India. Demographically, it is the largest religion in India (80%), Nepal (85%), and the island of Bali (87%), with strong minorities in the Asian nations of Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Afghanistan. As of 2020, India has a Hindu population of 1.10 billion, Nepal has a Hindu population of 23.5 million, and there are 14.5 million Hindus in Bangladesh.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Hinduism is a fusion that resulted from incorporating the tribal cultures, tribal and folk religions, and tribal deities. Its principles like karma, moksha, rebirth, reincarnation, renunciation, samsara are incorporated into Sramana traditions like Buddhism, Jainism, and the traditions predating the Buddha and Mahavira.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Buddhism was founded by Siddartha Gautama, who is known as the Buddha. Buddhism is the fourth largest world religion and the third largest religion in Asia, which is adhere by 12% of Asia's population. It is the predominant religion and hold the majority population in Thailand (95%), Myanmar (89%), Cambodia (98%), Sri Lanka (70%), Laos (67%), Mongolia (54%), Japan (20%. - 36% or 67%), Bhutan (75%), Tibet (79%) and Macau (80%). Large Buddhist populations reside in Taiwan (35%), Singapore (33%), South Korea (22.9%), Malaysia (19.8%), China (18.2%), Hong Kong (15%), North Korea (13.8%), Nepal (10.7%), Vietnam (10%), Ladakh (39.65%) and Sikkim (27.39%). There are also strong Buddhist minorities in India, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Russia.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Before the advent of Islam, Buddhism was one of the most widely practiced religions in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Jainism is an Indian religion. Jains are mostly found in India but are increasingly found throughout the world. Jains have significantly influenced and contributed to ethical, political and economic spheres in India. Jains have an ancient tradition of scholarship and have the highest degree of literacy for a religious community in India. Jain libraries are the oldest in the country. It has traditionally been confined to the Indian subcontinent. It is based on the teachings of Vardhaman Mahavir and also on 23 other Tirthankaras.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Sikhism is the fifth largest organized religion in the world, with approximately 30 million adherents. And one of the most steadily growing. It is a monotheistic religion founded by Guru Nanak Dev in the 1500s. The religion professes its roots in the area of Punjab region, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.


title: Religion in Asia

text: This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat (literally the counsel of the gurus) or the Sikh Dharm. Sikhism originated from the word Sikh, which in turn comes from the Sanskrit root śhiṣhya meaning "disciple" or "learner", or śhikṣha meaning "instruction".


title: Religion in Asia

text: Sikhism is the 4th largest religion in India with 2% of the total population being Sikh. There is also a large concentration of Sikhs in Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hongkong, Singapore, Indonesia, Kuwait and U.A.E.


title: Religion in Asia

text: Zoroastrianism was once the state religion of the Persian Empire, but is now a minority mostly found in India and Iran. It worships a monotheistic god, Ahura Mazda, and was founded by Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zarathustra, in Avestan), probably founded some time before the 6th century BC. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e., the worship of Ahura Mazda, exalted by Zoroaster as the supreme divine authority.


title: Religion in Asia

text: In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil originates from Him. Thus, in Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil (druj) trying to destroy the creation of Mazda (asha), and good trying to sustain it. Mazda is not immanent in the world, and His creation is represented by the Amesha Spentas and the host of other Yazatas, through whom the works of God are evident to humanity, and through whom worship of Mazda is ultimately directed. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, of which a significant portion has been lost, and mostly only the liturgies of which have survived. The lost portions are known of only through references and brief quotations in the later works of (primarily) the 9th-11th centuries.


title: Religion in Asia

text: The total number of currently practicing adherents of Zoroastrianism is unknown. A 2004 estimate gives a range of 124,000 to 190,000, roughly half of them in India (the Parsi and Irani groups).


title: Religion in Asia

text: The largest number of Zoroastrians in Asia can be found in India; according to the 2001 census, they amounted 69,000. In Iran, there were some 25,000 according to the 2011 census. In 2012, the numbers for Zoroastrians in Asia were; India (61,000), Iran (15,000 / 22,271), Persian Gulf Countries (1,900) Pakistan (1,675) and Singapore (372).


title: Religion in Asia

text: Shamanism and animism have historically been practised in Asia, and is still practiced in most of Asia.


title: Religion in Asia

text: According to a Pew Research Center survey in 2012 religiously unaffiliated (including agnostics and atheists) make up about 21.2% of Asia population. According to the same survey, the religiously unaffiliated are the majority of the population in four Asian countries/territories: North Korea (71%), Japan (57%), Hong Kong (56%), and Mainland China (52%).


title: Religion in Asia

text: Other sources say that in the People's Republic of China, 59% of the population claim to be non-religious. However, this percentage may be significantly greater (up to 80%) or smaller (down to 30%) in reality, because some Chinese define religion differently. Some Chinese define religion as practicing customs (which may be done for cultural or traditional reasons), while others define it as actually consciously believing their religion will lead to post-mortem salvation or reincarnation. A Dentsu statistic states that 46% of Vietnamese and 51% of Japanese are irreligious.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The 2018 Crown Jewel was the inaugural Crown Jewel professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on November 2, 2018, at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: It was the second event WWE held in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year partnership in support of Saudi Vision 2030, after the Greatest Royal Rumble in April, and it hosted the first ever WWE World Cup tournament. The event also marked the final match of Shawn Michaels, who had retired from active in-ring competition at WrestleMania XXVI in 2010, as well as the return of Hulk Hogan—who had not appeared on WWE programming since a 2015 scandal—who served as the event's host.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The card comprised twelve matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) defeated The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane). In the penultimate match, Shane McMahon defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the WWE World Cup. In other prominent matches, The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day (represented by Big E and Kofi Kingston), AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe to retain SmackDown's WWE Championship, and Brock Lesnar defeated Braun Strowman to win Raw's vacant Universal Championship.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Due to the controversy surrounding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi as well as accusations against Saudi Arabia for severe human rights abuses, leading a war of attrition in Yemen and suppressing women's rights, WWE faced harsh criticism for producing the event and was asked to stop its business ventures in Saudi Arabia by multiple parties. The controversy also led to the company's top babyfaces at the time, John Cena and Daniel Bryan, boycotting the show. The event itself met with generally negative reviews, especially the main event, the Universal Championship match, and the World Cup final.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: In early 2018, the American professional wrestling promotion WWE began a 10-year strategic multiplatform partnership with the General Sports Authority in support of Saudi Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia's social and economic reform program. The first pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event under this partnership, the Greatest Royal Rumble, was held at the King Abdullah Sports City's King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah on April 27. In September, a follow-up titled Crown Jewel was announced to take place on November 2 and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands. It was originally to take place at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, but was later changed to the King Saud University Stadium, also in Riyadh.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: In 2015, WWE terminated Hulk Hogan's contract due to a report by the "National Enquirer" and Radar Online of a partially racist rant made by Hogan on his controversial leaked sex tape; he was heard expressing disgust with the notion of his daughter dating black men, referenced by the repeated use of the racial slur "nigger". On July 15, 2018, after a three-year suspension, the company reinstated Hogan into the WWE Hall of Fame, and on October 31, it was announced that Hogan would be the host of Crown Jewel.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The card consisted of twelve matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, "Monday Night Raw" and "SmackDown Live."


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: At SummerSlam, Brock Lesnar defended the Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. Before the match began, Braun Strowman came out and announced that he would be cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on the winner. During the match, however, Strowman was incapacitated by Lesnar, preventing him from cashing in. The distraction allowed Reigns to defeat Lesnar and win the championship, ending Lesnar's 504-day reign. The following night on "Raw," Raw General Manager Kurt Angle told Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman that although Lesnar had a contractual rematch, it would not occur for an indefinite period of time, as he preferred a fighting champion like Reigns. The following week, Strowman announced that he would be cashing in against Reigns at Hell in a Cell inside the namesake structure. At the event, Lesnar interfered in the match by kicking in the cell door and attacking both men, rendering them unable to continue, thus ruling the match a no contest and Reigns retained the championship. The following night on "Raw," both Reigns and Strowman called out Lesnar, resulting in Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin scheduling a triple threat match between Reigns, Strowman, and Lesnar for the Universal Championship at Crown Jewel. On the October 22 episode of "Raw", however, Reigns relinquished the title after announcing that his leukemia, which had been in remission since late 2008, had legitimately relapsed. This turned the scheduled triple threat match into a singles match between Lesnar and Strowman for the now vacant title. In February 2019, "Fightful" reported that prior to his leukemia diagnosis, Reigns had informed Vince McMahon and WWE officials that he would not be taking part in the Crown Jewel PPV due to the controversy surrounding the event.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: On September 17, WWE scheduled the WWE World Cup for Crown Jewel, an eight-man tournament to "determine the best in the world" with four wrestlers representing Raw and SmackDown each, all from the United States of America. On the October 8 episode of "Raw", for his accomplishments in WWE, John Cena was announced as the first entrant to represent Raw, despite being a "free agent", a kayfabe status within WWE that allowed him to appear on both brands. That same episode, a 10-man battle royal commenced where the winner would be added to the tournament. Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin took part with nine local competitors, but was lastly eliminated by a returning Kurt Angle, disguised as The Conquistador, thus Angle won the battle royal to qualify for the tournament. Two more qualifiers were decided on the October 9 episode of "SmackDown", where Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton qualified for the tournament by defeating Samoa Joe and Big Show, respectively. Raw's final two qualifiers were decided on the October 15 episode of "Raw", where Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler qualified by defeating Drew McIntyre and Dean Ambrose, respectively. SmackDown's final two qualifiers were decided on the "SmackDown 1000" special, where The Miz and Rey Mysterio, the latter making his full-time WWE return, qualified for the tournament by defeating Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura, respectively. On the October 29 episode of "Raw", Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin replaced Cena with Bobby Lashley after praising Lashley's post-match attack on Finn Bálor earlier that night. In storyline, Corbin replaced Cena as he did not technically qualify for the tournament. In reality, Cena legitimately refused to participate due to the controversy surrounding the event. On the October 30 episode of "SmackDown", SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon gave his four participants an ultimatum: if their finalist were to lose, they would be fired from SmackDown.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: At Super Show-Down, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe by submission in a no countout, no disqualification match to retain the WWE Championship, while Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz to earn a future WWE Championship match. Following Bryan's win, SmackDown General Manager Paige announced that he would receive his title match against Styles at Crown Jewel. However, after the two had a heated exchange on the October 30 episode of "SmackDown", Commissioner Shane McMahon announced that their championship match would take place that night, where Styles successfully retained after submitting Bryan with the "Calf Crusher". Moments after the match concluded, Joe attacked both men, choking each out with the "Coquina Clutch". Enraged, Styles demanded to face Joe at Crown Jewel with the title on the line, and Paige reluctantly made it official. In reality, Bryan had also legitimately refused to work Crown Jewel due to the controversy surrounding the event, so WWE moved his championship match up to the October 30 episode of "SmackDown".


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: At Super Show-Down, Triple H defeated The Undertaker in a no disqualification match. After the match, Triple H and Undertaker, along with Shawn Michaels and Kane, who were in the respective corners of Triple H and Undertaker, showed mutual respect for one another until Undertaker and Kane attacked Triple H and Michaels. On the following "Raw", Triple H and Michaels formally rechristened themselves as D-Generation X, challenging The Brothers of Destruction to a tag team match at Crown Jewel, marking Michaels' first match since The Undertaker retired Michaels at WrestleMania XXVI in March 2010.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: On the "SmackDown 1000" special on October 16, The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) defeated The New Day (represented by Big E and Xavier Woods) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, with help from their new ally Big Show. A rematch for the titles was scheduled for Crown Jewel.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: On November 1, it was announced that Shinsuke Nakamura would defend the United States Championship against Rusev on the event's Kickoff pre-show.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: During the Crown Jewel Kickoff pre-show, Shinsuke Nakamura defended the United States Championship against Rusev. After connecting with a "Matchka Kick" early in the match, Rusev applied his "Accolade" submission hold twice on the champion. In the climax, following a low blow to break free from the hold, Nakamura pinned Rusev to retain the title.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The actual pay-per-view opened with Rey Mysterio facing Randy Orton in SmackDown's first WWE World Cup quarterfinal match. During the match, Orton attempted to remove Mysterio's mask. Orton countered a "619" attempt from Mysterio into an elevated DDT from the rope. In the end, Mysterio countered an "RKO" attempt into a roll-up pin to win the match and advance to the semi-finals. After the match, Orton attacked Mysterio and threw Mysterio on top of the Arabic announce table.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Next, The Miz faced Jeff Hardy in SmackDown's second WWE World Cup quarterfinal match. During the match, Miz applied a figure-four leglock, which Hardy countered into a near fall. In the climax, Miz countered a submission hold and performed the "Skull Crushing Finale" on Hardy to win the match and advance to the semi-finals.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: After that, Seth Rollins faced Bobby Lashley (with Lio Rush) in Raw's first WWE World Cup quarterfinal match. As Lashley attempted to perform a spear in Rollins, Rollins leaped over Lashley and then performed "The Stomp" on Lashley to win the match and advance to the semi-finals.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: In the fourth match, Kurt Angle faced Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by Drew McIntyre) in Raw's second and the final WWE World Cup quarterfinal match. Angle performed a trio of suplexes on Ziggler for a near fall. Angle countered a sleeper hold by Ziggler with more suplexes. Ziggler performed a DDT on Angle for a near fall of his own. Angle performed an Angle Slam on Ziggler, countering for another near fall. Angle applied the ankle lock on Ziggler, however, Ziggler countered. In the climax, Ziggler performed a "Zig-Zag" on Angle to win the match and advance to the semi-finals.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Following the conclusion of all World Cup quarterfinals, The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) (accompanied by Big Show) defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (accompanied by Xavier Woods). After Kingston and Big E took down Sheamus, Cesaro broke up the pin to void the pinfall. In the end, Sheamus countered an attack from Big E and shoved him into Show, who was standing on the ring apron. While the referee was distracted, Show performed a knockout punch on Big E, and Sheamus performed a "Brogue Kick" on Big E to retain the title.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: After that, The Miz faced Rey Mysterio in SmackDown's WWE World Cup semi-final match. Throughout the match, Mysterio sold the injuries sustained by Orton's previous assault. Miz countered a splash from Mysterio into a roll-up to win the match earning a spot in the finals.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Next, Seth Rollins faced Dolph Ziggler (accompanied by Drew McIntyre) in Raw's WWE World Cup semi-final match. Rollins and Ziggler exchanged a number of roll-ups for near falls. Rollins performed a suicide dive on Ziggler. Ziggler performed a "Famouser" on Rollins for a near fall. Ziggler countered a superplex combination into a "Zig-Zag" on Rollins for a nearfall. Finally, as Rollins attempted a splash on Ziggler, McIntyre pushed Rollins from the top rope and Ziggler performed a Superkick on Rollins to win the match to advance and the finals.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: In the ninth match, AJ Styles defended the WWE Championship against Samoa Joe. Joe dominated Styles early in the match and began to target Styles' knee, who in turn focused on Joe's injured knee himself. Joe performed a suicide dive on Styles outside the ring, sending Styles into the commentary desk. Inside the ring, Styles performed the "Calf Crusher" on Joe's injured leg but Joe reached the ropes. After that, Joe caught Styles in his "Coquina Clutch" submission hold. In the end, Styles performed the Phenomenal Forearm on Joe and pinned him to retain the title.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Following this, Braun Strowman faced Brock Lesnar (accompanied by Paul Heyman) for the vacant Universal Championship. Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin came out to present the title to the winner of the match. Before the match began, Corbin attacked Strowman with the title belt. Lesnar then attacked Strowman with three "F-5s", however, all three resulted in nearfalls. Lesnar performed another "F-5" on Strowman to the outside of the ring, forcing Strowman to beat a countout. Lesnar performed a fifth "F-5" on Strowman to win the vacant title. With this win, Lesnar became the first two-time Universal Champion.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The penultimate match was the final of the WWE World Cup tournament between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler arrived at ringside with Drew McIntyre, who was immediately removed from ringside. The Miz used this to get an advantage over Ziggler, however, he received a kayfabe injury which led to him unable to compete. This led to SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon taking Miz's place in the match. As the match officially began, Shane attacked Ziggler, however, Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin interfered only to get ejected himself. Ziggler then hit a "Zig-Zag" for a near-fall. In the end, Shane pinned Ziggler following a "Coast-to-Coast" to win the match, the WWE World Cup, and trophy.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: In the main event, D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) faced The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane) in Michaels' first match since 2010, as well as the first time that the two tag teams ever faced each other. Kane blocked a "Sweet Chin Music" attempt from Michaels and countered with a chokeslam. Later in the match, Michaels floored Taker with a successful "Sweet Chin Music". During the match, all four men brawled, leading to the outside ring area where Kane put Triple H through an announce table. Michaels performed a moonsault from the top rope on Undertaker and Kane outside the ring. Triple H performed "The Pedigree" on Taker, who countered into a submission hold. The end came when Michaels performed another "Sweet Chin Music" on Kane, followed by a "Pedigree" from Triple H, who pinned Kane to win the match. During the match, Triple H was legitimately injured, suffering a torn pectoral muscle.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: As had already been the case with the Greatest Royal Rumble, WWE came under scrutiny for catering to a state accused of severe human rights abuses, leading a war of attrition in Yemen and suppressing women's rights.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Due to restrictions on women under Saudi Law, female wrestlers have not been allowed to perform at WWE's events in Saudi Arabia, although female commentator Renee Young did provide commentary at Crown Jewel. Prior to the announcement of Crown Jewel, WWE announced its first-ever all-women's pay-per-view event, Evolution, which took place on October 28, 2018. Triple H, WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events and Creative, as well as a current wrestler, denied that Evolution was intended to be a counterpoint for the all-male Saudi Arabia events, explaining that WWE's female performers "deserve[d] the opportunity" for such a showcase, and that it "was simply the right time for this to happen."


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: In wake of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi agents, WWE faced calls to cancel the event, with prominent U.S. Democratic and Republican politicians criticizing the company's endeavors in Saudi Arabia. Questions were raised whether because of the position of Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon, who is the wife of WWE CEO Vince McMahon and a former WWE executive herself, WWE's endeavors in Saudi Arabia could still be viewed as a strictly private business enterprise. Due to this, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez urged the US government to pressure WWE into canceling the event, while Republican Lindsey Graham, among others, called for WWE to reconsider their business deal with the Saudi kingdom. English comedian and political commentator John Oliver also weighed in on the controversy on his show "Last Week Tonight", criticizing WWE for what he saw as blatant pro-Saudi propaganda.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Knox County Mayor and professional wrestler Kane, who was scheduled to compete in a tag team match, announced he would work at the event, contrasting reports that the majority of WWE's wrestlers felt uncomfortable working the show. Former WWE wrestler John Layfield spoke on Fox News in favor of the event in order to promote change, while current WWE wrestlers Randy Orton, Ronda Rousey, and Mark Henry had similar remarks when speaking with TMZ. On the other hand, John Cena, who was scheduled to participate in the WWE World Cup and had called it "an honor and a privilege" to compete in Saudi Arabia during the Greatest Royal Rumble, was replaced by Bobby Lashley, as he reportedly refused to work the show in wake of the Khashoggi murder. Daniel Bryan, who was scheduled to face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship, had his title match bumped up to the October 30 episode of "SmackDown", and was replaced on the Crown Jewel card by Samoa Joe, as he too reportedly refused to work the show. In February 2019, "Fightful" reported that prior to his leukemia diagnosis, Roman Reigns, who was scheduled to defend the WWE Universal Championship, had also informed Vince McMahon and WWE officials that he would also refuse to work the show.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: WWE continued to promote the show, but erased all references to Saudi Arabia as the event's location. On October 19, the day tickets were to go on sale, the Saudi government confirmed the death of Khashoggi within the consulate and WWE.com removed ticket information from the event page. On October 25, WWE confirmed the event would go on as planned, citing contractual obligations to the General Sports Authority. Speaking with Sky Sports on pushing forward with the event despite the murder, WWE CBO Stephanie McMahon spoke of "an incredibly tough decision, given that heinous act", but said that in the end it was strictly a business decision.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The show received generally negative reviews from critics, with Shane McMahon's participation in the finals of the World Cup, the Universal Championship match, and the main event tag team match in particular receiving criticism. CBS Sports' Adam Silverstein and Jack Jorgensen gave the event a "C−" rating, describing that the show "failed as a normal event but at least had enough to talk about afterward", while finding the booking and WWE's long-term plans questionable. Bryan Rose of the "Wrestling Observer" described Crown Jewel as a show that ended "mercifully". Writing for "Pro Wrestling Dot Net", Jason Powell viewed the event as a "cash grab" by WWE, and said that "Crown Jewel was gross for all the obvious reasons, including Vince McMahon doubling down on the controversy by bringing back Hulk Hogan." He did also note that the kickoff show had a quality match between Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Silverstein and Jorgensen said that the main event tag team match between D-Generation X and The Brothers of Destruction offered "effort and nostalgia ... but not much more" given the wrestlers' age, resulting in them "operating at 50 percent of their prior capacity". Rose said that although Crown Jewel's main event was better than that of Super Show-Down's, which featured the same four men, Crown Jewel's main event was still "very plodding" and "long". Powell wrote that despite their efforts, "everyone involved came up short regardless of how much gushing the broadcast team did afterward", and the four veterans were instead "stealing the spotlight from the deserving full-time stars of yet another generation". In 2020, pro wrestler Chris Jericho named the match "the worst match I have ever seen".


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The WWE World Cup Final was rated "C+" by Silverstein and Jorgensen, who said it was "creative though a bit confounding". Powell felt that all of the tournament matches were "basic and brief", and that Shane McMahon had become "yet another heel authority figure" in WWE. In addition to the SmackDown Tag Team Championship match, Rose said that most of the tournament matches were "paint by numbers" or "nothing special", with only Ziggler-Angle "decent" and Ziggler-Rollins "pretty good". He also said that Ziggler-McMahon "couldn't be more destructive towards people that need a boost the most" – a sentiment he also felt about the Universal Championship match – while a "McMahon winning [the WWE World Cup], which was to crown the best in the world, feels like an allegory for something."


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: For the two world championship matches, Silverstein and Jorgensen gave the Universal Championship match a "D+" rating. They said that Brock Lesnar's win was a positive, but it was wholly outweighed by "no offense from [Braun] Strowman". Powell was positive of the match, stating that it was a good decision to not rush Strowman into winning a world title. For the WWE Championship match between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, Silverstein and Jorgensen gave it a "C+" rating for being "relatively slow". Rose said that it "was good while it lasted, but they've had better matches."


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: Crown Jewel was awarded "WrestleCrap"s Gooker Award, an annual booby prize for the worst gimmick, storyline, or event in wrestling. In their induction, the website stated that the event "was a bad idea from day one". The site also noted that if were not for the final three matches, Crown Jewel "would have been a passable, if completely tasteless, pay-per-view event". The event received awards in three negative categories at the annual "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" awards. The event itself was named Worst Major Wrestling Show, while the main event between The Brothers of Destruction and D-Generation X was named Worst Match of the Year. Furthermore, the business ties between Saudi Arabia and the WWE were recognized as the Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic of the year. Shawn Michaels described the event as a "glorified house show" that was, in his opinion, insignificant.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: After his interference in the Universal Championship match, Braun Strowman sought revenge against Baron Corbin. After chasing him through the arena during the next "Raw" episode, Stephanie McMahon struck a bargain with him a week later: if he ceased attacking Corbin until after Survivor Series and led "Team Raw" to victory, he would be granted a match against Corbin and another Universal Championship match against Brock Lesnar, and could freely determine the stipulations in either match.<ref name="11/5 Raw"></ref><ref name="11/12 Raw"></ref> At Survivor Series, Strowman eliminated four of the five members of "Team SmackDown", leading his team to a decisive victory. On the following "Raw", he was granted his match against Corbin at , which he chose would be the namesake match. If Strowman won, he would be granted another Universal title match against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble and Corbin would be stripped of all authority, but if Corbin won, he would become the permanent Raw General Manager. At TLC, an injured Strowman defeated Corbin with the assistance of Heath Slater, Apollo Crews, Finn Bálor, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable, and Kurt Angle, to challenge Lesnar again at the Royal Rumble and stripping Corbin of all authoritative power. However, as punishment for damaging Vince McMahon's limousine, he was stripped of his title opportunity, which was largely caused by Corbin, leading to a match at Elimination Chamber, which Corbin won thanks to assistance from Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The involvement of Shane McMahon in the WWE World Cup final was used as a build-up towards Survivor Series. It drew heavy kayfabe criticism from various wrestlers on the Raw roster. Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin accused Shane of stealing the World Cup from Raw and of having massively abused his power. The same statements were reiterated by Dolph Ziggler, who called Shane's actions a conspiracy, and his partner Drew McIntyre. Both wrestlers proclaimed Ziggler to be the "true best in the world". Furthermore, Stephanie McMahon called her brother's actions "an insult to the entire Raw locker room."


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: As The Miz had originally qualified for the final, he took credit for Shane's victory and subsequently demanded to captain "Team SmackDown" at Survivor Series, to which Shane McMahon and Paige obliged, naming him co-captain along with Daniel Bryan. Bryan and Miz then named Shane as part of "Team SmackDown" on the grounds of him winning the World Cup; Bryan was then removed from the match after winning the WWE Championship from AJ Styles. During the men's Survivor Series match, Shane eliminated Ziggler, who kept on referring to himself as the "best in the world", but could not help his team overcome Braun Strowman, who almost single-handedly eliminated most of his team. Altogether, SmackDown suffered a clean sweep on the pay-per-view, only winning the tag team match on the pre-show.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The Miz also began a pursuit to form a tag team with Shane McMahon, again painting Shane's win of the WWE World Cup as a team effort. However, their tag team, branded by Miz as "The Best Team in the World", lost its debut match to a duo of local competitors after a roll-up to Miz. At the Royal Rumble, Shane and Miz defeated The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, holding the titles for three weeks, before losing to The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view. After failing to recapture the tag team championship the following month at Fastlane, Shane attacked The Miz, thus ending their partnership and turning heel for the first time since returning to WWE in 2016. Shane incorporated the "Best in the World" moniker and trophy as an integral part of his heel gimmick. The two fought at WrestleMania 35 in a falls count anywhere match and again at Money in the Bank in a steel cage match, in which Shane narrowly won both.


title: Crown Jewel (2018)

text: The WWE World Cup was an eight-man single-elimination tournament to determine the "best in the world". Four participants came from Raw and four participants came from SmackDown. Participants from Raw and SmackDown faced opponents of their own brand until one member of their brand was left, after which, the finalist from Raw faced the finalist from SmackDown. John Cena was originally announced as a direct participant on account of his previous achievements in WWE, but was replaced by Bobby Lashley after he legitimately refused to work the show in wake of the Khashoggi incident.


title: News Corp Australia

text: News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,000 journalists. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, subscription television in the form of Foxtel, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets. News Pty Limited (formerly News Limited) is the holding company of the group.


title: News Corp Australia

text: News Corp Australia owns approximately 142 daily, Sunday, weekly, bi-weekly, and tri-weekly newspapers, of which 102 are suburban publications (including 16 in which News Corp Australia has a 50% interest). News Corp Australia publishes a nationally distributed newspaper in Australia, a metropolitan newspaper in each of the Australian cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, and Sydney, as well as groups of suburban newspapers in the suburbs of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. The company publishes a further thirty magazine titles across Australia. According to the Finkelstein Review of Media and Media Regulation, in 2011 the group accounted for 23% of the newspaper titles in Australia.


title: News Corp Australia

text: With interests in digital media, the company's sites include news.com.au, Business Spectator and Eureka Report, Kidspot.com.au, taste.com.au and homelife.com.au. It has a 55% stake in carsguide.com.au which was sold in 2016, a share in REA Group that operates www.realestate.com.au, as well as websites for most newspaper and magazine titles. The company's other Australian assets include Australian News Channel, 65% ownership of subscription television provider Foxtel, (which in turn owns Fox Sports Australia) and shares in the Brisbane Broncos NRL team.


title: News Corp Australia

text: Until the formation of News Corporation in 1979, News Limited was the principal holding company for the business interests of Rupert Murdoch and his family. Since then, News Limited had been wholly owned by News Corporation. In 2004, News Corporation announced its intention to reincorporate to the United States. On 3 November News Corp Limited ceased trading on the Australian Stock Exchange; and on 8 November, News Corporation began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. On 28 June 2013, News Corporation was split into two separate companies. Murdoch's newspaper interests became News Corp, which was the new parent company of News Limited. The group adopted the new News Corp Australia name following the listing of the new News Corp on 1 July 2013.


title: News Corp Australia

text: News Limited was established in 1923 by James Edward Davidson and funded by the Collins Group mining empire for the purpose of publishing anti-union propaganda, when he purchased the Broken Hill "Barrier Miner" and the Port Pirie "Recorder". He went on to purchase Adelaide's weekly "Mail" and to found "The News", a daily newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia.


title: News Corp Australia

text: Sir Keith Murdoch acquired a minority interest in the company in 1949. Following his death in 1952, his son Rupert Murdoch inherited "The News", which has been described by Murdoch biographer Bruce Page as the "foundation stone" of News Limited (and News Corporation).


title: News Corp Australia

text: Over the next few years, Murdoch gradually established himself as one of the most dynamic media proprietors in Australia, quickly expanding his holdings by acquiring a string of daily and suburban newspapers in most capital cities, including the Sydney afternoon paper, "The Daily Mirror", as well as a small Sydney-based recording company, Festival Records. His acquisition of the "Mirror" proved crucial to his success, allowing him to challenge the dominance of his two main rivals in the Sydney market, the Fairfax Newspapers group, which published the hugely profitable "The Sydney Morning Herald", and the Consolidated Press group, owned by Sir Frank Packer, which published the city's leading tabloid paper, "The Daily Telegraph".


title: News Corp Australia

text: In 1964, News Limited made its next important advance when it established "The Australian", Australia's first national daily newspaper, based initially in Canberra and later in Sydney. "The Australian", a broadsheet, gave News Limited a new respectability as a quality newspaper publisher, and also greater political influence since "The Australian" has always had an elite readership, if not always a large circulation.


title: News Corp Australia

text: Also in 1964, News Limited made Rupert Murdoch's first overseas newspaper investment – a 29.57 percent stake in the Wellington Publishing Company, subsequently part of Independent Newspapers Limited, INL, New Zealand's largest publishing group. The News Limited holding in INL fluctuated over the years and was just over 49 percent in 1997. The INL business was bought by News Limited's main rival in 2003 – Fairfax Media.


title: News Corp Australia

text: Over the next ten years, as his press empire grew, Murdoch established a hugely lucrative financial base, and these profits were routinely used to subsidise further acquisitions. In his early years of newspaper ownership Murdoch was an aggressive, micromanaging entrepreneur. His standard tactic was to buy loss-making Australian newspapers and turn them around by introducing radical management and editorial changes and fighting no-holds-barred circulation wars with his competitors. By the 1970s, this power base was so strong that Murdoch was able to acquire leading newspapers and magazines in both London and New York, as well as many other media holdings.


title: News Corp Australia

text: To gain subscriptions for its new pay television business, News Ltd recruited rugby league football administrators, clubs and players to form a new competition, sparking the mid-1990s Super League war.


title: News Corp Australia

text: On 12 July 2006, News Limited announced the creation of a new division, News Digital Media, to manage the operations of the news site news.com.au; the online marketplace sites, carsguide.com.au, truelocal.com.au and careerone.com.au as well as the partly owned realestate.com.au, foxsports.com.au and related activities involving Foxtel and the company's newspapers and the Australian versions of Fox Interactive Media sites Myspace and IGN. Chairman and chief executive of News Limited, John Hartigan, announced the appointment of Richard Freudenstein as chief executive of the division.


title: News Corp Australia

text: In February 2018, News Corp Australia announced a partnership with Taboola to launch an integrated native content creation, booking and distribution platform. The Taboola Feed will be implemented on desktop, mobile, web and in-app across the News Corp Australia digital network.


title: News Corp Australia

text: In the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom, in July 2011 News Limited announced a review of all payments in the previous three years. On 22 July it was reported that two retired Victorian Supreme Court judges, Frank Vincent AO QC and Bernard Teague AO, were appointed to act as independent assessors of the conduct of the review and also assess the outcome. The editorial and financial review concluded in early November and found no evidence of phone hacking or payments to public officials, with Vincent and Teague declaring that the review process did not bring "...to light any systemic issues with respect to the making of payments to third parties and any substantial amounts paid to individuals in respect of illegitimate activities."


title: News Corp Australia

text: Despite this the Australian division of News Corp has not entirely escaped scandal with allegations in 2012 that News Corp subsidiary, News Datacom Systems (NDS) had used hackers to undermine pay TV rivals around the world, including Australia. Some of the victims of the alleged hacking, such as Austar were later taken over by News Corp and others such as Ondigital later went bust. NDS had originally been set up to provide security to News Corp's pay TV interests but emails obtained by Fairfax Media revealed they had also pursued a wider agenda by distributing the keys to rival set top box operators and seeking to obtain phone records of suspected rivals. The emails were from the hard drive of NDS European chief, Ray Adams. It was also revealed that Australian Federal police were working with UK police to investigate hacking by News Corp.


title: News Corp Australia

text: In 2000 John Hartigan was appointed Chief Executive Officer, replacing Lachlan Murdoch. and added chairman to his role in 2005. During his time in the roles, he presided over a number of controversies, included "Eatock v Bolt", the court case following News Ltd journalist Andrew Bolt breaching the "Racial Discrimination Act", and an unfair dismissal case brought by former "Herald Sun" editor Bruce Guthrie. On 30 November 2011, Hartigan left News Ltd, and owner Rupert Murdoch took on the role of chairman, while former Foxtel executive Kim Williams took on the role of CEO.


title: News Corp Australia

text: On 28 June 2013, News Corporation split into two publicly traded companies focused on publishing, and broadcasting/media respectively. At this time News Limited was renamed News Corp Australia and became part of the publishing company, News Corp, with "Wall Street Journal" editor Robert Thomson replacing Rupert Murdoch as CEO. Murdoch remained a chairman and major shareholder for both companies.


title: News Corp Australia

text: On 9 August 2013 it was announced that Julian Clarke would replace Kim Williams as the CEO of News Corp Australia.


title: News Corp Australia

text: On 9 June 2015, it was announced that Peter Tonagh would replace Julian Clarke as the CEO, with Michael Miller to be appointed to the role of Executive Chairman. Peter Tonagh and Michael Miller's first day in their new roles was 16 November 2015


title: News Corp Australia

text: Murdoch's desire for dominant cross-media ownership manifested in early 1961 when he bought an ailing Australian record label, Festival Records, and within a few years it had become the leading local recording company . He also bought a television station in Wollongong, New South Wales, hoping to use it to break into the Sydney television market, but found himself frustrated by Australia's cross-media ownership laws, which prevented him from owning both a major newspaper and television station in the same city. Since then he has consistently lobbied, both personally and through his papers, to have these laws changed in his favour. This occurred in 2006 when the Liberal-National Coalition Government, having gained control of both houses of the Australian Parliament, introduced reforms to cross-media ownership and foreign media ownership laws. The laws came into effect in early 2007, with further changes in 2017 abolishing 'two out of three' restrictions that had previously prevented news companies from owning newspaper, radio, and television services within the same city.


title: News Corp Australia

text: News Corp Australia has nearly three-quarters of daily metropolitan newspaper circulation and so maintains great influence in Australia. Internal News Corp Australia documents reveal a brazen offer during the 2001 federal election campaign to promote the policies of the Liberal National Party (LNP) in its best-selling newspapers nationwide for almost A$500,000. Other documents include a marginal seats guide written by a senior business manager for internal use. It evidences a corporate strategy to target marginal seats at the 2004 election. Some of the documents appeared on "Media Watch".


title: News Corp Australia

text: Murdoch wanted a way to influence politics in his native land. He saw a way to do that through the News Corp publication "The" "Australian". The national daily has been used to support Murdoch's political interests over time, such as John McEwen with the National Party of Australia and Gough Whitlam with the Australian Labor Party.


title: News Corp Australia

text: A parliamentary petition initiated by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for a Royal Commission investigating the diversity and integrity of print media, focused primarily on News Corp, raised more than 500,000 signatures in November 2020.


title: News Corp Australia

text: Murdoch moved to Britain and rapidly became a major force there after his acquisitions of the "News of the World", and "The Sun" in 1969 and "The Times" and "The Sunday Times" in 1981, which he bought from the Thomson family. Both takeovers further reinforced his growing reputation as a ruthless and cunning business operator. His takeover of "The Times" aroused great hostility among traditionalists, who feared he would take it "downmarket." This led directly to the founding of "The Independent" in 1986 as an alternative quality daily.


title: News Corp Australia

text: Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased the "San Antonio News". Soon afterwards he founded the "National Star", a supermarket tabloid, and in 1976 he purchased the "New York Post". Subsequent acquisitions were undertaken through News Corporation.


title: News Corp Australia

text: News Limited expanded its newspaper holdings in 1987 when it acquired The Herald and Weekly Times, which published two newspapers in Melbourne (in 1990 these papers would be combined to form the "Herald Sun") as well as large stakes in several other newspaper publishers. News Limited went on to acquire the remaining shares of Brisbane's Queensland Newspapers (owner of "The Courier-Mail"), Adelaide's Advertiser Newspapers (owner of "The Advertiser") and Hobart's Davies Brothers (owner of "The Mercury").


title: News Corp Australia

text: In 1991, News Limited spun off its longtime magazine house, Southdown Press, as Pacific Magazines and Printing, and sold the former Advertiser magazines, renamed Murdoch Magazines, to Matt Handbury. News Limited re-entered the magazine market in 2000 with the start of News Magazines. In 2006, News Limited returned to being a major player in the Australian magazine business with the purchase of Independent Print Media Group's FPC Magazines ("Delicious", "Super Food Ideas", "Vogue Australia").


title: News Corp Australia

text: Nationwide News is a subsidiary of News Corp Australia. It was involved in "Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Wills" in the High Court of Australia in 1992. In 2018 it was ordered by the Federal Court to pay damages to actor Geoffrey Rush after "The Daily Telegraph" published a front-page article alleging that Rush engaged in "inappropriate behaviour" on stage with actress Eryn Jean Norvill during the Sydney Theatre Company's 2015 production of "King Lear".


title: News Corp Australia

text: News Corp Australia operates 170 newspaper and magazine titles in Australia, including the following:


title: V (character)

text: V is the title character of the comic book series "V for Vendetta", created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. He is a mysterious anarchist, vigilante, and freedom fighter who is easily recognizable by his Guy Fawkes mask, long hair and dark clothing. He strives to topple a totalitarian regime of a dystopian United Kingdom through acts of heroism. According to Moore, he was designed to be morally ambiguous, so that readers could decide for themselves whether he was a hero fighting for a cause or simply insane.


title: V (character)

text: V made his first live appearance in the 2005 film "V for Vendetta" played by Hugo Weaving and James Purefoy. The 2019 television series "Pennyworth", a prequel to "V for Vendetta", introduced predecessors to V wearing the same signature Guy Fawkes mask in its 2022 third season.


title: V (character)

text: V's background and identity are never revealed. He is at one point an inmate at "Larkhill Resettlement Camp"—one of many concentration camps where black people, Jews, liberals, beatniks, homosexuals and Muslims are exterminated by Norsefire, a fascist dictatorship that rules Britain. While there, he is part of a group of prisoners who are subjected to horrific medical experimentation, conducted by Dr. Delia Surridge. Lewis Prothero is the camp's commandant, while Father Anthony Lilliman, a paedophile vicar, is at the camp to lend "spiritual support". All prisoners who are part of the experiment die, with the sole exception of "the man in room five" ("V" in Roman numerals). As a result of the experiments, the man develops Olympic-level physical abilities and an incredibly expanded intellect. During that time, the man had some level of communication with Valerie Page, a former actress imprisoned for being a lesbian, kept in "room four", who wrote her autobiography on toilet paper and then pushed it through a hole in the wall.


title: V (character)

text: Over time, the man is allowed to grow roses (Violet Carsons) and raise crops for camp officials. The man eventually starts taking surplus ammonia-based fertilizer back to his cell, where he arranges it in bizarre, intricate patterns on the floor. He then takes a large amount of grease solvent from the gardens. In secret, the man uses the fertilizer and solvent to make mustard gas and napalm. On a stormy night (namely, 23 December in the novel or 5 November in the film), he detonates his homemade bomb and escapes his cell. Much of the camp is set ablaze, and many of the guards are killed by the mustard gas. The camp is evacuated and closed down. He adopts the new identity, "V", and dons a Guy Fawkes mask and costume. V spends the next five years planning his revenge on Norsefire and building his secret base, which he calls "The Shadow Gallery". He then kills off most of the over 40 surviving personnel from Larkhill, making each killing look like an accident.


title: V (character)

text: Four years after his escape from Larkhill, V blows up the Palace of Westminster on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Day. In the process he stumbles across Evey Hammond as she is being accosted by several members of "the Finger", Norsefire's secret police, and saves her, bringing her back to his lair. V then kidnaps Prothero, who is now the "Voice of Fate" on the government's propaganda radio, and drives him insane by destroying his prized doll collection in a satire of the exterminations that occurred at Larkhill. V kills now-Bishop Lilliman by forcing him to eat a communion wafer laced with cyanide. V then injects Surridge, the one Larkhill official who feels remorse for her actions, with a poison that kills her without pain.


title: V (character)

text: V stages an attack on the government's propaganda broadcasting station, strapping himself with explosives and forcing the staff to follow his orders under threat of detonating them. V then broadcasts a message to the people, telling them to take responsibility for themselves and rise up against their government. He systematically kills the head officials of Norsefire except Eric Finch, the head of Norsefire's police force, whom he senses is a decent man. V also radicalizes Evey by kidnapping and torturing her and leading her to believe she is a prisoner in one of Larkhill's camps; when she announces that she would rather die than inform on him, he reveals the ruse to her. While she initially condemns him, she eventually comes to understand what he was trying to do and becomes his accomplice. V explains to her that he is an anarchist in the strict political sense of the term, and essentially believes "all" governments will eventually turn into oppressive fascist states. V's goal is not simply to overthrow the Norsefire regime, but to destroy the organized state entirely. He hopes that from the rubble will emerge a utopian anarchistic society – not "the land of take what you want" but "the land of do as you please".


title: V (character)

text: In the climax of the graphic novel, V destroys the government's CCTV surveillance buildings, eroding its control over British citizens. However, V is mortally wounded when he is shot by Finch and he staggers back to the Shadow Gallery, where he dies in Evey's arms. Evey then puts him in state, surrounded by Violet Carson roses, lilies, and gelignite, in an Underground train that stops at a blockage along the tracks right under 10 Downing Street, which V had previously prepared. The explosives-laden train detonates, giving V a Viking funeral, fulfilling his final request to Evey, who takes on the mantle of "V."


title: V (character)

text: The 2005 film adaptation of the comic book starred Hugo Weaving as V. James Purefoy was originally cast as V, but was replaced by Weaving six weeks into production. Purefoy stated that he found it hard to act while wearing the mask, and that was the reason for his departure. Although some of Purefoy's performance was used in the final film, Weaving received sole credit.


title: V (character)

text: The film depicts him as being disfigured as a result of the torture he suffered at Larkhill, and having near-superhuman physical abilities as a result of the biological experiments he was put through. He claims to have lost all memory of his past, completing his transformation into the "everyman" he claims to be in the comic.


title: V (character)

text: Several events involving V differ markedly from the comics. He sets his first bomb to destroy the Old Bailey and targets the Houses of Parliament one year later, but he does not blow up the Post Office or 10 Downing Street and the bomb he leaves in Jordan Tower is safely defused (with it being unclear if he ever legitimately wanted that bomb to go off or just set it up as an excuse while he transmitted his message). Also, where the comic V was portrayed as a political anarchist who sought the destruction of all governments, the movie V focuses his anti-government philosophy exclusively on Norsefire, commenting to Evey as he prepares for his final stand that he leaves it up to her if Parliament should be destroyed, as he recognizes that he does not have a right to shape a world he will not see. V is also shown sobbing out of guilt for what he put Evey through, and admits before his death that he fell in love with her.


title: V (character)

text: In place of Finch, Norsefire official Peter Creedy and his men confront V at the end of the film, bringing High Chancellor Adam Sutler (Adam Susan in the graphic novel) as V has demanded. Creedy executes Sutler, but V refuses Creedy's command to take off his mask and surrender: through a hail of gunfire, V stays on his feet long enough to kill Creedy and his men. A piece of armor plating under his cape stops most of the bullets, but V is still mortally wounded. He staggers down to the tunnel, where Evey is waiting, and dies in her arms. She places his body on the explosive-laden train for a Viking funeral, but Finch arrives with the intent of arresting her. However, he relents and allows Evey to start the train, having finally decided to turn his back on the tyrannical Norsefire regime. The two watch, along with thousands of spectators dressed as V, as the train explodes and destroys the Houses of Parliament.


title: V (character)

text: On 29 July 2019, the day following the series premiere of "Pennyworth", previously presented ostensibly as solely a direct prequel to Fox series "Gotham" (2014–2019), series co-showrunner Danny Cannon confirmed that "Pennyworth" would also serve as a loose prequel to "V for Vendetta", with the British Civil War depicted in the series' first season eventually leading to the formation of the Norsefire government of "V for Vendetta", a sentiment echoed by co-showrunner Bruno Heller on 11 December 2020, on the day of the second season premiere. Characters wearing V's Guy Fawkes mask were later introduced in the series' 2022 third season, set five years after the first two seasons.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently defined as the time between c. 129,000 and c. 11,700 years ago. The Late Pleistocene equates to the proposed Tarantian Age of the geologic time scale, preceded by the officially ratified Chibanian (formerly known as Middle Pleistocene) and succeeded by the officially ratified Greenlandian. The estimated beginning of the Tarantian is the start of the Eemian interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5). It is held to end with the termination of the Younger Dryas, some 11,700 years ago when the Holocene Epoch began.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The term Upper Pleistocene is currently in use as a provisional or "quasi-formal" designation by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). Although the three oldest ages of the Pleistocene (the Gelasian, the Calabrian and the Chibanian) have been officially defined, the Late Pleistocene has yet to be formally defined, along with consideration of a proposed Anthropocene sub-division of the Holocene.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The main feature of the Late Pleistocene was glaciation, for example the Würm glaciation in the Alps of Europe, to 14 ka, and the subsequent Younger Dryas. Many megafauna became extinct during this age, a trend that continued into the Holocene. In palaeoanthropology, the Late Pleistocene contains the Upper Palaeolithic stage of human development, including many of the early human migrations and the extinction of the last remaining archaic human species.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The proposed beginning of the Late Pleistocene is the end of the Penultimate Glacial Period (PGP) 126 ka when the Riß glaciation (Alpine) was being succeeded by the Eemian (Riß-Würm) interglacial period. The Riß-Würm ended 115 ka with the onset of the Last Glacial Period (LGP) which is known in Europe as the Würm (Alpine) or Devensian (Great Britain) or Weichselian glaciation (northern Europe); these are broadly equated with the Wisconsin glaciation (North America), though technically that began much later.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The Last Glacial Maximum was reached during the later millennia of the Würm/Weichselian, estimated between 26 ka and 19 ka when deglaciation began in the Northern Hemisphere. The Würm/Weichselian endured until 16 ka with Northern Europe, including most of Great Britain, covered by an ice sheet. The glaciers reached the Great Lakes in North America. Sea levels fell and two land bridges were temporarily in existence that had significance for human migration: Doggerland, which connected Great Britain to mainland Europe; and the Bering land bridge which joined Alaska to Siberia.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The Last Ice Age was followed by the Late Glacial Interstadial, a period of global warming to 12.9 ka, and the Younger Dryas, a return to glacial conditions until 11.7 ka. Palaeoclimatology holds that there was a sequence of stadials and interstadials from about 16 ka until the end of the Pleistocene. These were the Oldest Dryas (stadial), the Bølling oscillation (interstadial), the Older Dryas (stadial), the Allerød oscillation (interstadial) and finally the Younger Dryas.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The end of the Younger Dryas marks the boundary between the Pleistocene and Holocene Epochs. Man in all parts of the world was still culturally and technologically in the Palaeolithic (Old Stone) Age. Tools and weapons were basic stone or wooden implements. Nomadic tribes followed moving herds. Non-nomadics acquired their food by gathering and hunting.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: In Egypt, the Late (or Upper) Palaeolithic began sometime after 30,000 BC. People in North Africa had relocated to the Nile Valley as the Sahara was transformed from grassland to desert. The Nazlet Khater skeleton was found in 1980 and has been radiocarbon dated to between 30,360 and 35,100 years ago.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: Neanderthal hominins ("Homo neanderthalensis") inhabited Eurasia until becoming extinct between 40 and 30 ka. Towards the end of the Pleistocene and possibly into the early Holocene, several large mammalian species including the woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, mastodon and Irish elk became extinct.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: Cave paintings have been found at Lascaux in the Dordogne which may be more than 17,000 years old. These are mainly of buffalo, deer and other animals hunted by man. Later paintings occur in caves throughout the world with further examples at Altamira (Spain) and in India, Australia and the Sahara.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: Magdalenian hunter-gatherers were widespread in western Europe about 18,000 years ago until the end of the Pleistocene. They invented the earliest known harpoons using reindeer horn.


title: Late Pleistocene

text: The only domesticated animal in the Pleistocene was the dog, which evolved from the grey wolf into its many modern breeds. It is believed that the grey wolf became associated with hunter-gatherer tribes around 15 ka. The earliest remains of a true domestic dog have been dated to 14,200 years ago. Domestication first happened in Eurasia but could have been anywhere from Western Europe to East Asia. Domestication of other animals such as cattle, goats, pigs and sheep did not begin until the Holocene when settled farming communities became established in the Near East. The cat was probably not domesticated before c. 7500 BC at the earliest, again in the Near East.