SALADIN
Real Name: Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayub
Identity/Class: Human conventional weapon user; Kurdish citizen (born in Iraq) @ 12th Century
Occupation: Sultan of Egypt & Syria
formerly: Ruler of Egypt for Nur ad-Din
Group Membership: Ayyubids Dynasty
Affiliations: Ahab (a hound), Al-Adil, Black Knight (Eobar Garrington, possessed by Dane Whitman), Crusader (El Alemain), Nur ad-Din, Shirkuh
Enemies: Berengaria, Black Knight (Eobar Garrington), Crusade leaders (Conrad of Montferrat, Leopold of Austria, Phillip II of France, King Richard Plantagenet), Crusader (El Alemain), Fortuno, Nur ad-Din, Hashishin (Rashid ad-Din, Hassan Ibn Sabbah, Karna, many others), Izz Al-Din (ruler of Mosul), Quincy
Known Relatives: Al-Adil (brother), Al-Afdal (son), Al-Aziz (son), Al-Kamil (nephew), Ayyub (uncle), Az-Zahir (son),
Shirkuh (father), 14 other sons
Aliases: Righteousness of the Faith
Base of Operations: Damascus, Syria
formerly: Cairo, Egypt
formerly: Damascus, Syria
formerly: Tikrit, Iraq
First Appearance: (Atlas) Ideal II#4 (January, 1949); (Marvel) Marvel Comics Presents#52/3 (1991)
Powers/Abilities: He was a great leader whose merciful nature made him famous among Christians and Muslims alike.
He was trained in war strategies and armed combat with sword and shield. He was probably well educated in other areas as well.
History: (Historical) - Saladin was born into a Kurdish family in Tikrit, Iraq. For education he was sent to Damascus where he lived at Nur ad-Din's court for ten years. After military education under his uncle Shirkuh he became vizier (1169) in Egypt after Nur ad-Din's enemies were defeated. Two years later after the reigning caliph's death Saladin ruled over Egypt for Nur ad-Din, who died before he could oppose the growing threat by Saladin. Saladin was now Sultan of Egypt and was soon Sultan of Syria as well. In the following years he extended his territory westward the Maghreb, conquered Yemen and took over Nur ad-Din's old territory Syria, where he was welcomed in Damascus. In Aleppo and Mosul, the other big cities of that area, he wasn't welcomed, but he was able to get them under his control as well. &nsbp; Around the same time Crusaders bothered Saladin, but he hardly lost any battles against them and over the next years he took back all the cities the Crusaders had taken from the Muslim. The Third Crusade began and King Richard entered the battle against Saladin and his troops. (Black Knight Comics I#2/4) - Saladin challenged the Crusader, a Saracen prince named El Alemain, who had joined the Crusaders after discovering that he was really an Englishman. Saladin was defeated by the Crusader in a quick battle, but his life was spared by the Crusader because both warriors were honorable. (Black Knight Comics I#4/4) - Saladin and his warriors broke through the ranks of King Richards and abducted Quincy, who was left behind in Richard's tent to guard the Crusaders' plans. Quincy wore the plan as loincloth to hide it. While Richard sent the Crusader to retrieve the plan and Quincy, Montferat, planning to gain control over the crusaders, sent Fortuno to betray El Alemain to Saladin. Though Alemain freed Quincy they were both caught by Saladin and his men. Saladin returned Alemain's favor from their last meeting and spared his life. He also allowed Quincy to leave with Alemain and kept Fortuno hostage in Quincy's stead. (Black Knight Comics I#5/4) - After faking Richard's abduction at the hands of Saracens Montferrat sent El Alemain to save Richard, hoping Saladin would have the traitor to the Saracens cause slain. Instead El Alemain learned from Saladin that Richard had not been abducted by Saracens. Saladin borrowed his hound Ahab to El Alemain and the dog found Richard in cave nearby the Crusaders' camp, guarded by Montferrat's men posing as Saracens. El Alemain saved Richard, who, even after he was saved could not believe that Montferrat was involved in his kidnapping. (Marvel Fanfare I#52/1 (fb) - BTS) - Saladin gave his brother Al-Adil a sword as a gift. (Marvel Fanfare I#53/1 - BTS) <August, 1191> - A message from King Richard concerning an exchange of Muslim prisoners for the True Cross (see comments) was brought to Saladin by a Saracen, who got it from the abducted Black Knight. (Marvel Comics Presents I#73/3 (fb) ) <1191> - King Richard sent the Black Knight, controlled by Eobar Garrington, to kill Saladin before the Hashashin sent by their leader Rashid ad-Din could do the same thing. The first to arrive at his camp was the Black Knight and after a short fight against Saladin's guard Ishtar, Saladin faced the Knight on his own. With shield and sword Saladin battled the Black Knight in his tent, but when Saladin's sword was broken it seemed to be over. In the same second the Hashishin entered to kill Saladin and the Black Knight helped Saladin to defeat them. Afterwards the situation was the same as before, but Dane Whitman regained control over Eobar's body and spared Saladin's life because he feared to alter the future if Saladin wasn't alive to defeat the Crusaders. For failed assassination attempt Saladin kept the Black Knight prisoner for several weeks before ransoming him back to the Crusaders. (Historical) - In 1192 King Richard and Saladin came to an agreement over Jerusalem. It was given into Muslim hands, but it was also open to Christian pilgrimages. In 1193 Saladin died in Damascus. Comments: Adapted by (Atlas Comics) Stan Lee & Joe Maneely; It is unclear when Saladin gave the sword to his brother Al-Adil. The placing of this even after the historical info is without further reason. There is no reason why the historical events shouldn't have taken place on Earth-616 like they did in real world's history. Read on for more historical trivia about people mentioned in this profile. The Ayyubids were a dynasty named after the Kurdish military leader Ayyub from Armenia. Saladin was his nephew. Nur ad-Din was ruler of Syria from 1146-1174. Nur ad-Din began to fear Saladin after he became Sultan of Egypt and seemingly planned a war against him, but Nur ad-Din died before this ever happened. Saladin never fought Nur ad-Din. Al-Afdal, Al-Aziz and Az-Zahir were three of Saladin's seventeen sons. They all got their share of power after Saladin's death. (see comments in Al-Adil profile) The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. Izz Al-Din Masud was the ruler of the Iraqi city Mosul. After being defeated in 1186 he was allowed to continue his reign of the city after accepting Saladin as his overlord. As soon as Saladin was dead he attempted to start a revolt against the new Sultan, but Saladin's brother Al-Adil stopped him. It didn't get through too well in the profile, but Saladin really was a good man. He was a merciful ruler and even in war he never raised his hand against civilians (unlike the Crusaders). Saladin was respected and liked not only by his own people, but also by his foes like King Richard. He was such a good person that when he died there wasn't enough money left to pay his funeral because he gave everything to those in need. Most of the historical info was taken from Wikipedia. On the true cross; Muslims do not believe that Jesus
of Nazareth was crucified, they believe that Allah
cast an illusion and brought Jesus of Nazareth up to
Heaven, fooling people. I learned too late about Saladin's appearance in Black Knight Comics, but thanks to Greg Gatlin I got a short description for this appearance. Greg has a cool site about Atlas Comics you can visit under the following link: Atlas Tales. Later Per Degaton pointed out an even earlier appearance of Saladin in Ideal II#4 (also thanks to Atlas Tales). The story in Ideal II#4 has a rather racist depiction of Saladin, who is a bloodthirsty, women-abducting heathen in it. Because of that and the fact that Richard defeated him far quicker than he actually did after the first big battle it can't be in Marvel continuity where Saladin was depicted as an honorable man. A quick synopsis of Saladin's involvement in Ideal II#4: Saladin slaughtered Christians left and right and no knights could stop him. When Richard arrived in Agre Saladin sent some of his men through the water to burn Richard's ships to trap Richard and his men on land. Saladin welcomed Richard and watched him battle the Saracen troops. While Richard turned the tide against the Saracens around Saladin abducted Richard's wife Berengaria, planning to sell her into slavery. Richard broke into Saladin's castle to free her and capture Saladin. Richard then forced Saladin to sign surrender documents. I wonder if Saladin appeared a few more times in the Golden Age? Profile by
Markus Raymond CLARIFICATIONS: images: Appearances: Last updated: 05/26/14 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. Non-Marvel Copyright info
(Marvel Comics) Jason Balgobis, Russell Lyman & Dave Cockrum
Of course, all the alleged pieces of the true cross
put together would amount to enough wood to construct
a battleship.
--Doc Savage
--Markus Raymond
Saladin should not be confused with:
Marvel Comics Presents#73, p22, pan4 (Saladin body shot)
Ideal II#4 (January, 1949) - Stan Lee (writer)
Black Knight Comics#2/4 (July, 1955) - Joe Maneely (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Black Knight Comics#4/4 (November, 1955) - John Romita Sr. (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Black Knight Comics#5/4 (April, 1956) - Syd Shores (artist), Stan Lee (editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#52 (August, 1990) - Steven Grant (writer), Scott Hampton (pencils), Ernie Chan (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Marvel Fanfare I#53 (October, 1990) - Steven Grant (writer), John Buscema (pencils), Jose Marzan (inks), Al Milgrom (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents I#73 (1991) - Jason Balgobis & Russell Lyman (writers), Dave Cockrum (artist), Terry Kavanagh (editor)
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