Rastapopoulos
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Roberto Rastapopoulos (Greek: Ροβέρτος Ρασταπόπουλος) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin series of comic books drawn and written by Hergé.
[edit] Fictional character background
Rastapopoulos is a Greek American tycoon also known under the fake name Marquis di Gorgonzola. He is Tintin's arch-nemesis, who first appeared anonymously in Tintin in America at a banquet in Chicago. His first major appearance is in Cigars of the Pharaoh (serialized in Le Petit Vingtième from December 8, 1932 to February 8, 1934), initially as a seemingly sympathetic film producer. There are, however, hints within the story to his villainous identity. When the poet Zloty is poisoned he stammers that the leader of the criminal organisation has some connection with "film". At the end of the book a newspaper page displays a photo of the Thompson twins falling over a staircase. To the left of the photo an article can be glimpsed revealing that Rastapopoulos has "gone missing". However, it is not until the dénouement of The Blue Lotus, the follow-up to Cigars of the Pharaoh, that Rastapopoulos is openly revealed to be the head of the sinister opium-cartel against which Tintin has been pitting his wits for two books.
Rastapopoulos is the owner of Cosmos Pictures (Production in some titles) a studio house, and a front for many of his illegal activities and a good excuse for moving to various locations. Rastapopoulos subsequently resurfaces in the guise of the Marquis di Gorgonzola, a slave trader in The Red Sea Sharks, and later kidnaps the billionaire Laszlo Carreidas in Flight 714 to gain the password to his multi-billion Swiss Bank account, but he is captured by aliens. In the unfinished Tintin and Alph-Art, a character often thought to be Rastapopoulos in disguise -- under the name of Endaddine Akass -- appears. Although a page revealing Akass to be Rastapopoulos was started (and printed in the 2004 Egmont edition), as the book was never completed, Rastapopoulos' fate following Flight 714 is unknown.
Rastapopoulos also appears in Tintin and the Lake of Sharks, an album adapted from an animated feature of the same name, and for which Hergé had no creative input. It is not considered to be part of the Tintin canon.
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