Rastapopoulos

Roberto Rastapopoulos (Greek: Ροβέρτος Ρασταπόπουλος) is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. He is the antagonist in many of Tintin's adventures.

Character history

Rastapopoulos is a tycoon also known under the fake name Marquis di Gorgonzola. He is Tintin's archenemy, who first appears in Cigars of the Pharaoh, serialised in Le Petit Vingtième from 8 December 1932, to 8 February 1934, initially as a seemingly sympathetic film producer. Tintin first meets him on a boat where he seems angry and says 'It's not the first time we've met.' However he appears to help Tintin later on. 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 Thomson and Thompson falling over a staircase. To the left of the photo an article can be glimpsed revealing that Rastapopoulos is missing. Near the end of the story, the mysterious leader falls off a cliff, and Tintin wonders if he is dead. However, it is not until the dénouement of The Blue Lotus, the follow-up to Cigars of the Pharaoh, that Rastapopoulos is revealed to be the head of the sinister opium cartel against which Tintin has been pitting his wits during the course of two books. Tintin meets him again when investigating the disappearance of a Doctor who goes to the same club as Rastapopulos. He meets Tintin when he has been captured and is about to be eliminated. However the cartel is then arrested by the Sons of the Dragon, who have been hiding inside barrels.

Rastapopoulos is the owner of the studio house Cosmos Pictures (Production in some titles), 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 millionaire magnate and slave trader in The Red Sea Sharks, having been forced to assume a new identity after he was arrested for his previous crimes. When Tintin, Haddock, and Skut end up on his yacht (a caricature of Aristotle Onassis luxurious yacht Christina), he tricks them into getting on Allan's ship, which he later tries to have torpedoed. Rastapopulos fakes his death by making his boat sink, while escaping in a submarine from the bottom. He later kidnaps the millionaire Laszlo Carreidas in Flight 714 to gain the number of his multi-million Swiss Bank account – concluding that it is easier to steal Carreidas's money than make his own fortune all over again. When he is accidentally injected with truth serum by Doctor Krollspell, he reveals various evil deeds, such as his plan to kill Doctor Krollspell when he does not need him. He is taken hostage by Tintin. Like Krollspell and Carreidas, he is tied up and gagged with sticking plaster. Throughout the course of the story he gradually gets more hurt. First when Haddock breaks his gun chasing Rastapopoulos, he throws part of it away, and it hits the hiding Rastapopoulos on the head. When he continues to run away and is called to by Allan, he is distracted and crashes into a tree. He experiences pain to the face when Allan pulls the sticking plaster off. When Allan is about to throw a grenade at Tintin and Co, he remembers that Rastapopoulos wants Carreidas alive and throws it away. Rastapopoulos is caught in the blast, leaving his clothes in tatters. When Allan pulls Carreidas' hat from under a stone head, he accidentally elbows Rastapopoulos, giving him a black eye. Later his bump on the head goes away, which he takes as a good omen. However a piece of rock falls onto his head just after he notices this as the result of an earthquake, causing another bump. When explosives are used by the gang to break through a stone barrier, a volcanic eruption is set of, forcing them to flee from the Island in a rubber dinghy. He and his gang are hypnotized by Mik Kanrokitoff and taken onto a UFO. What happens next to them is unrevealed. 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 animated feature which was adapted into a similarly titled book in which Hergé had no creative input. In this story, Rastapopoulos is depicted as a villain directing operations from a secret underwater base. He is behind numerous robberies of valuable items around the world and plans to steal a duplicating machine invented by Professor Calculus. However while trying to escape by submarine he is captured by Tintin and Haddock, and arrested by the Syldavian Police.

See also

• List of The Adventures of Tintin characters

References