Val Verde is a fictional country or city used by Hollywood writer and producer Steven E. de Souza when his stories require a South or Central American locale that will not cause legal or diplomatic problems. The location first appeared in his 1985 film Commando. The name translates as "Green Valley" in multiple Romance languages, such as Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and Galician.

Appearances

Val Verde has appeared in a number of films, television programs, and comics by de Souza: There have also been appearances outside of de Souza's own work, linked either by shared personnel or by a direct reference. For example:

Origin

Steven de Souza explained his reason for using Val Verde in his Sheena comic: It's something like Guyana, a country which encompasses lush Caribbean resorts popular with tourists, an unexplored mysterious rainforest, and a mix of Anglo, Spanish, African, Creole and indigenous cultures. This is a country of the imagination I've used in several films and TV programs, which I thought was my little inside baseball joke, but Eric Lichtenfield, the author of 'Actions Speak Louder,' recently sent me a Wikipedia page on it! Seriously, my Dad's family is from that part of the world and it's something I can write about with some familiarity.

Portrayal

Val Verde has principally been used as a plot device or location in place of real Latin American countries in action and adventure movies, as a particular result of the United States' rocky relations with many nations in the region during the 1980s. When glimpsed in Commando, it appears to be a poor nation, where subsistence agriculture (i.e., livestock) is side-by-side with military propaganda and constant military presence. Inhabitants appear poor but happy, and there is evidence of a trade embargo reminiscent of that placed on Cuba in the presence of battered but functional vintage 1950s cars.

Locations

As well as studio shots, other locations have been used to portray Val Verde on film:

Legacy

The spider genus Predatoroonops, named after the spiders' similarity to the Predator himself, has a species named Predatoroonops valverde.