Mongo is a fictional planet where the comic strip (and later movie serials) of Flash Gordon takes place.

[2] Mongo is depicted as being ruled by a usurper named Ming the Merciless, who is shown as a harsh and oppressive dictator.

[3] Its atmosphere is compatible with Terran life, and the dominant species on Mongo are human-like, such as Ming's people and the Arborians.

[1] Other peoples of Mongo have evolved into different forms,[1] such as the winged Hawkmen, the tailed Lion Men, and the underwater dwelling Coralians.

[1] In Alex Raymond's comic strip and the Flash Gordon movie serials, Mongo was shown as a rogue planet that had drifted into Earth's solar system.

[11] When Flash Gordon arrives on Mongo, he finds Prince Barin is leading a guerrilla war against Ming from Arboria.

[12][13] Also beneath Mingo City is an abandoned sewer system where a band of rebels against Ming's rule,"the Freeman" make their base.

[17] East of Sky City is Flame World, a dusty region of scarps and ravines of basaltic rock.

[18][19] Part of the planet is covered by the forest kingdom of Arboria, ruled by Prince Barin, leader of the Treemen who live there.

The Fire People are led by Ming's ally, King Orax, and are known for their ability to build devastating weapons.

These giants are more technologically advanced than the variety in Frigia, and travel in mechanical "tractor sleds" fitted with artillery guns.

[28] Flash leads a rebellion against Brazor (who briefly replaced Ming as the comic strip's main antagonist) and eventually defeats him.

[31] Mac Raboy created several new elements for the fictional planet's mythology, including giving Mongo two moons, Lunita and Exila,[32] as well as the ice kingdom of Polaria, ruled by the tyrant Polon, (who has the power to shrink or enlarge living things).

[34] In the 2011 Dynamite Comics Flash Gordon:Zeitgeist, Ming opens a portal between dimensions to enable Mongo to attack Earth in the year 1934.

In this version Emperor Krang, wishes to unite Mongo's five warring realms (Arboria, Ardentia, Aerie, Aquaria, and Frigia).

[34] The game Flash Gordon & the Warriors of Mongo (see below), also featured Lin Carter's map of the planet, similar to the Arlene Williamson version.

[38] Starting April 22, 1935, the radio serial The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon, began airing.

[41] In the Flash Gordon film from 1980, Mongo is depicted as a barren world covered with tall, very slender hills that look like spikes, but with a very colorful extended atmosphere that is capable of supporting the weight of various miles-wide chunks of rock that are called "moons", including Arboria and Frigia.

[42] The people of Mongo resemble humans but with slight differences, such as having blue or green blood, or having their bodies undergo rapid disintegration when killed.

This Mongo is an enormous rocky plateau that sits at the still centre of "an ancient cosmic whirlpool", outside the normal flow of time and space.

It is explained that "the dimensional shift" is "quite small" and that there is an inherent connection between Earth and Mongo, where the quantum mechanics of Bell's theorem and EPR paradox are working on a planetary scale.

In the episode Sorrow, it is revealed that Mongo was once a prosperous blue and green planet; it relied on a glowing red ore called zerilium that was mined on the moon.

Mongo's inhabitants even built two small artificial moons named Arkaylia and Surd to process zerilium and shelter the miners.

The 192 page genre setting was written by Scott Woodard with artwork drawn by the original comic strip artist, Alex Raymond.

Comics historian Ron Goulart suggests that the plot of Mongo threatening to collide with Earth was inspired by the novel When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer, while the societies on the planet were informed by the works of popular science fiction writers Edgar Rice Burroughs and Abraham Merritt.

Cheng calls these themes "different and more radical", as Ming's control of Mongo is absolute and openly acknowledged instead of a secret and shadowy conspiracy.

Cheng states that their use of excorporation in order to weaken and ultimately unseat Ming reinforces his nature as "familiarly Asian".