Avian flu: The fascist government uses fictional, fear-inducing stories such as avian flu epidemics to keep people in check.
British Television Network: The country’s lone operating TV network, run by the dictatorship.
More Top Picks Are You Feeling Cold Then We Have The Solution For You With The Best 12 Infrared Heater
“Count of Monte Cristo”: The 1934 swashbuckling revenge classic is V’s favorite movie.
Dominoes: Right before V launches his final payback, he tips over 22,000 dominoes (left), forming (what else?) a giant letter V.
“England Prevails”: The sign-off slogan for ranting BTN newsman Lewis Prothero, meant to instill the idea that one nation’s interests should be put above the world’s. “You could certainly draw a modern parallel with America, couldn’t you?” star Natalie Portman says.
Fawkes, Guy: Member of a group of conspirators who hatched the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 to assassinate the king and members of Parliament. V wears a Guy Fawkes mask.
Gallery, Shadow: V’s in London’s abandoned underground.
Head, shaved: Portman’s head was shaved while cameras rolled.
“Ipanema, Girl From”: Portman’s character, Evey, hears this bossa-nova classic and another song on separate mornings at the homes of protectors.
Jukebox: Music is integral to V’s world.
Koran: One of an endless number of books, movies, music and paintings banned by the Ministry of Objectionable Material.
Lloyd, David: Illustrator of the “V for Vendetta” graphic novel.
Moore, Alan: Writer of the graphic novel who withdrew his name from the “Vendetta” credits.
Norsefire: The name of England’s pseudo-Nazi regime.
Old Bailey: V blows up the country’s criminal high court.
Purefoy, James: Original actor cast as V, replaced by Hugo Weaving (left), who played Agent Smith in the “Matrix” movies.
Quarantine: Those placed in quarantine by the secret police are rarely heard from again.
Reed, Lou: Another musical favorite of V.
Strength Through Unity, Unity Through Faith: Government slogan.
Thatcher, Margaret: When “Vendetta” was serialized in the 1980s, it was meant to skewer then-Prime Minister Thatcher and the ruling Conservative party.
United States: Currently reeling from “limited” nuclear war. To quote Prothero: “There was a country that had everything, and now, 20 years later, is what? The world’s largest leper colony.”
“Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici”: One of V’s favorite phrases, translated from Latin as “By the power of truth, I, a living man, have conquered the universe.”
Wachowski, Larry and Andy: Wrote the screenplay for “Vendetta” before the “Matrix” movies.
More Top Picks Best Wake Up Lights For Seniors
X, Malcolm: Excerpts from the black nationalist leader’s “On Black Power” can be heard in the closing credits song, “BKAB.”
Yellow-coded curfew: The color-code is only in the film, a nod to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Zealot: ” ‘V for Vendetta’ is a cautionary tale about what happens when people … follow zealots down the road to hell,” illustrator David Lloyd says. “It’s about the individual’s right to be different and not conform.”