When the supervillains got rid of the heroes and took over the world, they split it into five pieces, each controlled by the "heads" of the five families. Solomon Seltzer, The Professor, got North and South America. Adam One got Africa. The Future got Europe. Ching Sang, the Emperor, got Asia, and Mister Rictus got Stuck with Australia. From behind the scenes, the Council of Five runs the world. They also run The Fraternity, a group made up of supervillains that played a part in the world takeover.