20,000 leagues under the sea

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne. Verne returned to the theme of an outlaw submarine captain in his much later Facing the Flag. That book's main villain, Ker Karraje, is a completely unscrupulous pirate acting purely and simply for gain, completely devoid of all the saving graces which gave Nemo--for all that he, too, was capable of ruthless killings--some nobility of character. Like Nemo, Ker Karraje plays "host" to unwilling French guests--but unlike Nemo, who manages to elude all pursuers, Karraje's career of outlawry is decisively ended by the combination of an international task force and the rebellion of his French captives. Though also widely published and translated, it never attained the lasting popularity of Twenty Thousand Leagues. More similar to the original Nemo, though with a less finely worked-out character, is Robur in Robur the Conqueror--a dark and flamboyant outlaw rebel using an aircraft instead of a submarine--later used as a basis for the movie Master of the World.