Trump Battles Marvel And DC Superheroes
If there's one avenue of artwork that's gotten a serious new breath of life in the wake of Donald Trump's election, it's the realm of political cartoons. Satire has become an important vessel of levity for those who oppose the new administration, and since he's often been compared to familiar villains from literature and films, it was really only a matter of time before someone brought those comparisons to life. Artist R. Sikoryak has taken the liberty of creating a series of fake comic covers that pit Trump against the central heroes of the Marvel and DC universes, using some of his most notorious quotes from the campaign trail and beyond.
Nasty woman
Comic origin: Wonder Woman No. 2 (September 1942) by H.G. Peter
About that quote: Trump's last-minute throwaway phrase at the tail end of his third and final Presidential debate with Hillary Clinton on October 19, 2016 sparked an instant meme and merchandising frenzy. Trump interjected, as he so often did during these pieces of discourse, while Clinton was talking about Social Security reform and predicting that Trump's taxes would go up unless he found a loophole to avoid paying them. "Such a nasty woman," he said above her answer.
Notes: Looks like Wonder Woman here is having none of that talk. Perhaps not coincidentally, the same issue features a moment when Princess Diana of Themyscira laments the patriarchy.
Bad hombres
Comic origin: Fantastic Four No. 86 (May 1969) by Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott
About that quote: Another of Trump's most guffaw-inducing moments from the last debate was when he discussed the topic of immigration, saying, "One of my first acts will be to get all of the drug lords, all of the bad ones—we have some bad, bad people in this country that have to go. We're going to get them out, we're going to secure the border. And once the border is secured we'll make a determination as to the rest. But we have some bad hombres here and we're gonna get 'em out."
Notes: In this image, Trump subs for the sorcerer Dr. Victor von Doom, and instead of the Fantastic Four (here, Hombres Fantasticos) worrying about "The Victims!" our heroes are hopelessly fretting about "The Wall!" and their powerlessness to stop it. Make of that what you will.
Waterboarding
Comic origin: The Walking Dead, Vol. 9 Issue 51 (August 2008) by Charlie Adlard
About that quote: During his June 28, 2016 campaign stop in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Trump redoubled on his pro-torture stance by asking the crowd, "What do you think about waterboarding?" before sharing his own opinion: "I like it a lot. I don't think it's tough enough." Trump added that in order to defeat the threat of the Islamic State, "we have to fight fire with fire" and that American tactics should be to "fight so viciously and violently" to defeat the Islamic terrorist group. Waterboarding was banned by the CIA in 2006, however former President George W. Bush, echoing a similar sentiment as Trump, refused to sign a 2008 bill that would outlaw the practice altogether.
Notes: A horde of ravenous zombies from the original have been replaced with Trump and his "Make America Great Again" hat-wearing supporters.
Black voters
Comic origin: Jungle Action Vol. 2 Issue 5 (July 1973) by John Romita
About that quote: Trump's popularity with black voters was incredibly slim throughout the entire election—just 8% of black voters chose him over other candidates—but the then-candidate threw his red hat into the minority voter ring by making a pitch to this demographic, arguing that they had nothing to lose. Yes, really. During an August 19, 2016 campaign stop in Dimondale, Michigan, he said to a crowd that his message to the black community was this: "What the hell do you have to lose? You're living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed—what the hell do you have to lose?"
Notes: In the original version of this comic cover, the recipient of the Black Panther's aerial attack is a Man-Ape known as M'Baku, who challenged T'Challa's right to rule and efforted to have the nation of Wakanda's technologies outlawed to restore it to a primitive state. The political parallels here are obviously no accident.
Too much winning
Comic origin: X-Men Vol. 2. Issue 1 (October 1991) by Jim Lee and Scott Williams
About that quote: Nope, that wasn't a Charlie Sheen impersonation Trump was doing when he said this. At an April 11, 2016 campaign event in Albany, New York, Trump promised to help the country turn around and become "winning" again—a word he repeated more than a dozen times in the space of about a minute, while saying in part, "We're gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you'll say, 'Please, please. It's too much winning. We can't take it anymore. Mr. President, it's too much.' And I'll say, 'No, it isn't!' We have to keep winning. We have to win more! We're gonna win more. We're gonna win so much."
Notes: In this cover, Trump subs in for Magneto, who steals nuclear weapons and is aided in his escape from the X-Men by a Russian military aircraft. Given the many question marks that surround Trump's relationship with the Kremlin and his loosey-goosey stances on nuclear proliferation, the comparisons here write themselves.
Climate change tax
Comic origin: Doctor Strange Vol. 1 Issue 174 (November 1968) by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer
About that quote: Trump has said that some of his repeated commentary that climate change is a hoax orchestrated to benefit China's economy was a "joke," but he did indeed say during a January 18, 2016 chat with Fox & Friends, "I think the climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of people are making a lot of money ... but this is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change. They burn everything you could burn; they couldn't care less. So it's very hard on our business."
Notes: Trump takes the place of the short-lived Lord Nekron on this cover. For those that don't remember the character, he basically made a deal with the devil (a demon named Satannish), who promised followers untold power in exchange for their loyalty. Wizarding power, wealth—potato, po-tah-to. For what it's worth things, um, did not end well for Lord Nekron in this issue.
Not a hero
Comic origin: Captain America Vol. 1 Issue 212 (August 1977) by Jack Kirby and John Verpoorten
About that quote: Many Americans took offense to Trump's diminution of Senator John McCain's record as a war hero, after the veteran served in the Vietnam War and survived being a prisoner of war for five years. Speaking at the Family Leadership Summit at Iowa State University on July 18, 2015, Trump said, "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured." His words were immediately and publicly disavowed by many prominent Republicans, including his eventual cabinet selectee Rick Perry.
Notes: It's a bold statement that the artist superimposed Trump over the Nazi-allied villain Red Skull here. Perhaps the drawn comparison is referencing the fact that Trump's ex-wife Ivana Trump once claimed he slept with Adolf Hitler's My New Order speech collection on his bedside table, or the fact that he said certain aspects of American government are reminiscent of Nazi Germany in recent weeks, much to the shock of the Intelligence Community and the public at large.
Straight shooter
Comic origin: Detective Comics Vol. 1 Issue 69 (November 1942) by Jerry Robinson
About that quote: That's not a misquote. Trump actually said "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters" at a campaign rally in Sioux Center, Iowa on January 23, 2016. He was touting the loyalty of his follower base, but to some, it sounded like more of an insult—or a threat—than a compliment.
Notes: Trump replaces the Joker in this image, and in the sourced issue, the Joker is using blackmail against people around Gotham City by playing upon their insecurities and guilt. Unfortunately, there's no mention of golden showers in the original.
I alone can fix
Comic origin: Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 Issue 206 (December 1976) by Dave Cockrum
About that quote: This wallop dropped at the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016, when he told the GOP crowd that had just given him their party's nomination, "Nobody knows the system better than me, which is is why I alone can fix it.... I will restore law and order. I am your voice."
Notes: It's probably worth noting that the original cover had Hulk featured with the caption, "A man-brute berserk!" Some might say that description could apply to both cover characters.
Trump tweets
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, who's been voicing the Joker in animated films, TV series, and video games for decades, reprised his role to imitate Trump, reading his post-election tweets in the character's voice. It's a can't-miss, really. Given the popularity and irony of the performance, Hamill has followed that presentation in what is now something of a running gag of villainizing "The Trumpster's" near-daily digital drops.