Our Poll Position this week deals with super-heroes transitioning to new roles in their professional lives:
Discussion after the jump.
We've seen various characters put into political roles throughout comics, whether it's Superman as the head of the Soviet Universe in DC's alternate reality or Iron Man as President of the US in the Marvel Universe. "Ex Machina" is a great comic about a guy with super-powers who gives it up to be the Mayor of New York City. So I got to thinking about what other characters might do if they decided to hang up the tights.
- Batman becomes Secretary-General of the UN: Let's face it, the UN as it currently exists is kind of a wussy group. They wear light blue helmets, for the love of Pete! Can you imagine a group of armed individuals run by Bruce Wayne running around looking like that? And the changes would only get better from there. For instance, all guns would be replaced by exploding Batarangs -- tell me THAT wouldn't rattle any given third-world dictator! Also, you can forget that whole "peaceful missions of non-violence" crap, the UN would quickly become the best rapid-reaction fighting force in the world. On second thought, maybe this is not such a good idea ...
- Flash becomes Postmaster General: I'm tired of my mail taking a week to get to me. And FedEx Next Day Guaranteed? Please. Flash could have your mail delivered mere seconds after you drop it in the box. Nationwide! Hell, if he got on that Cosmic Treadmill thing he could probably get it delivered BEFORE it was mailed, and you can't tell me that's not worth forty two cents.
- Reed Richards becomes Governor of California: They already elected the Terminator, so clearly they're open to the idea of uber-human overlords there. And the state is so screwed up at this point they'd probably elect Cthulu if he promised to balance the budget. But here's what I like about the idea of a comic based on Mr. Fantastic taking the job -- Reed Richards' fantastic intellect plus the absolutely insane and irrational Californa laws / people would equal hilarity.
- Superman becomes head of NASA: Just what the hell does NASA do in a Superman-inhabited world, anyway? Why would they spend billions of dollars on a Mars probe when Clark can give 'em the lowdown with a nice five minute squint? He's been to other worlds already. His DAD was a scientist. NASA's mission is peaceful, but it seems Supes is constantly running into someone he has to punch in the face whenever he leaves the atmosphere, so it would help raise the agency's profile considerably.
- Wolverine becomes head of PETA: "From now on the only red coloring splattered on fur is gonna be your blood. Capiche?"
- Wonder Woman becomes head of NOW: Again, a group that's pretty much a joke would get a significant profile boost. It's a natural fit, too, since Diana comes from an island where women run things. I would think she'd be fairly appalled at the role of women in American society given her own history, and it would be nice to see her doing something about it. Which I think she might have been doing recently, I kind of stopped reading Wonder Woman when George Perez jumped ship.
Anyway, there you have it. I am sure you can think of other good fits, but those are the ones that came immediately to mind. I have to say that the two most intriguing are Batman as Secretary-General of the UN and Reed Richards as Governor of California. I think, though, that the latter is the most appealing. It has a lot of great built-in conflict: East Coast Yankee can-do-ism vs. West Coast wackiness; hyper-intellectual person of the mind vs. Hollywood superficiality; stretchy guy vs. non-stretchy guys.
What would you pick?
Iron Man became President? Kewl! Just keep Tony Stark away from the White House interns, man! 🙂
Wolverine as head of PETA. Being a bit of an outdoors guy, he would understand that I want to let my dog run around in the backyard.
(I swear, my parents were denied a cat at the shelter because they couldn’t see why an outdoors cat could go outside. They even had to sign a contract saying that they would lose the cat if the shelter people drove by our culdesac and found the cat outdoors. ????? They bought a kitty from a local farmer instead. Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of the shelter? “Give them to nice people instead of killing them”? “Don’t buy from people who let their cats and dogs breed profligately”?)
I like Batman being in charge of anything, you know he’ll get it done. Wolverine has some comedy potential though. He could also be Secretary of the Interior. (That covers national parks etc. right?) I would think Captain America would be a good Secretary-of-Something. What about Professor X as head of the CIA or Homeland Security? He’d just know what everybody was up to. Also, I think we need a badass as head of the FDA to take on the drug companies. Maybe Bruce Banner…which reminds me, did anybody see the SNL sketch with “The Rock” Obama?
Actually, Wonder Woman as head of an *international* woman’s group would be great. I don’t think NOW would take her too seriously with that outfit.
Batman for President, Wonder Woman for Vice President, Justice League for Congress and X-Men for the House. Wolverine for Sec. of Defense. I could go on for ever with this one.
I don’t know how, but im picturing Robin as the leader of the North Atlantic Treaty Organsation…
Oh! And I think that Batman as the Secretary of the UN would work well.
Which Robin?
The Boy Wonder
Batman as the secretary general of the UN.
Watch every tyrant in the world quake in their boots.
Matt there are more then just one Robin. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake(Wayne), the spoiler, or Damien Wayne. I think I got them all. 🙂
As a Californian, I’d be pretty much willing to try anything at this point. Reed Richards? Why not? Just keep Doom in Fresno or something.
@ Jeff… just some clarity on the actual poll question…Is it Batman/Superman/Mr Fantastic/Wolverine/Wonder Woman, taking over the organizations or is it there civilian persona?
I think it would be the person “in character”.
Batman head of UN for the win
@Hammerknight. Sorry I got confused at your question (don’t know how though)I meant Dick Grayson, but I still don’t know how I got confused at your question, I mean there’s not many other Robins to get confused with is there 😛 .
Matt, sorry to tell you this, but there are a LOT of Robins out there! Two Jason Todds, Tim Drake, Carrie Kelley (Dark Knight Returns), and, currently, Damian…
I like Reed as Governor of California, myself!
Yeah, Logan heading up PETA makes for a cute joke…
And, Diana heading up NOW is not so much a stretch of the imagination, as pretty much a given…
But, California NEEDS a bona fide Super Genius to straighten out that mess!
And, if you want to train the Blue Helmets to be an effective fighting force, you really need (though he’s currently deceased, which means you’ll have to wait at least a week or two…) Steve Rogers!