I finally got around to reading DC Universe Decisions, wherein they spill the beans on the political leanings of various superheroes. The series is pretty bad, to be honest. The story was fine, but I didn’t like the art and the execution was lacking. Oddly enough, it missed its real calling as a comedy. There were some really funny parts in there and had they gone with that angle, it could have been pretty awesome.

Prior to reading it, I wrote some speculation. Oddly, I couldn’t find any single location that listed them out, so I will here as well as some thoughts. The four fictional candidates were: Super-conservative Republican Bob Ridgeway, moderate black Republican Kate McClellan, moderate Hispanic Democrat Martin Suarez, and super-liberal Democratic Davis Brewster.

Green Arrow for Davis Brewster (D) – The only way it could be.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) for A Republican (R) – Probably. Hal makes no endorsement, but it is implied that he pretty strongly disagrees with Green Arrow. Of course.

Guy Gardner for Bob Ridgeway (R) – Gardner is the odd case of the superhero that was supposed to be a Republican as a joke. Keith Giffen had Gardner, who up to that point I believe was a rather bland character with no conservative leanings (indeed, he was a special ed teacher… not exactly a conservative career), hit his head and become a reactionary thug. Who, of course, was a big fan of Ronald Reagan. Gardner became a sensation in this persona and they were never entirely able to shake it. So no big surprise that he threw his weight behind the conservative Republican. CORRECTION: I have been informed that I have mixed things up with this summation and that Gardner was a commie-hating conservative prior to Giffen’s contributions. His conservative views were, at least according to Wikipedia, a result of brain damage, but it was something that Giffen exploited rather than invented. Thank you to “Correction” for the correction.

Vixen for Kate McClellan (R) – Black women sticking together, I guess? I don’t really know Vixen very well. Her endorsement was glided over on a 9-panel page of endorsements meant to illustrate that everybody was getting into the act.

Dr Light for Davis Brewster (D) – That a highly-educated, professional Asian immigrant and scientist would back the liberal candidate isn’t much of a surprise.

Power Girl for Bob Ridgeway (R) – This one was a bit of a surprise, though I don’t know much about Power Girl (I thought she had been wiped out of the timeline, actually). I would expect her to either support a Democrat due to feminism or McClellan out of female solidarity. The white male Republican is the one that I would least expect. Again, based on what little I know.

Changeling/Beast Boy for Martin Suarez (D) – They make it apparent that he’s not following things too closely and mostly just wants to be on TV.

Wildcat for Bob Ridgeway (R) – Sounds reasonable. Tough guy supporting the tough guy.

Plastic Man for Kate McClellan (R) – Plastic Man’s reasoning is not entirely intellectual. He supports McClellan on the basis of her good looks.

??? for Davis Brewster (D) – I have no idea who the person on the bottom left of the 9-panel page is, though apparently she’s in Brewster’s camp.

Firestorm for Martin Suarez (D) – I don’t know anything about the new Firestorm.

Hawkman for Bob Ridgeway (R) – Funny that they would go to all of the trouble of saying “Hawkman’s not necessarily conservative!” in Identity Crisis only to have him endorse the most conservative candidate a year or so later.

Batman for Martin Suarez (D) – Well, not exactly. Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman make their endorsements but it’s set up as though it could be (and probably is) staged so that they can integrate themselves into the campaign.

Wonder Woman for Bob Ridgeway (R) – See above.

Flash (Wally West) for The Mysterious Mad Bomber (I) – Never be sarcastic to a news camera.

Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) for Martin Suarez (R) – Or Brewster, he wasn’t sure. Former Blue Beetle Ted Kord (a reader of The National Review) wouldn’t be pleased, but Reyes is young, Hispanic, and probably idealistic, so it fits.
Blue Devil for … – Blue Devil is apparently strongly against three of the candidates (so presumably voting for the fourth). And he’s apparently not dead anymore.

Flash (Jay Garrick) for Kate McClellan (R) – I’m a bit surprised that they would have any Flash on record either way. Have no strong feelings on the endorsement.

Some Chimpanzee is Not Voting – I have no idea who this is but it doesn’t matter because as he/she/it points out, chimps can’t vote.

Lady Blackhawk for Brewster (D) – I know nothing of this character. I thought she was in World War II or something.

Huntress for Kate McClellan (R) – I’m surprised that I didn’t comment on her in my previous post since she is one of my three favorite comic book characters of all time. The Huntress, as I knew her, would almost have to vote for a Republican (to the extent that she is political, which I would suspect that she isn’t). But then, The Huntress as I knew her wouldn’t vote for any candidate solely because she’s a woman and wouldn’t act like such a ditz. I get that they were trying to be funny, but Huntress should be the straight-man (errr… woman) in any comedy routine.

Superman for … – Yeah, like they’re going to touch that one.

Addendum: See above CORRECTION regarding Guy Gardner.


Category: Theater

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4 Responses to How The Superpeople Voted

  1. Correction says:

    I’m pretty sure Guy Gardner was shown as a commie hating conservative in the Green Lantern Corps comicbook before appearing in Justice League International. He invaded Russia / pre-emptively forcing the soviets to reveal their rocket red suits and Kilowog as a consultant on their creation. Anyways, Guy starts an international incident, Kilowog see’s communism for what it really is, happy ending!

  2. trumwill says:

    Thanks for the correction! I wasn’t a regular Green Lantern reader until GL Mosaic came out and never went further back than the 90’s series.

    I remembered reading somewhere that he had become a conservative as a result of brain damage, but thought that I remembered that happening in JLI. Well, it did happen in JLI in that he kept hitting his head and alternating between a peacenik and a cold warrior, but I thought it had originated in JLI when, as you point out, it originated in GLC.

  3. SFG says:

    Conservative as a result of brain damage?

    I may be a lefty, but I’d never be that insulting…

  4. trumwill says:

    I once had a character in a book I intended to write wherein a character becomes a conservative after having a bad acid trip at a party and being locked in a room with Fox News. I guess that’s kind of offensive, though the book is more a peek at identity and ideology than a swipe at either side.

    Gardner’s bonk conservatism was less offensive to me when Giffen did it because he’s a comedy writer (or at least was on that series). I’m not sure what GLC was going so, so I’m not sure how offended conservatives should be.

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