And here it is, after much finagling and tweaking, the superhero team that I believe would be an accurate reflection of America is complete. Before starting, I'd like to give a shout out to Adherents.com and ComicBookReligion.com for their detailed list of comic characters and their religions, which helped make this a fair bit easier, given how ambiguous religion is/was treated in the comic book industry. Adherent.com in particular has some very detailed articles on various heroes', villains' and even creators' denominations, so give it a check.
So with no further delay, in no particular order, here is the team! Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!
Real name: Bruce Wayne
First Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (1939)
First Appearance: Detective Comics #27 (1939)
Operates in: Gotham City
Bio: When Bruce was a little boy, we witnessed his parent's murder at the hands of a mugger, so he swears an oath to rid the city of evil. Using his family's fortune, he begins rigorous training to be in peak form and wears a bat-themed costume to strike fear into the heart of evil. He now protects Gotham City as Batman, maintaining his public identity as the head of Wayne Industries.
Reason for inclusion: The first reason for Batman's inclusion is because, as I mentioned earlier, this whole blog was inspired by an article on how Batman would respond to Occupy Wall Street, so to do this without him seems a little unjust. In addition to that, Batman, or rather Bruce Wayne, fulfills the Upper Class requirements. Plus Batman makes any list he's on at least twice as awesome. ;)
Real name: Steve Rogers
First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
First Appearance: Captain America Comics #1 (1941)
Operates in: All over the place
Bio: Born in 1922, Steve Rogers attempts to enlist during the onset of WWII, but is rejected because of his scrawny physique. His resolution to serve however gets him noticed by a General who convinces him to be a test subject for a new Super Solider Serum, which turns Rogers into the planed Super Solider. Rogers is given a patriotic uniform, including the shield, the codename Captain America, and is sent on mission fighting Nazis. One mission near the end of war sees Rogers plunged into the North Atlantic as he brings down a Nazi Missile, only to be found decades later preserved in a block of ice. Re-awoken, he rejoins the fight against evil, where his strength and leadership have made him one of the most respected heroes of the Marvel Universe.
Reason for inclusion: Steve Rodgers fulfills one of the two military background positions needed, and his later commitment to making the Captain America identity a symbol of American Ideals and not the American Government after the Watergate scandal and the conflicts that arise from this make him an interesting figure in the context of this experiment.
Real name: Jaime Reyes
First Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (2006)
First Appearance: Infinite Crisis #3 (2006)
Operates in: El Paso, Texas
Bio: A fairly average teen who one day finds a Blue Beetle scarab that had crashed to Earth. The scarab fuses to Jaime's spine and gives him an advanced exoskeleton and the ability to fly, among other powers.
Reason for inclusion: He fulfills one of the three Hispanic positions, which given the number of Hispanics in the country, there are surprisingly few Hispanic superheroes. He also fulfills the position of Texan, and he's a pretty cool character to whom my description does not do justice.
Real name: Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pride
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 (1980)
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #129 (1980)
Operates in: Westchester County, New York
Bio: A mutant who developed the ability to "phase" through solid objects, she joined the X-Men as it's then youngest member but has since aged and matured through her adventures, and has become one of the teachers for the next generation of mutants.
Reason for inclusion: Kitty fulfills the sole Jewish position. There aren't very many very prominent Jewish superheroes (although there are loads more than Latter Day Saints, probably because Marvel and DC are headquartered in New York, but I'll talk about that later), so I though it best to go with one of the more prominent, kick-ass ones, who also happened to be one first superheroes to openly identify with an actual religion.
Real name: Anung un Rama
First Appearance: San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (1993)
First Appearance: San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2 (1993)
Operates in: Around the world
Bio: Accidentally summoned from Hell as an infant by Nazi occultists in 1944, he was quickly discovered by Allied Forces, among them Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, who adopted Hellboy and later formed the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense with the assistance of various governments from around the world. As Hellboy grew up he became one of the most valuable members of the BPRD in their fight against dark forces.
Reason for inclusion: Hellboy fulfills one of the immigrate positions, and the single Over 65 Male (he's pushing 70 in canon and still kicking ass) and single Other/Misc race positions, because I didn't want to show favoritism to any race, and having Hellboy down under "Other" makes me laugh. Not to mention the awesome factor. If you haven't, go watch the Hellboy movies, then read the comics.
Real name: Renee Montoya
First Appearance: Batman #475 (1992)
First Appearance: Batman #475 (1992)
Location: The Outer Banks of North Carolina
Bio: A police detective for the Major Crimes Unit of Gotham City, Renee Montoya had frequent encounters with supers, especially Batman. After being outed as a lesbian, she later resigns from the police force, disgusted by its corruption and encounters the original Question. He agrees to train her, and after his death she takes up the mantle of The Question.
Reason for addition: Montoya fulfills the single LGBT position. There might be more famous LGBT superheroes (Northstar comes to mind, but he's Canadian, or Montoya's former girlfriend Batwoman), but few have had to travel the path Montoya has because of it.
Real name: Anya Sofia Corazon
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy v2 #1 (2004)
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy v2 #1 (2004)
Occupation: Student
Religion: Unknown
Religion: Unknown
Operates in: New York, New York
Bio: On her first day of high school Anya encounters a mage from the mystical Spider Society, who offers her superpowers in exchange for working as their Hunter. She accepts and gains an organic blue exoskeleton that gives her superpowers and operates under the codename Araña. After several adventures, she loses the exoskeleton and her powers when it is ripped from her by a supervillian. However she continues to remain active in superheroics, and is later given a copy of Spider-Man's powers after taking the moniker of Spider-Girl.
Reason for inclusion: Anya fulfills the second of three Hispanic positions and one of the two New York positions.
Real name: Patrick "Eel" O'Brian
First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (1941)
First Appearance: Police Comics #1 (1941)
Operates in: Capital City
Bio: Patrick "Eel" O'Brian was a career criminal, specializing in safecracking, until one break in at a chemical plant when the gang was surprised by a night watchman. During the escape Eel was shot in the shoulder and doused with an unknown chemical, only to be left behind by the rest of his crew and left to fend for himself. Suffering from increasing disorientation as he flees, Eel eventually passes out in the foothills, only to awaken and find himself being tended to by a monk in a monastery, who believes O'Brien has the capacity for great good and turns away police looking for him. This act of faith and kindness fans O'Brien's longstanding dissatisfaction with his criminal life and his desire to reform. During his recovery he discovers his body has become like rubber, and begins using his abilities to fight for law and order.
Reason for inclusion: Plastic Man fulfills the former/reformed criminal position
Real name: May Reilly Parker-Jameson
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962)
Operates in: New York/Boston
Bio: After the death of her brother-in-law and his wife, May and her husband Ben adopt their young son Peter and raise him in their home in Queens. Years later, when Peter was in his teens, Ben was killed by a thief in a home robbery. Peter tries to help out as best he can, and eventually becomes a freelance photographer specializing in photos of Spider-Man. May later begins doing volunteer work at a homeless shelter, where she meets meets business man John Jonah Jameson Sr. The two begin a relationship and eventually wed, moving to Boston to get away from all the superhero chaos in New York.
Reason for inclusion: With the need to fill two positions for elderly women and few recognizable candidates, Aunt May instantly comes to mind. Given that she can keep the likes of Wolverine in line, I don't think anyone can argue her abilities.
Real name: Rose "Gran'ma" Ben (formerly Harvester)
First Appearance: Bone #3 (1991)
First Appearance: Bone #3 (1991)
Occupation: Farmer, Village Elder, Former Queen
Religion: Unknown
Religion: Unknown
Operates in: Barrelhaven, The Valley
Bio: A tough-as-nails farmer who races against cows on
foot as a hobby, and always wins. An immensely strong person, both physically and mentally, it is
revealed that she is the former Queen of Atheia who escaped to
Barrelhaven with Lucius Down in order to protect and safeguard her granddaughter Thorn.
Reason for inclusion: Remember what I said above about Aunt May? Yeah, with such a limited selection, I kinda had to cheat with a character that isn't an American citizen. But if you've read Bone, you'd probably agree with my decision. And if you haven't read Bone, what are you waiting for? Go do it now! Also she covers the Farmers and Governmental positions.
Real name: Robert "Bob" Parr
First Appearance: The Incredibles (2004)
First Appearance: The Incredibles (2004)
Operates in: Metroville
Bio: A professional superhero who was forced into retirement after a wave of personal injury lawsuits by the public against numerous supers. Years later, Bob receives a mysterious package asking if he want to return to being a superhero, a chance Bob jumps at, despite his years out of the games.
Reason for inclusion: Bob fulfills one of the overweight positions. There should be more overweight heroes on the list, but most of the existing ones are middle aged white guys, and there's a limit to how many of them we can have, so I went with probably one of the more recognizable ones.
Real name: Dr. Denholm
First Appearance: Captain Confederacy v2 #2 (1991)
First Appearance: Captain Confederacy v2 #2 (1991)
Operates in: The Country of Deseret
Bio: In a world where the Confederacy won their independence, preventing manifest destiny from coming to pass and resulting in a collection of loosely associated countries instead of the United States of America as we know it today. In the country of Deseret, founded by Latter-day Saint and where present day Utah and Nevada are, Dr. Deseret is the nationally appointed super-hero.
Reason for inclusion: Dr. Deseret fulfills the position of Mormon. There are very, very few confirmed Mormon superheroes, all of them rather obscure and not in anything I've read, so I decided to go with one who, having been appointed as the national hero of a LDS country, would probably follow closely with major LDS mentality related to various topics. So she'll basically be standing in for the Mormon population as a whole.
Real name: Jill Carlyle
First Appearance: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 (2000)
First Appearance: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 (2000)
Occupation: Former Lawyer
Religion: Unknown
Religion: Unknown
Operates in: All over America
Bio: Jill Carlyle was a lawyer, until she lost a case where the defendant was clearly guilty. She obtained a pair of Colt pistols that belonged to the first Crimson Avenger, and uses them to exact vengeance on the criminal. Carlyle then discovers that the guns are cursed, that if somebody uses them for revenge they will cursed to track down and kill those who have taken innocent life. She is marked by this curse with an ever-bleeding bullet hole in her chest, and must relive the death of her "assignments" before gaining their skills and memories.
Reason for inclusion: Carlyle fulfills one of the two African descendant positions, and I wanted someone interesting with a Upper Middle class background to fill the position, so I choose her.
Real name: Ashley Crawford
First Appearance: West Coast Avengers v2 #46 (1989)
First Appearance: West Coast Avengers v2 #46 (1989)
Occupation: Fashion model
Religion: Unknown
Religion: Unknown
Operates in: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Bio: Ashley Crawford is a mutant with the ability to make herself super strong and durable by becoming extraordinarily obese. She responded to an ad to form a superhero team and eventually joined the Great Lake Avengers.
Reason for inclusion: Ashley fulfills another of the overweight positions, being a rare overweight female, although it is kind of a cheat since it's part of her power and she can expel the excess fat at any time.
Real name: Linda Park-West
First Appearance: Flash v2 #28
First Appearance: Flash v2 #28
Occupation: Reporter
Religion: Unknown
Religion: Unknown
Operates in:Keystone City
Bio: Linda Park is a reporter who regularly dealt with the Flash. After being helped deal with being possessed by an 800-year-old bard by Wally West, the two began dating and eventually married after he revealed his identity as the Flash. Linda later became pregnant with twins, giving birth to a girl and a boy, Iris and Jai. She has since returned to journalism.
Reason for inclusion: Linda fulfills the Asian decent position, being a Korean-American. I also wanted to include another parent to the list (there are only 8 on the list by my count, 9 if you include Aunt May) and another Badass Normal (of which there are 4 not counting Batman) to add a little balance to the supers.
Real name: Kurr
First Appearance: Graphic Fantasy #1 (1982)
First Appearance: Graphic Fantasy #1 (1982)
Operates in: Chicago, Illinois
Bio: The Dragon was found in a burning field by Lt. Frank Darling of the Chicago PD. Chicago was under assault by villainous "superfreaks", and Darling asks the amnesiac Dragon to join the police. Dragon at first refuses, but after witnessing how brutal the superfreaks are he changes his mind and become one of the most valuable assets to the police.
Reason for inclusion: The Savage Dragon fulfills both the Atheist positions (even once declared himself as such right to God's face no less) and the Chicago position. Plus he's the longest running comic to be written and drawn by the same person, his creator Erik Larsen.
Real name: Greer Grant Nelson
First Appearance: Claws of the Cat #1 (1972)
First Appearance: Claws of the Cat #1 (1972)
Operates in: All over America
Bio: Greer Grant was a sophomore at the University of Chicago who dropped out to marry her policeman boyfriend. However, after her husband was killed on the job, she had to take a job as an assistant to a former professor, Dr. Tumulo, who was working on an experimental treatment to make people physically enhanced to peak performance. Not trusting the project's financial backer, Greer convinces the professor to preform the experiment on her, where she gains superhuman physical and mental capabilities. After the backer has the lab destroyed Greer sets out to expose the backer, but he commits suicide rather than be apprehended. Greer takes the codename The Cat and begins a career as a superhero, later encountering a community of advanced sorcerer scientist cat people who had been hiding in society, which includes Tumulo, and after being mortally injured Tumulo summons a gathering of Cat people and offer her a chance to survive, for the Cat people to transform her into their legendary warrior Tigra. She accepts, and becomes a super-powered human-animal hybrid. She has since effectively abandoned her previous life as Greer Grant, and has since had many adventures with numerous heroes, later becoming one of the more frequent members of the Avengers.
Reason for inclusion: Tigra fulfills the Other Religion position, since like the Other Race, I wanted one that was ambiguous.
Real name: Kyle Rayner
First Appearance: Green Lantern v3 (1994)
Operates in: All over the Universe
Bio: Kyle Rayner was a struggling-but-gifted freelance graphic artist who lived and worked in Los Angeles. After the Green Lantern Hal Jordan, grief-stricken over the destruction of his home town of Coast City, went on a mad rampage killing various members of the Green Lantern Corps and their overseers, the Guardians of the Universe, Rayner was found by the last surviving Guardian, Ganthet. Ganthet gave Kyle the last working Green Lantern power ring that would allow him to conjure any form of matter or energy through sheer force of will.
Reason for inclusion: Kyle Rayner fulfills the last Hispanic position.
Real name: Lucas Cage (born Carl Lucas)
First Appearance: Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (1972)
First Appearance: Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (1972)
Operates in: New York
Bio: As a youth Carl Lucas was regularly involved with organized crime, but tried to distance himself after seeing the damage his actions were causing. However, he was framed for possession of cocaine by a criminal friend of his who mistakenly believed Lucas had been responsible for relationship falling apart. Lucas is taken to prison, where he is forced to volunteer for an experiment that would hopefully grant a human immunity to all afflictions, but a sadistic guard tampers with the experiment hoping to kill Lucas. Lucas instead gains superhuman strength and bullet proof skin, and uses the opportunity to escape. He decides to use his new powers for profit, assumes the name Luke Cage and founds the Heroes for Hire Detective Agency, helping anyone who can meet his price. But after several encounters with various heroes and villains, especially the hero Iron Fist who would become a close friend, Cage's demeanor softens and he becomes a superhero in his own right and is eventually cleared of any charges as Carl Lucas, after which he legally changes his name to Lucas Cage.
Reason for inclusion: Luke Cage fulfills the remaining African decent position.
Real name: Clark Kent/Kal-El
First Appearance: Action Comics #1 (1938)
First Appearance: Action Comics #1 (1938)
Operates in: Metropolis
Bio: Born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, before being rocketed to Earth as an infant by his scientist father Jor-El, moments before Krypton's destruction. Discovered and adopted by a Kansas farmer and his wife, Jonathan and Martha Kent, the child is raised as Clark Kent and imbued with a strong moral compass. Very early he started to display superhuman abilities, which upon reaching maturity he resolved to use for the benefit of humanity.
Reason for inclusion: Could I really do this without including possibly the biggest American icon in comics? His humble upbringing, strong moral code and his influence on the culture of not just America, but the world make him an such an important player in this discussion.
Okay, so that's the 20 heroes that represent America. That took a bit longer to work out than I had planned, and it's not perfect (4 more of the characters should be overweight), but I'm content that it's close enough with enough of a mix of famous and lesser heroes and of Marvel, DC and other publishers. So with all that in mind, I think for future posts I'll divide them into two parts: the Candidates' positions, which I'll post on Wednesdays, and the Supers' positions, which I'll post of the following Friday, which should give all of you the opportunity to comment, discuss and debate. And if you have any comment on the list, pro, con or other wise, post them! So, next Wednesday I will have a post up on the Candidates' positions on the Economy, followed by the supers positions on the positions up on Friday, so tune in for that!
~James
Okay, so that's the 20 heroes that represent America. That took a bit longer to work out than I had planned, and it's not perfect (4 more of the characters should be overweight), but I'm content that it's close enough with enough of a mix of famous and lesser heroes and of Marvel, DC and other publishers. So with all that in mind, I think for future posts I'll divide them into two parts: the Candidates' positions, which I'll post on Wednesdays, and the Supers' positions, which I'll post of the following Friday, which should give all of you the opportunity to comment, discuss and debate. And if you have any comment on the list, pro, con or other wise, post them! So, next Wednesday I will have a post up on the Candidates' positions on the Economy, followed by the supers positions on the positions up on Friday, so tune in for that!
~James
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