Not all heroes wear capes. Some happen to lead the Liberal Party of Canada. Take that, Spiderman.
Justin Trudeau will grace the variant cover of issue No. 5 of Marvel’s Civil War II: Choosing Sides, due out Aug. 31. He may not shoot web, or wear his underwear over his pants, but he is a self-proclaimed feminist on a mission to legalize marijuana and reach gender equality in the Cabinet of Canada – and we think that’s pretty super.
Trudeau is depicted flashing a Maple leaf tank and that familiar smile, looking pretty calm, cool and collected in the boxing ring. Backing him up are Puck, Sasquatch and Aurora, who are members of the Canadian superhero squad Alpha Flight.
Award-winning Toronto-based cartoonist Ramon Perez said about the cover:
“I didn’t want to do a stuffy cover — just like a suit and tie — put his likeness on the cover and call it a day. I wanted to kind of evoke a little bit of what’s different about him than other people in power right now. You don’t see (U.S. President Barack) Obama strutting around in boxing gear, doing push-ups in commercials or whatnot. Just throwing him in his gear and making him almost like an everyday person was kind of fun.”
Marvel reached out to Edmonton-born artist and writer, Chip Zdarsky, asking him to write an Alpha Flight story. It was Zdarsky’s idea to include the young PM in the comic. The story includes a mysterious new Marvel character, Ulysses, who holds the power to calculate the outcome of future events with a high degree of certainty. Alpha Flight, formally the “Canadian peacekeeping force”, is all about teaming up with Ulysses, using their gift for good, but there are also ethical conflicts within the squad. Although they’re part of an international agency, the team feels they’re “Canadian first” and seek out Trudeau for advice. Sounds pretty awesome, eh?
Issue No. 5 of Civil War II: Choosing Sides can be pre-ordered through any local comic retailer, and is also available for digital pre-order through Marvel’s Digital Store.
(Main image courtesy of John McCallum via Flickr)