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As the 2016 presidential election season marches on, politics is on everyone’s minds. And whatever your feelings on the man, it’s hard not to talk about Donald Trump. In addition to his latest turn as a politician, this guy’s been a millionaire businessman, a beauty pageant host and a reality TV star. Now, he can add one more career path to that list: supervillain.
No, I promise I’m not making a political statement. Trump is actually a supervillain in one of Marvel’s comic universes, as reported by Comics Alliance.
This revelation comes in the recently released Spider-Gwen Annual #1. The Spider-Gwen books take place in an alternate universe where long-dead Spider-Man love interest Gwen Stacey was bitten by a radioactive spider and became a masked crimefighter. It’s a goofy setup, but the series has actually received a lot of critical and fan acclaim, and its creators have slowly started revealing the wider world of this alternate universe (known as Earth-65).
In Spider-Gwen Annual #1, the focus of that universe is on the stories of Samantha Wilson, the Captain America of Earth-65. Near the end of the issue, we get a brief glimpse of M.O.D.A.A.K., a reimagining of an older Marvel villain with a, um, familiar face.
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If you’re not convinced from the likeness in that panel alone, later in the issue M.O.D.A.A.K. tosses out the line, "Must make America-" before being interrupted by an attack from Captain America. This is a clear reference to Trump’s "Make America Great Again" tagline.
If you’re wondering the supervillain this is based on, M.O.D.O.K. (Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing) is a recurring Captain America bad guy who is basically a giant floating head with very laughably small arms and legs (oh, and extremely tiny hands). He’s an evil scientist who’s often associated with the villainous group A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics).
Trump isn’t the only new Earth-65 supervillain who looks shockingly recognizable. Spider-Gwen Annual #1 also includes a version of Baron Blood who looks like a reimagining of popular musician Prince, who died earlier this year.
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In true Prince fashion, the encounter between Captain America and Baron Blood is mostly about Cap struggling to resist the allure of this stunning siren.
Whether you’re a fan of superhero comics slyly putting real-life figures into the stories, Spider-Gwen at least appears to be doing so with tongue firmly in cheek. You can check out more for yourself by picking up Spider-Gwen Annual #1 at your local comic shop or digitally via Marvel’s website.