Political views of Comic characters

What would you say the general political views of comic book characters are?

Wolverine = Libertarian

Captain America = Paleoconservative and libertarian (he never uses neocon rhetoric)

Batman = Modern Liberal (doesn't use guns, doesn't kill enemies, tries to find the good side in his villains, has philanthropic tendencies as Bruce Wayne). But he wouldn't vote democrat, he'd probably have the knowledge to find out how corrupt mainstream politicians are.

Superman = Paleoconservative and Libertarian

That's all for now

@purplecandy:

Bump

I don't know about Wolverine being Libertarian I'd say he's apolitical if anything.

Pretty much spot on about Captain America.

Disagree on Batman, I can see him being a Ron Paul type Libertarian. He is a friend of big business, Capitalist through and through. Also very hard on crime. He doesn't use guns but he's highly mistrustful of the government.

Superman I don't see being Libertarian at all. Paleoconservative I guess but I would say he is mostly apolitical. He has some liberal tendencies though, hard to pin down.

I'll throw in Spider-man. I'd say he's Liberal-leaning. Probably an Independent though.

@shenkuei:

Thanks for the reply, and I think Spider-Man would be liberal too since throughout most the comics he is fairly young. But considering many of his villains like Green Goblin and Octopus are the product of corporate greed, I doubt he supports free capitalism.

Also can someone move this thread to off-topic? Although its about comics, it's also about politics, so it's more suited for there.

And I place Wolverine as being libertarian since he is mistrustful of the government, and individualistic (esp before joining the X-Men).

I would argue that most comic characters (or at minimum the superheroes populating Marvel and DC since that seems to be the main focus) occupy a fairly neutral political space. Superheroes act outside the political system for the most part and thus don't particularly push one agenda/social order or another. Occasionally they do but that tends to feel more like writers self-inserting their own leanings rather than the character's own true voice.

like most people, I would say most Superheroes would be kind of neutral with a few exceptions

BATMAN is undeniably a Gunhating Republican . first using a devicive issue like Gun control, pot legalization, or Abortion, does the opposite of dividing up groups of people into political parties, these issues split the parties down the middle pretty close to evenly these days. case in point the last gun control bill forced through (almost) to the Virginia Senate was setup by the Republican Govenor, as well my local Texas Gun club consists of over 30 democrats, out of 45 people (10 I don't know which party they vote for) so I am using clearer lines.

Bruce Wayne is a poster boy for Rebublican econmic policy called "trickle down economics" He seems to favor the capitalist system whilst using the extra earnings to setup Charity ball after charity ball (with the one exception being his political fundraiser for Harvey Dent) even sometimes using his own private funds for his philantropy. He reminds me of a specific super rich philantripist. Bill Gates has occasionally donated to the Republican Party so the assumption is he is a repbulican, and like Bruce Wayne he has setup dozens of charity foundations to the extent of even setting up his company to continue with the charity work even after he is gone. (on a side note his major competitor Steve Jobs has donated a ton to the Democratic party, but not one measly cent to a single Charity)

Oliver Queen, definitely a Democrat, this is mostly based on his Social Views rather than econimics if you read him through the 60s-70s it is undeniable, I don't know if he still holds to his old political leanings, but I would assume so since he is typically working the Democratic model into his crimefighting (from the bottom up)

That said, im sure Hal Jordan and John Stewart are mostly likely Republicans, they usually butt heads with Queen on political issues, and both being military officers it seems more likely statistically (note I said Officers specifically).

I don't want to put any villains into a party because thats really a nasty sentiment and almost like Trolling, as well most can't fit into just one party. example Lex Luthor, always after the higher dollar, or the deader superman he doesn't really fit in as a Republican or a Democrat, he invents his own political party and calls it "capitalism" using which ever actually existing party to make his goals meet, Im sure for instance he actually supports Unions heavily, because he finds their manipulation easier to deal with than a mass of individuals. but Im sure he also supports any bill that raises the military budget, because he stands to earn more that way, just as he would stand to earn more if HE was commisioned to build the new federal mandate low-rent housing. (a good Republican businessman can stand to gain more money by selectively supporting the right political leaders, and the right bills, a good Democrat can stand to gain quite a bit of money by doing the exact same thing. Im sure Lex Luthor does both.)

for Marvel, it would be easy to just say that all the heroes who supported registration were Democrats and the anti-regs were republicans, but its just not that simple. even though the issues seem so very similar to issues that split the parties that way, as I expressed before you can also come up with those that can easily be on the opposite side than we would think. (especially considering it seems similar to the gun control debate, which as I stated is also not as clear-cut between the parties as the media likes to make us believe.) that said, im sure Iron Man and Spiderman both vote in Democrats more often, and Im sure Captain America most definitely votes Republican.

I don't know or care enough about politics to answer without looking stupid D

Green Arrow is comics most famous liberal character. The Green Arrow always points left.

Characters aren't, their writers are.

Mr. A - Objectivism

Red Skull circa WW2 - Nazism

@purplecandy:

Batman is a republican, specific to what you mention, philanthropic. despite the fact that Democratic households make 6% more on average, they donate 30% less. that's a big gap

I think that Cap most definitely has liberal leanings. I don't think that just because he is patriotic he is automatically conservative. Keep in mind Cap grew up in the FDR era and his values are based on FDR politics. Social welfare and progressive policies were the patriotic pride of the day. Not to mention Cap has always been on the progressive side of social issues and seems very accepting of others.

@ostyo: Sometimes characters are, too. Look at Green Arrow. Look at Hawk & Dove. Look at Lex Luthor. With some characters their politics are built in.

Rorschach - uncompromising right-wing extremist.

@joygirl: Green Arrow's views were a gimmick for the 60s and I'm not sure what you're talking about with Lex. In the end it's just the writer putting their view point on the character or what they believe said character should believe in due to their own perceived views on how certain people are.

Which continued on to be one of the strongest aspects of the character.

I doubt it. There's far more parties (minor and major) than the Democrats and GOP.

Captain America is a Christian (despite the fact he has met many God-like entities) , or at least holds onto Christian values. But in none of the comics (as far as I know) does he fight for Christianity or imposes his conservative views on anybody. He fights for freedom.

I'm not trying to start a debate but the Democrats and Republicans are both (arguably and by definition) authoritarian in there own ways, so he wouldn't vote for them. Isn't Cap more of a non-interventionist type (unless it's against one of the evil conqueror types)?

I think Captain America would vote Libertarian.

Again, writers try to keep political views outside of the comics, so as not to loose fans, and come off as neutral.

I can see Captain America voting Libertarian... it fits perfectly, buuuut, hes from an era in which there was no reason to vote for a third party unless you were fanatic.

I think they are both right

Deadpool- Mitt Romney

He can never decide what he wants to be

I think it's safe to say that Spider-Man is probably a Democrat. There's also a lot of evidence to support this in the Death of Captain Stacy story arc. I think it's also pretty safe to say that X-Men are fairly Liberal--socially, that is. Fiscally, it depends on the X-Man--I think.

There was a website I went to once that collected information like this. It also had probable/confirmed religious beliefs, and the like. If only I could remember what it was.

ComicBookReligion.com: Comic Book Religion Database (religion of super-heroes)

@kick_assgeist: Thank-you.

This thread reminds me Civil War

I think @ostyo has it right. It really depends on the writer. I tend to lean right, so if I wrote Green Arrow, he'd be more conservative than he's been portrayed in the past. Or, I'd keep him liberal, and have him really have to fight himself internally with situations where his leanings don't seem to work. Denny O'Neil however, does not share my views, so he wrote Green Arrow as liberal, and made him look good for being one. All in all, since most DC and Marvel heroes are involved in conflicts that transcend politics, the views of the character rarely have any impact on the story. I also think folks can confuse moral beliefs with political ones. I don't think "refusing to kill" makes one liberal, and "not refusing to kill" makes one a conservative. That's a moral belief, and folks of both persuasion can have any political leaning.