You hear the term conservative and you think an old white guy. We all think it, it’s the default but the political spectrum is more diverse than that and so are people. So Comic book characters should be no exception . Let’s have a look at different Right Wing characters who aren’t white men.
Icon
Created by Dwayne McDuffie explicitly to be a conservative black hero. This character shines a spotlight on black political philosophies with his admiration Booker T. Washington and his philosophies of self reliance. This ideology also put him at odds with his sidekick, Rocket. Icon is a card carrying republican, kind of imagine him as a kind of Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel Air mixed with Superman.
War Machine
Iron Man was created by Stan Lee to be the hero that left-leaning Marvel fans would hate. Well Jim Rhodes in ideology is even more Republican. Any soldier hero must either be critical of the military or conservative and Jim Rhodes is nothing if not a good soldier. He’s not the only Black military hero, because Green Lantern Jon Stewart is a good soldier but also questions the military.
Other than his military connection there is something far worse and often overlooked about Jim Rhodes and that is that he’s racist. Now he’s not racist against any real world groups but Mutants, but Mutant hating is Right wing if you ask me.
George Washington-Bridge
Ok there are about 1000 characters created by Rob Liefeld who could fit this article. But I chose Washington-Bridge because he’s the only one I could remember the name of. Rob Liefeld specialised in creating teams of para-military task forces that added new members mostly men and not all white. Almost any character created by Liefeld on his own is interchangeable.
Black Manta and Erik Killmonger
I put these two villains together because they both have the same goal of creating an ethno-state. Whilst they’re both wanting reparations for slavery and wanting a land for their people, this doesn’t justify their wants. But of course these ideologies make them the bad guys while fighting for peace and diversity make Aquaman and Black Panther the heroes.
Martha Washington
You’d think Dave Gibbons would hate Ayn Rand having worked with Alan Moore on Watchmen. But I’m not sure Gibbons’ political beliefs are in any way similar to the anarchist writer who penned the book. Dave Gibbons’ follow-up to Watchmen was a collaboration with Frank Miller, and the book constantly quotes Ayn Rand. Martha becomes a strong independent character by rejecting everything about her identity. While it may seem progressive that Frank Miller wrote a black woman as the lead to a book , she only became strong in his eyes by thinking of herself as a white man.
(More on Frank Miller and Ayn Rand in an upcoming blog keep an eye out).
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
Possibly the most surprising to many but the only thing progressive about Carol is that she is a woman. It’s so progressive to have a female Air force colonel and she’s often used as a straw feminist. But you take that away she’s really a Karen. Now I’m not hating on the character, or her stories or the movie. Well maybe Civil War 2 where she becomes a totalitarian dictator probably helps my case.
