6 Times Comic Book Villains Became President (And One Did it Three Times)
Marvel and DC comics take place on very different Earths, but one thing is the same â the United States of America. Each company has done interesting things with its version of the US; in the Marvel Universe, the government takes a much more hands-on approach with the superhero community, while in the DC Universe, the government is more hands-off most of the time. Both versions of the United States have had different presidents, sometimes the ones from real history, and sometimes not, and strangely enough, some of them have been supervillains. While there have been superhero presidents, it seems like supervillains are much more likely to become the President of the United States.
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Most of the time, this usually happens in some kind of alternate universe, but it has also happened in the mainline universe of at least one of the two major superhero universes. Supervillain presidents are a very interesting idea; it honestly makes a lot of sense for villains to try and take the Oval Office, and the fact that some of them succeeded has led to some very interesting stories. These six supervillains have become presidents in their respective universes, with one of them even having done it three times!
Green Goblin
Marvel has some brilliant multiverse tales, and one of the best is Earth X. The Earth X Trilogy is a case of diminishing returns, but the first fourteen issue series is an amazing tour of Marvelâs past and future. It takes place in an alternate future where everyone on Earth has gained superpowers. People are mysteriously starting to live longer, and food is becoming scarce. In the United States, a most unlikely president is elected â Norman Osborn. Osborn actually doesnât play a huge role in the main narrative of the story, and is killed by the mind-controlling Skull, who proclaims himself the king of America.
Osborn is definitely corrupt, but one gets the impression that heâs also trying to make things work for the United States. As far as supervillain presidents go, heâs pretty tame. This always felt more like a shocking choice than anything else, showing that the world had gotten so bad in Earth X that the people elected a corrupt businessman with a criminal past in order to save them. Imagine that.
Purple Man
Most Marvel fans know Purple Man from the Netflix show Jessica Jones. Zebediah Killgrave was a Croatian spy who gained the ability to control minds through pheromones. The Purple Man was never an A-list villain, but his place in the origin of Jessica Jones, both on TV and in her series Alias, showed readers just how despicable he could be. Mind control is a great power for someone who wants to be president, and in Marvel 1602, it was revealed that Purple Man was able to expand his powers to such an extent that he was able to become president.
Marvel 1602 took place in the year 1602, when the characters of the Marvel Universe started to appear in that year. Steve Rogers was there as Rojhaz, who was a white man that lived with Native Americans and was the guardian of Virginia Dare. Readers learned why a white man was living with the Natives in the bookâs last issue and it definitely wasnât what anyone expected. Rogers was from a future where the Purple Man was able to take the highest office in the land. Purple Man couldnât kill Rogers, so he sent Captain America back in time. Captain America was the catalyst for the Marvel Universe beginning earlier in the new timeline, creating an entirely new universe. Readers didnât get a lot of Purple Man as president â itâs honestly a handful of panels â but he was still president.
Number One
So, this one has always been more of an implication than anything else, but it still counts. In the â70s, Captain America was battling the Secret Empire, a secret group of bad guys who were led by the Council of Nine. It was said that the Secret Empireâs Number One had a high political office in the United States, and eventually Cap was able to hunt him down. Number One ran into the Oval Office with Cap in pursuit. Number One revealed his identity to Captain America and then killed himself rather than face justice.
So, hereâs the rub â it was heavily implied that Number One was Richard Nixon, which meant that Number Oneâs âhigh political officeâ was as President of the United States of America. The reveal of Number Oneâs identity broke Captain Americaâs faith in the United States, and caused him to give up the mantle of Captain America for a time and become Nomad. Again, this one was only implied â it has basically become canon for fans and people in the Marvel Universe that Richard Nixon was a supervillain who became president.
Red Skull
Old Man Logan is a classic Marvel story, taking place in an alternate future where the villains won. Red Skull decided to pull an âActs of Vengeanceâ again â âActs of Vengeanceâ was a late â80s story that saw villains go after heroes who werenât their usual targets â and this time it worked. The United States was cut up into territories for villains like Doctor Doom, Kingpin, Magneto, and the Hulk (who had joined the villains), with the Red Skull taking control of the East Coast and decreeing himself President.
Red Skull killed Captain America, who was Bucky at the time, and started to wear his costume. Red Skull also collected various relics from the dead heroes, creating a macabre trophy room that he spent a lot of time in. Red Skull was constantly trying to break any rebellions before they happened, using his own version of S.H.I.E.L.D. to find heroes and their descendants in order to kill them. Red Skullâs reign ended when Logan went after him in revenge for Hawkeyeâs death.
Doom 2099
Marvelâs 2099 books are an untapped vein of brilliant stories, with Doom 2099 fighting Spider-Man 2099 and X-Men 2099 for which is the best book in the line. Doom 2099 starred a character who woke up in the year 2099 and decreed that he was the Doctor Doom of the previous hundred years. Doom immediately went around to take back Latveria from the evil Tiger Wylde, eventually regaining his throne. Doomâs machinations in the world saw him gain more and more power, helping the superheroes of the future battle the corporations that had taken control of the world and its countries.
Eventually, Doom decided to try to take the office of President. The control of the corporations over the United States had eroded the prestige of the office, but it still kept much of its old power. Doom was able to successfully invade the United States, beating the forces of the US and the corporations. Doom took the White House, forced the current president to commit suicide, and then took the Presidency. Doomâs time as president saw him battle the corporations even more, and eventually started a world war in order to fix the rest of the countries of the world.
Lex Luthor
Lex Luthor and Supermanâs multi-year war has always been complicated by Luthorâs wealth and prestige. Luthor was able to sidestep the consequences of crimes, using the power of LexCorp and all of the political capital that his billions of dollars could get him to always come out smelling like roses. Lex eventually decided that he wanted to be president and began an overhaul of his image. He started this by helping rebuild Gotham during the Batman classic âNo Manâs Landâ, when Gotham was cut off from the US after a viral outbreak and a massive earthquake. This bought him a lot of love from the population, and he was able to become President of the United States. He held the office for a while, but eventually his villainous machinations caused him to lose the presidency.
However, thatâs not the only time Lex has been President of the United States. In two separate alternate universe stories, Lex Luthor has also been president. The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the rather maligned sequel to The Dark Knight Returns, had Luthor as president. Luthor used his power and his place in the villain community to begin an attack on the heroes of the future. He was defeated by Batman. In Superman: Red Son, Lex was able to become President as well, presenting himself as the capitalist foil to the communist Superman. Luthor was able to end Supermanâs reign â partly through the years of plans he had made and partly through Superman deciding to disappear â and helped save the world from Brainiac.
