Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau featured as a superhero in new comic

The youthful prime minister has charmed fans and followers around the world with his good looks and impressed with his pluralistic and liberal policies. Now Trudeau has attained another level of stardom by appearing on the cover of a Marvel comic.

It shows Trudeau lounging in the corner of a boxing ring wearing a maple leaf tank top with red boxing gloves and black shorts. He is surrounded by a group of Canadian superheroes which includes team Alpha Flight and Sasquatch, Aurora and Puck.

His late father Pierre Trudeau who was also the Prime Minister of Canada from 1968-1979 and again from 1980-1984, also made an appearance in 1979 in Marvel’s Uncanny X-Men series.

The Trudeau image is an alternate cover for the comic which is written by Canadian writer and cartoonist Chip Zdarsky and Trudeau plays a role in the story.

“I didn’t want this to just be like a walk-on rescued by superheroes and he thanks them and that’s the end of the story,”  said Zdarsky.

“I think a lot of these real-life appearances in comics tend to go that way. I liked the idea of him actually engaging them in an ethical debate. It’s a little tricky just because once you start to put words in the prime minister’s mouth, we acknowledge that this is basically Trudeau fan fiction.”

While giving more details about the comic and the role which Trudeau plays, he said that there is a big Marvel Comics event called Civil War II which centres around a new character named Ulysses who can predict upcoming disasters, but has split all the other superheroes who look up to the Prime Minister to seek advice.

You heard that right and now Trudeau will be advising super heroes. When asked if the boxing gloves are just for show or does he actually punch somebody, Zdarsky said ‘Yes’. However, he said that “I can’t say who he punches, but his boxing skills definitely play a part. I had to put that in!”

The cover is drawn by Toronto-based cartoonist Ramón K Pérez, who used multiple photos of Trudeau as an inspiration to create a character that looked like him but also had a comics element.

“He’s a social icon, with a youthful demographic, and a contemporary outlook,” he said. “There’s a particular twinkle in the PM’s eye, and his smile is quite characteristic.”

“Cleary they have to be strong,” Pérez said. “He’s carrying the weight of a nation, those shoulders can only take part of the burden!”He said that throwing him in this gear and making him almost like an everyday person was kind of fun.”