Is Donald Trump really a comic book super villain? No. He has no super powers — not unless you count the ability to escape any real political consequences for making controversial public statements as a power. Trump is more a super wealthy industrialist type who is dedicated to accumulating power. There are plenty of those in comic books, but usually, they possess some kind of super suit. Is that Trump’s October surprise? Time will tell, but for now, we need to talk about the presumptive nominee for the GOP nomination’s running mate.
Typically, a VP candidate is selected to help balance the ticket and gloss over any deficiencies. Often, those flaws relate to geography or whether someone is too liberal or conservative — which would lead you to believe that Trump’s running mate will clearly need to bring some super powers to the table if he’s going to take over the wor… win the White House. But there’s also the possibility that he might try to double down with another power hungry big money industrialist because voters have responded to that so far. Trump will almost surely announce his pick (be they comic book supervillain, industrialist or regular folk) before the Republican National Convention, but until then, let’s speculate on a few names that would make the most sense.
Lex Luthor
If voters can find a way to relate to a multi-billionaire who makes it his personal mission to keep people out of the country, they can surely relate to a multi-billionaire who has a personal vendetta against an actual alien. Lex Luthor actually managed to be elected U.S. president in DC Comics and had a surprisingly good run, so he’s got experience under his belt.
Obadiah Stane
Obadiah Stane and Trump both ran companies named after themselves and got filthy rich as a direct result. If it’s possible that running an international corporation directly translates to running a country, choosing Stane is a perfect way for Trump to mirror himself. He just has to make sure he keeps an eye on the evil mastermind’s jealous streak. One day he may find himself watching Stane stand over him with his toupee hair in his hand saying, “Did you really think that just because you have an idea it belongs to you?”
Emma Frost
Trump’s, “I’m just going to make them do it” approach may require some fine-tuning when diplomacy is required, but if he wants to cut some corners, he could easily lean on his vice president, former headmaster of the New Charles Xavier School for Mutants, Emma Frost, and her telepathic abilities. A drawback? Frost’s diamond form might outshine the luscious gold adornments that Trump typically favors.
Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller is admittedly a bit of a tweener here. Even though she seems to be on the wrong side of the Justice League far too often, every single one of her actions is ultimately for the greater good. For that reason, she might even be able to help Trump get the highly coveted moderate vote he’ll need later on. But the thing he and Waller both have is a common interest in improving national defense, at all costs. Trump wants to make Mexico build a wall. Waller represents big government and plants bombs in the heads of a bunch of mercenaries to force them to go on suicide missions. Two very different kinds of outsourcing are at play here.
Wilson Fisk
Kingpin has had an unflinching chokehold on New York City for decades through his dealings both legal and illegal. Imagine what would happen if he widened his gaze and attempted to do that with the entire country? He’d practically be unstoppable. In his constant wars with the Hand and having to navigate HYDRA’s constantly changing politics, he should be able to help handle Congress without issue.
We’ll just ignore the fact that he’s nearly killed a handful of our favorite heroes in hand-to-hand combat, especially Captain America.
Honorable Mentions – Red Skull, Doctor Doom, and Magneto
The only reasons Red Skull, Magneto, and Doctor Doom didn’t make this list is because they’re not natural-born U.S. citizens. It’s very important to be cognizant of real factors like this when pulling together a dream list like this. Doom uses his diplomatic immunity from his native Latveria as a constant “never-go-to-jail” card and the Red Skull was, you know, a high ranking Nazi, but they’ve each led armies and nations, respectively. As for Magneto, well, he doesn’t have the best history with politicians — you only have to go back to the end of X-Men: Days of Future Past to see that — but he’s shown an ability to cross party lines in the past, and you can’t deny his magnetism. I’m so sorry.