Controversial Conservative Professor Jordan Peterson Was Pissed When He Learned He May Have Inspired Villainous Red Skull In A New Captain America Comic

Who among us hasn’t awoken one day to learn we’ve potentially inspired the lunatic ramblings of a monstrous comic book villain? Such was Tuesday for Jordan Peterson, the controversial professor, psychologist, podcaster, and conservative firebrand, who discovered his beliefs seemed to have been parroted by no less than Captain America baddie Red Skull, in a new comic penned by acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Peterson has made a name for himself by attacking political correctness and identity politics, in media appearances and in self-help books like 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, plus its sequel Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. In the former, he referred to chaos as “the eternal feminine,” and labeled women “choosy maters (unlike female chimps, their closest animal counterparts).” He is very popular among lonely men.

So imagine Peterson’s surprise when someone pointed out some of the things Red Skull, one of Cap’s most iconic adversaries, was saying in Coates’ latest issue. Cap talks about a young boy he knew “disappearing into the internet,” only to return with a “new theory of the world” — one he learned by watching Red Skull videos on YouTube.

“What has happened to the men of the world is truly one of the great tragedies of our time,” Skull rants. “Once, the American man was a conqueror. Now he is but a caretaker.” He goes on: “No more shall women be summoned to fight your battles. I offer steel for your spine and iron for your gut. I offer you the sword of manhood.”

Cap, at least, sees right through it. “[Skull] tells them what they’ve always longed to hear,” Cap says. “That they are secretly great. That the whole world’s against them. That if they’re truly men, they’ll fight back. And bingo. That’s their purpose. That’s what they live for and that’s what they’ll die for.”

Neither Marvel nor Coates — the former Atlantic correspondent and author of the beloved book Between the World and Me, who has long moonlighted as a comics writer — have yet publicly commented on whether or not Peterson served as the basis for the Marvel villain, last seen onscreen in a brief appearance in Avengers: Endgame and played by Hugo Weaving in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. But Peterson seemed convinced, spending much of the day afterwards tweeting and re-tweeting about it.

Others pointed out that maybe it’s not great if you recognize your tenets and beliefs in a larger-than-life villain.

Many agreed that this is really funny.

https://twitter.com/sweetandbeloved/status/1379494110822817795

Others praised Coates for (possibly!) trolling Peterson in such a fashion.

Others put actual Peterson quotes over top Red Skull images to see if they gibed.

But it turns out Coates isn’t the first comics writer to lampoon Jordan Peterson.

Others speculated whether or not Peterson’s own backstory sound similar to the one for another comic book baddie: DC’s Scarecrow.

And some imagined a future in which every comic book villain is a thinly veiled takedown of far right pundits.