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If there’s one big story of 2024 in the United States, it’s the Presidential election. That’s entirely understandable, considering how important the leadership of the country is, and the stakes in this election in particular. (No matter which side of the political divide you’re on, that feels like something everyone agrees on.) Thankfully, those overwhelmed by the amount of political stories on the news can always look to their comic books to escape such things… Wait. Never mind.

If there’s a surprisingly frequent plot twist in Marvel’s superhero comic books, it’s heroes either trying, or succeeding, in attaining the office of the President of the United States. Maybe it’s the allure of the election year sales bump, or the fantasy of seeing a sincere good guy in the Oval Office, but it’s something that’s happened a surprising amount across the years — which means, of course, that we have more than enough options to remind you of which ones were the most successful in any number of ways.

This is the latest topic in Popverse's new weekly series Famous, Infamous, and Forgotten — a vigorous, opinionated, and intense look at one specific corner in the pop culture realm we inhabit to pick out the most famous version of it all, the most infamous version of it all, and the most forgotten version of it all.

Who is the greatest U.S. President in Marvel Comics history? And whose campaign ended in scandal? Keep reading and find out!

The famous U.S. Presidential Comic Book Candidate

Technically, the Steve Rogers of Earth-1610 didn’t actually run for President — but that didn’t mean that he didn’t win a Presidential election, anyway. (Maybe that’s the key to winning one of these damn things, at least when it comes to superheroes.) To be fair to the American electorate, the Ultimate Universe’s Captain America was a legitimate American hero who stepped up for everyone at a point where the United States was literally falling apart, with states seceding and the country headed towards civil war. Considering that he did so — even though it meant he was going against the government’s orders — during an election season, who could be forgiven for wanting to write-in a vote for the ultimate (no pun intended) unity candidate? (It happened in 2012’s Ultimate Comics: Ultimates #15, and he was sworn in the following issue.)

Of course, it couldn’t last; politics is a far dirtier, more combative beast than dealing with either alien invasions or World War II, it seems, and Cap resigned before the end of his first term, finding himself increasingly restricted as the Commander-in-Chief, and not an active soldier. He returned to battle, likely prompting no shortage of sighs of relief amongst White House staffers who wouldn’t have to deal with an actual living legend every day at work.

The infamous U.S. Presidential Comic Book Candidate

The world was a different place in 1976, which might explain why the idea of Howard the Duck — the walking, talking, cigar-smoking fowl from another planet who was, as each issue of the comic book series reminded readers, “trapped in a world he never made” — running for President managed to jump from the comic book page (in Howard the Duck #8) to the real world: after the comic strip version of the campaign crashed when it was revealed that Howard was having an affair with the very human Beverly Switzler, Howard anecdotally received thousands of write-in vote in the very real U.S. election later that year.

What was it that won people over? Was it the way he rejected the norms of electioneering? Was it his gruff, no-nonsense attitude that made it clear that he wouldn’t be the kind of President that America had become used to — and bored of? Maybe it was the fact that Howard was rejecting the two-party system by representing the All-Night Party, and had the ideal slogan to accompany that affiliation: “Get Down, America!” Howard, we didn’t deserve you.

The forgotten U.S. Presidential Comic Book Candidate

Sure, the mutants of today’s Marvel Universe are hated and feared — that’s kind of their signature, really — but that doesn’t have to be the case forever. That’s the wonderful future suggested by longtime X-Men writer Chris Claremont in the sixth and final issue of his 2006 miniseries X-Men: The End - Men and X-Men (yes, it’s a long title; it was the third series in a trilogy of X-Men: The End comic series), where it’s revealed that Kitty Pryde, the former X-Men leader who’s been known as Ariel, Sprite, Shadowcat, and countless other names across the years, has become the President of the U.S.

Her Presidential fate is revealed in a flash-forward 20 years after the rest of the story, so it’s unclear just how she got there, but we know that it all started with a successful run as Mayor of Chicago, and that Kitty was such an accomplished politician that she won over some anti-mutant bigots along the way. As she herself argues in the final scene of the comic, a mutant being elected to the highest office in the land is, in its way, a fulfillment of Professor X’s original dream for the X-Men — or, at least, a good start at bringing humans and mutants together for good. It’s a nice future to imagine, if nothing else.

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you're looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here's everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.