Everyone's favorite head of state just got a little bit cooler. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a real Canadian hero on the variant cover of Marvel's Civil War II: Choosing Sides No. 5. The comic hits store shelves on August 31.
Cover artist Ramón Pérez drew Trudeau decked out in patriotic boxing regalia and flanked by Iron Man and members of Alpha Flight: the closest thing Canada has to a crew of homegrown Avengers. Pérez told The Chronicle Herald that he "didn't want to do a stuffy cover — just like a suit and tie — put his likeness on the cover and call it a day."
Civil War II: Choosing Sides writer Chip Zdarsky tells Canada's National Post that Trudeau will be more than just a cameo in the comic's fifth issue. "He’s pretty central to the story!" Zdarsky says. "It’s only an eight-pager, but he’s on seven of them, giving advice and throwing punches."
This isn't the first time Alpha Flight has come to the Canadian Prime Minister for advice. Back in a 1979 issue of Uncanny X-Men, the newly minted squad of superheroes consulted with Justin Trudeau's father, the late Pierre Trudeau, who served from 1968 to 1979, and from 1980 to 1984. Pierre Trudeau died in 2000.
Zdarsky says writing Trudeau's dialogue for Civil War II: Choosing Sides was "weird, like Trudeau fan-fiction, but with consequences," because readers will analyze the words of a sitting Prime Minister, even if he's just a character in a comic book.
To find out what advice Trudeau has for Alpha Flight, pick up the fifth issue of Civil War II: Choosing Sides when it hits stores on August 31.
