Sometimes, the Big Two throw the Great White North a bone and reveal/retcon that one of their heroes is Canadian. And on this July 1st - Canada Day - we look at five heroes who were keen on joining Wolverine among the proud, the few, and let's look at them in ascending order of credibility. As in: Do they feel Canadian or was it just tokenism?
Booster Gold. The New52 decided he was Canadian, the better to fit him in their new Justice League International series, but it really doesn't make sense. Booster was a disgrace football star in the future, who came downtime to become a money-and-fame obsessed hero, originally designed as the perfect embodiment of Reagan's America. Does any of this sound Canadian? We have Canadian football, sure, and no one's immune to "celebrity", but these are all very "American". Even if they had made Booster a disgraced HOCKEY star, I still don't think it would have worked. If they wanted to Canadianize a JLI alumni for their series, Blue Beetle might have worked (trade Chicago for Toronto), or Ice (though she was already from a different country, so that would have been pointless). Even a new Rocket Red, since the Soviet Union is too long ago for the concept to NOT be retconned. But Booster? You're just not trying.
Superman. Obviously, the Man of Steel only makes the list because one of his creators was Canadian, and some elements of Metropolis were borrowed from Toronto (others from Cleveland), such as the Daily Star (like the Toronto Star) being Lois and Clark's newspaper before it became the Daily Planet. Otherwise, Superman's stories have always been set in the United States - Lex Luthor became President, and there's that "...and the American Way" in Superman's slogan. And yet, he's still a better fit than Booster Gold. Smallville could have been in Saskatchewan, Metropolis could be in Ontario, his other address - the Fortress of Solitude - is at the North Pole, and his values feel like they could be Canadian. Split the difference, and still put Smallville in the Canadian Prairies, then make him an immigrant from an even smaller place moving to the big American city. Let's just say there's a reason Canadians still try to take ownership of the Man of Tomorrow.
Squirrel Girl. In The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, she was revealed to have American/Canadian dual citizenship, and that's a bit too wishy-washy for a higher position on this list. But wildlife is one of the pillars of Canadian identity, I think, and while there are squirrels everywhere, seeing one in my backyard or on my patio always makes me happy. It's not as uniquely Canadian as the moose or wolverine, but those also roam parts of the U.S., so why quibble? I'm happy to accept Squirrel Girl as one of us, even though the Marvel Wiki is still convinced she was born in California, but to a Canadian parent, so... not great representation. Has she even lived over here, or just visited a grandparent?
Adam Strange. The OTHER retconned Canadian of the New52, this one made a lot more sense to me. After all, Strange was a travelling archaeologist and could have been from anywhere. The old Canadian Whites (Golden Age comics) had a character called Brok Windsor who was similarly a professor who travelled to another world (in his case, a sort of fantasy island in the mists) where he becomes a red-clad hero. This new version of Strange was introduced in Justice League United (first announced as Justice League Canada), and written by our own Jeff Lemire. The characterization seems to have stuck, and he seems, more often than not, to be referenced as a Canadian hero.
Deadpool. The Merc with a Mouth started out with mysterious origins, but he pretty naturally turned out to be Canadian. He already powers similar to Wolverine's, and was given ties to Department K, which itself was related to the Weapon X program. Thanks to Wolverine, that bit of X-lore would work in our favor. Casting Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool (twice!) cemented Wade Wilson's Canadianness, because Reynolds - a Canadian actor - not only championed the character in movies (and eventually made him a BIG STAR), but introduced a lot of Canadian references in DP's humor. Because of the Merc's success at the box office, he stands as the most famous Canadian hero. Wolverine is more famous, but he doesn't wear his Canadian identity on his sleeve the way Deadpool does.
But perhaps I'm forgetting someone? Happy Canada Day!
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