Megalomaniac Despot Heroes.

[jackolover]

Have you ever noticed how many heroes are now on the list of people who have ruled a kingdom or a State or something smaller?

The Human Torch ruled the Negative Zone
Scott Summers ruled the World as the leader of the AVX
Hulk ruled Sakaar
Daredevil ruled Shadowland
Sue Richards rules an undersea Empire
Are there any more examples?


You ever wondered why seemingly innocuous heroes suddenly get laden with this kind of leadership?

[tony ingram]

Apart from Namor and the Black Panther? Well, offhand...

Storm ruled the underground world of the Morlocks, before they were all killed.
Captain Britain was the ruler of Otherworld, for a time.
Ka-Zar has at times been the nominal ruler of the Savage Land.
And the Squadron Supreme pretty much took over their version of America.

[T Hedge Coke]

Namor and Atlantis
Blackbolt and Attilan
Aunt May and her kitchen

but I wouldn't call many of the listed in this thread, so far, megalomaniacs or despots. Not even temporarily so.

[Addams]

Yeah, Johnny was a mighty cool ruler. He even allowed election. (and lose)

[marvell2100]

Have you ever noticed how many heroes are now on the list of people who have ruled a kingdom or a State or something smaller?

The Human Torch ruled the Negative Zone
Scott Summers ruled the World as the leader of the AVX
Hulk ruled Sakaar
Daredevil ruled Shadowland
Sue Richards rules an undersea Empire
Are there any more examples?


You ever wondered why seemingly innocuous heroes suddenly get laden with this kind of leadership?

Megalomaniac despots? None of these people resemble Doom.

[Norj]

Yeah, Johnny was a mighty cool ruler. He even allowed election. (and lose)

To Annihilus, Annihilus!. How does that happen?.

[Assassin Spider]

To Annihilus, Annihilus!. How does that happen?.

That's the inherent weakness of elections. Sometimes, there are more idiots or lunatics or easily misled and manipulated people voting than reasonable, well-informed people doing the same. It's all about how many and who turn out to vote on that special day, and sometimes, based on those two factors alone, things don't go as well as they should.

[T Hedge Coke]

It's Johnny.

Even when you should vote for Johnny Storm like your life depends on it, nobody's voting for &^@(ing Johnny Storm.

'Cept maybe teenaged girls. There should've been more teenaged girls in the Negative Zone and less hideously articulated screeching death creatures.

[tony ingram]

To Annihilus, Annihilus!. How does that happen?.

Same reason the British public kept voting for Tony Blair when he was continuing to ruin the country. Fear of the unknown.

This exchange from The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy sums it up nicely:

Ford Prefect:The lizards hate the people, and the people hate the lizards.
Arthur Dent:So why do they keep voting for them?
Ford Prefect:Because if they didn't, the wrong lizard might get in.

[jackolover]

Namor and Atlantis
Blackbolt and Attilan
Aunt May and her kitchen

but I wouldn't call many of the listed in this thread, so far, megalomaniacs or despots. Not even temporarily so.

Thanks to those who added to the list.

I'm only calling them despots because all rulers gravitate that way. Thor and Asgard is an example too, where he destroys the whole of Asgard in Avengers Disassembled. Matt Fraction made that perfectly clear about Odin the King of Asgard. He felt like the most benevolent King figure, but when you peel away the facade that he put over himself, you see the real despot underneath.

[Monty_Cristo]

To Annihilus, Annihilus!. How does that happen?.

Johnny refused to provide his long-form birth certificate.

[marvell2100]

Johnny refused to provide his long-form birth certificate.

Lol!!!! But they can prove that he was an outsider.

[Monty_Cristo]

Lol!!!! But they can prove that he was an outsider.

his lack of an exoskeleton was enough to disqualify him. might as well speak french.

[Wellman]

Namor and Atlantis
Blackbolt and Attilan
Aunt May and her kitchen

but I wouldn't call many of the listed in this thread, so far, megalomaniacs or despots. Not even temporarily so.

Technically you can add Blackbolt and Medusa as have being rulers of the Kree Empire (and technically they defeated and practically annexed the Shi'ar empire after War of Kings before giving it back).

- Some argue Iron Man's tenure as Head of SHIELD.

- Damian Hellstorm is currently being written as gunning for a position as a top Hell Lord and has ruled over his own little spot of Hell in the past.

- Wolverine starting a school in the vein of Xavier's while running his own death squad depending on who you talk to. And I think he was a big fish in Madripoor but I might be remembering that wrong.

- Douglas from the New Mutants takes over the world in an alternate reality future.

- Before there was Utopia, Cable created the island nation of Providence back in the pages of Cable/Deadpool and secretly gained control of a smaller European country while he ran it.

- Storm in her youth poised as a goddess for a small tribe.

- The Defenders once almost got tricked into taking over the world back in The Order.

- Thor had a vision or lived through an alternate reality after he became King of Asgard of his eventually taking over the world under Asgard rule.

- Does Adam Warlock/Magnus ruling the Universal Church of Truth count?

- Genis-Vell once brought about the end and rebirth of the universe and declared himself THE god for several issues after.