Justin Trudeau already wields tremendous power in real life as the prime minister of Canada—don’t laugh, it’s true—which might be why he’s been tapped to join the fight in Marvel Comics’ reignited Civil War storyline. As reported by CBC News, Trudeau will be featured on a variant cover of issue no. 5 of Civil War II: Choosing Sides, which will be released on August 31.
Trudeau is flanked by members of Alpha Flight on the cover while Iron Man glowers in the background. But he’s not just there to look pretty (though he’d acquit himself nicely if that were the case)—Chip Zdarsky, who wrote the story for Marvel, says the prime minister will advise Alpha Flight on the matter of the civil war that’s tearing the superhero universe apart. Basically, Alpha Flight stumbles upon a powerful new mutant who could affect (read: predict) the outcome of the conflict, and they seek out Trudeau’s counsel since they are, after all, “Canadian first.” (Donald Trump’s Twitter people are probably getting ready to call out the fictional team for this abuse of power.)
Toronto-based Ramon Perez told The Canadian Press that he didn’t want to draw Trudeau in a boring old suit, preferring to showcase Trudeau’s muscular thighs and some goofy-looking tattoo in shorts and a maple leaf-emblazoned tank top. It’s a far more casual look than his father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, wore in his Uncanny X-Men appearance in 1979.
Zdarsky notes that Trudeau and rapper Drake are among the most recognizable Canadians in the world, but he opted to work Trudeau into the Canada-centric story because “[he] probably couldn’t get Drake in the comic.” It’s unclear if that means Zdarsky couldn’t figure out how to write Drake into the storyline or if the Toronto artist simply didn’t approve of participating. But there’s a good chance the writer read about Trudeau’s exploits or saw this photo of him doing yoga in chambers and decided it’d be easy to work him into a superhero story.