The United States of Comic Book Characters
Reading comics, you’ll note that the vast majority of characters hail from a couple of cities, be they real (Marvel, mostly) or fictional (DC’s marquee metropolises). However, close readers will also note that there are more than a few seemingly throwaway references to home cities and birthplaces throughout the US. With thousands of potential home towns for heroes and villains, I had to find out; can every state claim a character as their own?
As it turns out? Totally.
Here you have it, folks. A character from every state in the union. In most cases, I tried to pick the best-known character from each state, but in a few pickings were admittedly slim. It also leans pretty heavily on Marvel – hey, those 50-State Initiative and mutant books pull from everywhere, but wherever I had the option I erred on the side of greater variety.
So, who’s your hometown hero? Any I missed or, heaven forbid, got wrong?
Alabama – Marvel’s Zombie, Simon William Garth.
Arizona – Former villain and X-Force member Warpath.
Arkansas – Woodbury fence guard Caesar Martinez.
California – The Sensational She-Hulk, Jennifer Walters.
Colorado – Star-Lord (Peter Quill), Guardian of the Galaxy.
Connecticut – Spider-Man archnemesis and Tommy Lee Jones lookalike Norman Osborn.
Delaware – Iron Man rogue Blizzard.
Florida – Domino, cohort of Deadpool and Cable.
Georgia – John Walker, US Agent and Captain America fill-in.
Hawaii – Loa, mutant and former member of Alpha Squadron and the Defenders.
Idaho – Samuel Sterns, better known as Hulk nemesis The Leader.
Illinois – Quantum tunneler Kitty Pryde.
Indiana – Jon Arbuckle; cat owner, sadsack, and possibly insane person.
Iowa – Hey, bro. Hawkeye is a genuine hawkeye.
Kansas – While their boy is from off-planet, Jonathan and Martha Kent are from Kansas.
Kentucky – Avengers Initiative member Michael Van Patrick.
Louisiana – Drawlin’ X-Man Remy Etienne LeBeau, better known by his codename Gambit.
Maine – Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing MODOK. *
Maryland – Guy Gardner, all-around tough guy and replacement Green Lantern.
Massachusetts – White Queen / Black Queen / Ice Queen Emma Frost hails from Bahston.
Michigan – Anti-hero and 90s comics icon Spawn.
Minnesota – GI Joe Team missile specialist Bazooka.
Mississippi – Rogue, the southern belle of the X-Men.
Missouri – Golden Age Marvel née Timely hero The Whizzer.
Montana – Enforcers member Montana shares his name with his home state.
Nebraska – First Kid Flash, third Flash, and nephew of Iris Wally West.
Nevada – The original Oddball, Elton Healey.
New Hampshire – Marvel Comics’ Blue Ear. **
New Jersey – Kamala Khan, Marvel’s new Ms. Marvel and teenage superstar.
New Mexico – Atlantean\Human hybrid Kaldur’ahm, who took up the mantle of Aqualad during Brightest Day.
New York – Peter Parker, your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
North Carolina – Ruth Aldine, who debuted in Astonishing X-Men as Blindfold.
North Dakota – Mentallo, SHIELD turncoat and AIM Minister of Public Affairs.
Ohio – “The Strangest Man of All Time,” The Incredible Hulk.
Oklahoma – Daredevil and Captain America Z-lister Trump.
Oregon – New Mutant Mercury hails from Portlandia.
Pennsylvania – Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Stephen Strange, is a Philly native.
Rhode Island – Lucas “Snapper” Carr, DC Comics audience surrogate.
South Carolina – Circus of Crime snake charmer Princess Python.
South Dakota – Institute for Supranormality Research founder and Spider-Woman foe Karl Malus.
Tennessee – Machinesmith, another of Captain America and Daredevil‘s foes from the 60s.
Texas – Mutant and “immovable object” The Blob.
Utah – Peepers, a late 70s creation of Jack Kirby.
Vermont – GI Joe Team covert ops office (and proud Dartmouth grad) Claymore.
Virginia – Before absconding to Mars, John Carter was a Virginian.
Washington – Eco-terrorist Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley, better known as Poison Ivy.
Washington DC – 1940s Marvel superheroine Miss America.
West Virginia – Abby Holland, the psychic-powered wife of Swamp Thing.
Wisconsin – Marvel’s cosmic everyman Quasar.
Wyoming – Archibald Morton, the second Chemistro and Power Man foe.
* – A few years ago, a one-shot retconned MODOK’s origin from Bangor, ME to Erie, PA. However, MODOK will always be a Mainer in my heart. For what it’s worth, Marvel’s The Druid and Controller are both also from Maine.
** – While it’s not stated anywhere that Blue Ear is from New Hampshire, the story of this hero – created to inspire hearing-impaired child Anthony Smith – is just too good to pass over. Plus. the only other “fictional” character I could find from NH was two different incarnations of the 14th President.
