Imagine the following scenario: a strange portal opens in the skies above Toronto, depositing a swarm of alien invaders. Or a giant meteor is spotted descending on Vancouver. Or a diabolical genius unveils a plan to deprive the world of Canadian beer.
Point is, you need to call together a group of Canada’s greatest superheroes. A Canadian Avengers, if you will. Who makes the cut?
In honour of Canada 150, we’ve pulled together this list of the top five greatest superheroes who call the Great White North home.
In making the selections, we had one rule: the costumed hero must call Canada home. Of course, we’ve broken our one rule (The Joker would be so proud) for one of these heroes – we hope you’ll understand why.
Here are the top five Canadian superheroes.
Wolverine
He’s the best in the world at what he does…and what he does isn’t very nice.
And while doing something that “isn’t nice” doesn’t sounds very Canadian, there’s no way we could start our list without the granddaddy of all Canadian superheroes, Wolverine.
Superman
Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird…it’s a plane…it’s a…Canadian?
Okay, not really. As many people know, Superman is as American as apple pie. But Canadian Joe Schuster, one of the creators of The Man of Steel, infused him with plenty of Canadian flavour – and besides, the Fortress of Solitude has never conclusively proven to NOT be in the Canadian Artic, so…we’re counting it.
Captain Canuck
Let’s be honest here…is there any way we couldn’t include this guy on our list.
While he may not have the mainstream bona fides of a Wolverine or Superman, Captain Canuck has carved a niche for himself over the years as a dyed-in-the-wool Canadian superhero creation.
Northstar
We reach back into the Marvel comics cannon for this ground-breaking Canadian superhero.
And while he may not have the international clout of his fellow mutant Wolverine, Northstar helps round out the diversity of our group in several key ways – as we’ll get to.
Deadpool
They don’t call him the Merc with a Mouth for nothing.
Rounding out our list is a rather…unconventional choice. Some might not call him a superhero. Some might not call him Canadian (the revelation of his birthplace was, like the rest of his personality, a little fluid). But with the towering success of his on-screen debut, no one can call him undeserving.