15 times Richard Nixon popped up in sci-fi movies, comics and TV
This Sunday is the 40th anniversary of Watergate, the event that catapulted President Richard M. Nixon from being merely the 37th president to one of the most notorious—so we're looking back at the times that notoriety translated into genre fiction.
There's just something about the late President Nixon that attracted the creators of works like Watchmen, Doctor Who and Futurama̬as well as dozens of Marvel comics over the years. And rarely has he been portrayed in a positive light.
But a massive political scandal like Watergate will do that to a fella.
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WATCHMEN
In Alan Moore and Dave Gibbonsâ landmark comic, as well as Zack Snyderâs film adaptation, Nixon stayed in office for far longer than eight years.
FUTURAMA
His head-in-a-jar popped up on this animated series quite a few times for all sorts of adventures.
DOCTOR WHO
âThe Impossible Astronautâ/âDay of the Moonâ
Traveling back to 1969 to investigate Canton Everett Delaware III and, tangentially, the Silence, the Doctor ends up in President Nixonâs Oval Office.
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
Why not? I mean, if youâre going to have a giant movie about giant robots fighting each other, why wouldnât you put Nixon in it?
GREEN ARROW/GREEN LANTERN #83
The emerald twosome took on a pair of villains, a cook named Grandy and little girl named Sybil—who were modeled after Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon. Yes, Nixon was a little girl with mutant powers.
HORROR HOUSE ON HIGHWAY 5
An actor named Ronald Reagan—not the president and, apparently, not his son, Ronald Jr.—played a Nazi doctor with a penchant for serial murder while wearing a Richard Nixon mask.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #599
If you were a comics retailer and you ordered enough of this particular issue, you got a throwback-to-the-â70s cover.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #175
It seems that for one arc in this Cap book, the Big Bad taking on the Star Spangled Hero was unmasked as Richard Nixon ... who then promptly killed himself.
SANDMAN #54
To help explain the downfalls of power to his âGolden Boyâ presidential candidate Prez Rickard, Neil Gaiman enlisted Tricky Dick.
ROBOCOP
Well, sorta. For some reason, the folks releasing RoboCop on home video back in 1988 thought itâd be a grand idea to get Nixon to help promote it. Which he did. Which is why this ponderous picture exists.
AVENGERS FOREVER #5
Heâs a Skrull! That explains everything.
CAPTAIN AMERICA #144
Col. Nick Fury wants to prove his Femme Force squad of female SHIELD agents are as worthy for action as the male ones, so he has them take out a few Hydra agents ... on camera so President Nixon can see what theyâve got.
FANTASTIC FOUR #104
The US Army unable to handle an Atlantean invasion of NYC, Nixon calls on the Fantastic Four ... who quickly discover that Magnetoâs behind it. However, that revelation doesnât stop the Commander in Chief from ripping Reed a new one.
RICH LITTLEâS A CHRISTMAS CAROL
In 1978, the impressionist did a one-man version of Dickensâ Christmas classic for a TV special ... but he did all of the characters in famous voices. And âNixonâ got all of Jacob Marleyâs lines.
FROM BEYOND THE UNKNOWN
For the cover of this DC Comics sci-fi anthology, it was deemed scientifically impossible that Earth would have someone named Nixon running it.
