The New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies are officially going head-to-head in this year's World Series, causing folks from all walks of life to root for one baseball team or the other—in fact, even the heroes of the Marvel Universe are taking sides.
Earlier in the season, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada spoke with MLB.com about the various baseball franchises competing for a shot at the World Series title, which has now been whittled down to the Yankees and the Phillies.
According to Quesada, the two characters in the Marvel Universe that would most easily be identified as Yankees fans are Wolverine and the Thing.
"I think the biggest Yankees fan [in Marvel Comics] would be Wolverine," said Quesada. "Wolverine's been around for decades—he's almost immortal—and he probably got to see the Babe play. I think Wolverine is a Yankees fan, and probably Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four. He strikes me as a sort of downtown New York kind of guy. I could see him rooting for the Yankees."
On the flip side, Quesada admitted that pegging any of Marvel's heroes as a Phillies fan wouldn't be easy, though he gave it his best shot.
"Biggest Phillies fan, that might be a tough one," he said. "I'd have to go with Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four. He strikes me as a fair weather kind of guy. He probably used to root for the Dallas Cowboys, too."
But Quesada declared that other Marvel heroes have their sports allegiances as well, including Iron Man—"Tony Stark probably owns both [the Dodgers and the Angels]"—and Spider-Man.
"Peter Parker, Spider-Man, is the ultimate Mets fan," said the editor-in-chief. "We have Mets fan/Cubs fan written all over Peter Parker."
Do you agree with Quesada's assessment of Marvel's superhero-sports connections? Let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter!