How Colonel Sanders Almost Became A DC Comics Superhero
As far as fast food brands go, some icons are just that, iconic. Ronald McDonald managed to take the creepy out of clowns, Burger King's King is known for making his "royal" Whoppers available to the masses, and Wendy is the delightful face of sumptuous burgers and fun Frostys. On top of that stands Colonel Sanders in a league of his own.
Don't believe it? Well, the Colonel has something on his resume that other mascots can't boast: multiple appearances as a hero in DC Comics. KFC isn't exactly the fanciest food joint around, but sometimes, when you're craving a good fried chicken sandwich, the experience can be otherworldly, so they capitalized on the sentiment and teamed up with DC Comics for a three-part miniseries, according to Screen Rant, starting with "KFC: The Colonel of Two Worlds." The series began in 2015 and paired KFC's Colonel Sanders with the Justice League for an epic adventure. Want to know more about the chicken aficionado's evil-fighting prowess?
In the first issue, Colonel Sanders comes face-to-face with his counterpart from Earth-3, Colonel Sunder, who laughs in the face of hard work and opens what Screenran calls a "cheap, low-quality fried chicken" restaurant of his own. And his money-making efforts don't stop there. He also hires a slew of robbers to help him make some more unearned cash. Colonel Sanders then steps in to save his good name, joining forces with the Flash and Green Lantern to defeat the faker and send him, tail-between-his-legs, back to Earth-3.
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In 2016, The Verge covered the second comic in the series, "The Crisis of Infinite Colonels," which takes place in the DC multiverse and features Colonel Sanders teaming up with members of the DC hero world wherein he again "must defeat the evil Col. Sunder from Earth-3." And they make note of the fact that none of our other fan-favorite mascots get anything quite as impressive. And it didn't end there. The third in the series, "KFC #3 Across the Universe," came out in 2017.
The Comics are fun nods to the Colonel we all know and love, teaming him up with a variety of Colonels from other worlds, which might remind you of how the Colonel himself has been played by a variety of actors. Comic iterations include a Bizarro Colonel, a Steampunk Colonel, Earth-11's Col. Arla Sanders. The oddest and most hilarious of the bunch is the Rooster Colonel, who The Verge describes as "an armor-wearing Rooster Colonel ready to kick fools in the face!"
Screen Rant mentioned that after Colonel Sunder is defeated, the Flash says "the Justice League could use a man like" Colonel Sanders, to which he replied he'd consider it when he retired. So for now, our dreams of the Colonel becoming a permanent DC staple may be for naught, but you never know. Maybe once he's done frying chicken, he really will decide to pick his cape back up and fry some bad guys instead.