Every December, heroes and heroines from across the superhero world are swept up in unusual seasonal experiences that draw on their powers of good will and cheer as much as their super strength. It's only a matter of pages before Jolly Old Saint Nick, Santa Claus himself, appears and reminds everyone to think carefully if they want to have a happy morning on December 25th.
you don't want to know quite How many Christmas stories I have in my comic collection and yet, despite their overwhelming number, there are those who believe that those stories don't really count. People firmly believe, in their hearts two sizes too small, that any story where Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, or whoever teams up with Santa Claus isn't actually canon. To those people there is only one thing to say in response: phony!
Santa Claus is canon. And I can prove it.
Image: Jerry Siegel, Jack Burnley/DC Comics
The run of the two great Santa comics actually began at DC, back in the 1940s. Superman's Christmas Adventure. The one-shot pits the Man of Steel and the Man with the Great White Beard against the wonderfully named Dr. Grouch and Mr. Meaney, two old men for whom Ebeneezer Scrooge was clearly a personal inspiration. Christmas adventure – written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, with art by Jack Burnley – manages to create a framework that a significant number of subsequent stories would follow, even if they lacked the beautifully purple prose that Siegel offers the lucky reader.
“Christmas! A period of joy and goodwill among men! It seems almost impossible that anyone could be so evil as to sabotage such a beloved event, but Dr. Grouch, gloomy party pooper, plans to do just that.” And that is only half of the first title.
Image: Robert Loren Fleming, Keith Giffen/DC Comics
Over the next 80 years, Santa has appeared in several different DC comics, including titles as diverse as Sergeant. Rock and The spectrum. He teamed up with Superman again in DC Comics Gifts (The story is wonderfully titled “It Was the Scare Before Christmas!”). In 1985 they gave it a grim and gritty '80s makeover. Stocking Stuffer for Ambush Bugs (pictured). Perhaps most exciting of all, it appeared in 1991. Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Specialwhere he battled the eponymous Main Man after the latter was hired to murder Santa by a jealous Easter Bunny (it was all done with a seasonally generous lack of restraint from Keith Giffen, Alan Grant and Simon Bisley).
Perhaps the comic that most clearly confirms Santa's canonicity in the DCU in the modern era is the one from 2001. JLA #60, “Merry Christmas, Justice League – now die!.” The book was DC's biggest superhero title at the time, putting it squarely in what was considered “real” for the DCU. Most of the issue is made up of a story Plastic Man tells a child about a fictional team-up between Santa and the JLA, but the coda features the real Santa laughing at what he just saw and seals the deal: Santa is definitely real in the DCU.
Image: Mark Waid, Cliff Rathburn/DC Comics
When it comes to the Marvel Universe, the argument is even easier to make. Short of a sizable reboot of their long history, every story Marvel has published with Kris Kringle is part of Marvel canon. That includes the years 1991. Marvel Christmas Special Short in which the X-Men discover that Santa Claus is one of the most powerful mutants on Earth: Jonathan Hickman, the ball is in your court. and from 2016 Power Man and Iron Fist: Sweet Christmas #1, where Santa appears in a flashback, keeping the demonic Krampus at bay years before Luke Cage and Danny Rand had the same gig. Even Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Issue #112, a one-off issue from 1985 in which Santa appears to embarrass a thief dressed in a Santa costume, is part of the official history of the Marvel Universe.
Image: David Walker, Scott Hepburn/Marvel Comics
It is true that there are some stories where canonicity may be doubtful; a 1992 short Marvel era Issue #109 where Captain America remembers rescuing Santa from the Nazis in the middle of World War II may or may not be part of official Marvel history. Not because of Santa's participation, but because it was one of cartoonist Fred Hembeck's generally out-of-continuity humor strips, for example. (It's a great idea, though.) Regardless, Santa's place in the Marvel canon is fairly secure, given the available evidence.
In fact, he's so ingrained in the Marvel Universe that there's even a non-Christmas comic in which he appears. 1988 The sensational Hulka Number 8 answers the question of what Santa does when he's not delivering toys around the world annually: it turns out he's the world's greatest detective and his name is Nick St. Christopher, a man who, as he cheerfully explains, “I always know[s] who has been mischievous… and nice…” (“Can't wait to see how they write this in [The Official Handbook to the] Marvel Universe” comments She-Hulk, who breaks the fourth wall, when the story ends).
Image: John Byrne/Marvel Comics
Much to the chagrin of all the super Grinches, the tradition of including Santa Claus in Marvel and DC comics is far from a thing of the past; a 2018 edition of deadpool sent the Merc with the Mouth after Santa Claus in a story not entirely different from DC's Wolf special from a quarter of a century earlier; This time, however, it was some disgruntled children who wanted Santa's jolly head on a plate, and last year New Year's evil The DC one-shot featured an appearance by Myra's Ni'Klaus, a powerful wizard who was literally Santa by another name. Both are, it should be added, canonical appearances.
As long as there are Marvel and DC comics around (not to mention the Christmas season, though perhaps that should be taken for granted given the context), it seems guaranteed that Santa Claus will continue to appear in both universes on an irregular basis, spreading good. encourage and remind the public that, at their core, superhero comics are full of ridiculous and unrealistic characters created to make children smile. For those who have a problem with that, there is a piece of coal with his name on it.