Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Few figures from real history have left as vivid a mark on Golden Age comics as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who stepped onto the four-color page back in 1940 in Exciting Comics — right as the world he led was being torn apart by the very forces comics were rallying against. Across a publishing span stretching all the way to 2014, FDR turns up in some genuinely remarkable company: Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and even the likes of Green Lantern and Bruce Wayne share his pages, a testament to how naturally the 32nd President fit into the heroic mythology comics were building around World War II. He appears most prominently in All-Star Squadron, DC's beloved celebration of its Golden Age heroes, as well as educational titles like 48 Famous Americans and A Picture Story of the United States. Nine catalog appearances may seem modest, but for a real historical figure woven into the fabric of DC's wartime universe, each one carries genuine weight — a reminder that the Golden Age wasn't just about capes, but about the world those capes were fighting to protect.