1 Orson Welles (Superman #62, 1950). As a bit of publicity for his new movie Black Magic, Orson Welles teamed up with Superman to fight martians. Welles’s famous 1938 radio performance of War of the Worlds is referenced repeatedly.
2 Perry Como (Superman #67, 1950). Lois Lane becomes a famous singer and spurns Superman for Perry Como. The problem is, Superman knows that her impressive singing is due to a cold she has, and when it finishes, so will her singing career. How to break the news to her?
3 Pat Boone (Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #9, 1959). Superman surreptitiously gives Pat Boone a song to sing about Superman, but then realizes that he accidentally gave a clue inside the song’s lyrics to his true identity (the first letter of each sentence spells out Clark Kent). He must keep this song from being performed! Lois Lane, who is singing with Boone, thinks Superman is just jealous of the hunky singer.
4 Woody Allen (Showcase #71, 1967). DC’s response to the Monkees was the Maniaks, a wacky rock group introduced in the pages of Showcase (DC’s try-out magazine, where such notable characters as Flash and Green Lantern got their starts). In their fourth appearance, comedian Woody Allen guest-stars with the band.
5 Tom Wolfe (Incredible Hulk #142, 1971). “Those Radical Chic Evenings” was an article that journalist Tom Wolfe wrote for The New Yorker and it was reprinted in his 1970 book, Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers. It tells the story of a party Leonard Bernstein threw at his New York apartment for his rich liberal friends who wished to support the Black Panther Party. In the article, Wolfe satirizes these rich white people as the “radical chic,” people who are supporting causes like the Black Panther Party more for social status than for actual interest in the cause. Roy Thomas got permission from Wolfe to satirize the story in The Incredible Hulk #142, where a rich couple is desperate for a cause to throw a party. Their daughter wants them to support women’s liberation, but they end up instead having a party for…the Hulk! Tom Wolfe makes an appearance in his trademark white suit.
6 Don Rickles (Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #139 and 141, 1971). Jack Kirby hadn’t been working on Jimmy Olsen very long when his assistants, Mark Evanier and Steve Sherman, told him it would be funny to have famed insult comedian Don Rickles appear in the comic to insult Superman. Kirby liked the idea and they got permission from Rickles for the cameo. When DC higher-ups found out that they had permission from Rickles to use him, they insisted that it needed to be a big deal, not just a one-time thing. It morphed into a two-part story involving Rickles and his superhero alter ego, Goody Rickles. Rickles himself was not a fan of what his cameo turned into, but it was certainly memorable.
7 Original cast of Saturday Night Live (Marvel Team-Up #74, 1978). In this story, John Belushi is accidentally sent an ancient ring belonging to the villainous Silver Samurai, who shows up backstage to claim his property. Stan Lee is hosting SNL that night and Peter Parker was lucky enough to get tickets for himself and his date. When Peter’s spider-sense clues him in to what is going on, he sneaks backstage and, along with the cast, manages to overpower the Samurai and his team of goons. But the show must go on! So they continue doing sketches while also fighting the bad guys. Talk about multitasking. A tricky piece of writing by Chris Claremont!
8 Muhammad Ali (Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, 1978). In this classic team-up, an alien race demands that Earth’s greatest champion face their planet’s greatest champion or else they will invade with an alien armada. Superman is chosen, but Muhammad Ali convincingly argues that he should get the opportunity to fight. The two decide to let a boxing match determine who will go, with Superman stripped of his powers for the bout. Naturally, Ali defeats the powerless Superman. Ali then conquers the alien champion, but the alien leader decides to invade anyway. Superman (whose powers have returned) fights the armada while the alien champion deposes their ruler. The cover has a ton of other celebrities on it, too, including President Jimmy Carter.
9 David Letterman (Avengers #238, 1983). In 1983 Marvel had an idea called “Assistant Editor’s Month.” The concept was that while all of the editors were in San Diego for Comic-Con, their assistants would take control of the books, and of course, wacky hijinks happened in most of the titles. In The Avengers, former Avenger Wonder Man is trying to make it as an actor and gets the chance to appear on Late Night with David Letterman. The catch is that he has to appear with the Avengers. While they are on the show, a hapless would-be villain attacks the heroes. Letterman ends up saving the day by knocking the villain senseless with a giant doorknob.
10 John Walsh (Outsiders #17, 2004). The Outsiders were a short-lived team of “out-of-the-box” superheroes who would go places where no other heroes would dare go (like into countries that had committed atrocities not yet recognized by the United Nations). When they come across a child-trafficking ring, they decide to call John Walsh, host of TV’s America’s Most Wanted. Walsh lost his son to a kidnapper-murderer and has been working to help protect children ever since, so he gladly went along with the guest appearance to bring awareness to the too-real horror of child trafficking.
11 Stephen Colbert (Amazing Spider-Man #573, 2008). Stephen Colbert is a very vocal comic book fan, even having Marvel chief creative officer Joe Quesada on his TV program. As a joke, Colbert was shown as a presidential candidate in 2008 in the Marvel Universe. After that joke, they worked out a deal where Colbert would actually guest-star in an issue of Spider-Man about his run for the presidency.
