Comics have always had a huge influence on normal life, even in the days before the MCU. And I’m not just talking about the tons of merchandising and the hero fantasy, but even in everyday life. In fact, many of the things even people that don’t care about comics use on a nearly daily basis has been inspired by comics at some point. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look!
Pizza
While you can’t get comic book-inspired pizza everywhere you go, you can get a whole bunch of comic book character-inspired pizza in Florida. There’s a place called Ormond Beach’s Gotham City Pizza that hosts no less than two dozen unique pizzas inspired by characters such as the Hulk, the Joker or Wolverine.
Flowers
Not talking about real flowers, of course. No, Paper Flowers by Nicki, which is an England-based flower shop, literally rips pages out of comic books and turns them into flower arrangements. I think a lot of us are just hoping the pages don’t get ripped out of any of the older, limited edition comics.
Sermons
That’s right, even the word of God has at one point been inspired by comic books. The parallel is pretty easy to make since the New Testament is basically a book about a guy with supernatural abilities fighting evil. There’s been ministers all over the US that have used comic book characters in their sermons to get their message across, like the obvious link between Superman and Jesus or how with great power comes great responsibility.
Scientific Naming
Scientists are perhaps the biggest nerds of us all so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that when they get to name a new species, they resort to using comic book inspired names. This leads to a world where we have a catfish species that was named Otocinclus batmani or a wolf spider species called Tasmanicosa hughjackmani, named after the famous Wolverine actor.
Court Trials
That’s right boys, girls and other non-binary readers, even the law has at once point been inspired by comic books. In fact, this one is a pretty direct influence since the increase in mature comics had raised the question of whether or not they should be censored. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and it was ruled that artistic freedom is more important than protecting young kids from potentially obscene visuals in comics. It’s almost like you have to raise your kids!
Drugs
Sadly, comics haven’t just inspired good things in life. One of the most famous examples of drugs being inspired by comic books has to be Ecstasy, where you can find themed pills that look like comic book characters. This is done on purpose to make the pills look more kid-friendly, sometimes even barely containing any MDMA at all and just being filled with dangerous stuff.
Cars
If you’ve ever seen a few episodes of Pimp My Ride, you know that a lot of people that get their cars customized are going to customize them to be heavily inspired by comic book cars. And let’s be honest: if Xzibit paid for it, who of us wouldn’t want their very own Batmobile? If you ask nicely they’ll even put a PS5 and a flat screen in there, you wouldn’t even need a house.
