Jordan Peterson trolls Marvel comics for depicting him as supervillain

Clinical psychology professor Dr. Jordan Peterson was handed a surprise earlier this week when it was brought to his attention that Red Skull, the Nazi-inspired supervillain in Marvel's Captain America comics, has taken "inspiration" from his beliefs in a new series of comic books authored by progressive activist Ta-Nehisi Coates.

While the depiction confused Peterson, who has long warned about the threats of right-wing and left-wing authoritarian ideologies alike, it did not come as a big surprise. Peterson has often been accused of having far-right sympathies by left-wing activists, accusations which contradict his long history of opposing ideological orientation in general.

Peterson and his fans have published a number of videos in which Peterson discusses Nazism and fascism, including one particularly viral video titles "Why Hitler was Even More Evil Than You Think" and another where he dissects the Nazi propaganda film "The Eternal Jew."

Rather than treating the caricature of his views as a good-faith criticism, Peterson instead chose to mock and troll the depiction of his work, with many of his followers jumping in as well. He's even launched his own line of merch inspired by the incident.

Many of the images shared by Peterson and his fans included his own quotes overlaid over images of the Nazi supervillain, attempting to demonstrate the absurdity of associating his ideas with those of a supervillain.

Ta-Nehisi Coates has not responded to the controversy surrounding his comic books.