My World : Third World Leader

No one has ever learned the identity of the original Third World Leader. For all anyone knows, the current Third World Leader might be the original, rather than a successor. There have been a host of confirmed imposters, so there is no way to be certain who holds the "legitimate" claim to the title at any moment. Whoever he is, the Third World Leader is the guiding hand behind that nefarious network. As to the question of whether this is a good thing or not for Third World, well, that is a hotly-debated topic in certain quarters. Let's just point out that Third World still hasn't established that dictatorship yet.


At one point in its development, Third World was commanded by a head in a vat named "Mekron." Helluva colorful opening sentence, right? That was during the period when Captain Satellite and company were far more influenced by B-movie trappings than any comic books. I think those elements have reached their proper equilibrium by now.

I still see a lot fun potential in the head in a jar trope, and I wouldn't necessarily rule out my using it in the future in Cap's setting. It might even be Mekron! But I decided that this incarnation of Third World needed a leader who might be a smidgen more proactive, and one who could semi-believably have founded the group in the first place. Since the phrase is already commonplace, I settled on "Third World Leader" as his name.

Third World Leader's design is another example of reverse-engineering, in this case from the basic Third World agent. The steel mask idea originated from an older character design of mine. I'll own up to loving that sort of imagery. The fact that Third World Leader is at once reminiscent to both "The Man in the Iron Mask" and G.I. Joe's Destro fills me with delight.

In terms of his portrayal, Third World Leader is a spiritual brother of baddies like the Supreme Hydra and Cobra Commander. He wasn't originally meant to be smaller and slighter than average, but the final version of him came out looking that way. I think that's an idea that could have legs.