10 cartoon and comics characters that are vegs
When it comes to our favorite superheroes and villains, most of the time, their eating habits are a mystery. However, it is common that, due to the influence of advertising sponsors in cartoons or mere social stereotypes, the carnivorous habits of some characters (such as Homer Simpson or Fred Flintstone) are better known than the compassionate habits that other characters have.
Whether they are superheroes or simple cartoon characters, the following characters follow a plant-based diet and, thus, protect animals. Some of them even engage in activism for animal rights and the environment!
1. Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman
Since Wonder Woman's inception in 1941, Diana Prince has made history and has broken barriers as one of DCU's most powerful characters. A founding member of the Justice League, she is incredibly smart and compassionate.
When Greg Rucka made Diana a vegetarian, many fans complained because they associated the image of a warrior with the strength of eating meat.
Diana is a strong and feisty woman who was raised on an island filled with greenery by a race of immortal women who swore peace and equality and who took from nature only what they needed. They obviously didn't kill any animals to eat them.
2. Pamela Isley AKA Poison Ivy
Pamela cultivates, cares for, listens to, and feeds on plants. She can make them grow with a simple snap of her fingers. Pamela is in tune with the flora and fauna of Earth as she basically has chlorophyll in her veins.
In the episode "Harley and Ivy," you can see Pamela eating a plate of carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with beet juice
Poison Ivy's relationship with plants is so extreme that she becomes one. She's portrayed as half plant and half human. Her goal is to protect her green babies and the environment.
3. Animal Man AKA Buddy Baker
The Buddy "Animal Man" Baker series focused on Baker's dedication to working for animal rights and being a vegetarian. He has the ability to temporarily borrow animal traits (for example, a bat's hearing). He uses this power to fight crime, and he also avoids cruelty by not eating animal products.
4. Magneto AKA Erik Lensherr
Despite being a monster in the Supreme Marvel Universe, Magneto has sympathetic elements to his character, at least when it comes to animals. Magneto believes that mutants are superior to humans and that mutants can have a much higher consciousness than humans do.
On the other side, even though he is said to be a vegetarian, he makes multiple claims about having eaten human flesh or being prepared to provide it to other mutants.
5. Damian Wayne AKA Robin
Damian Wayne is the genetically engineered son of Batman and Talia al Ghul. He became a vegetarian in a 2012 story in which Batman and Damian rescue a cow from a slaughterhouse, after which Damian declares that he will become a vegetarian and gives the cow the nickname Bat-Cow.
Interestingly, Bat-Cow became a minor character in the Batman Family, appearing in media spin-offs, including a Lego Batman video game and various children's comics.
6. Bruce Banner (the Hulk's alter-ego)
In "Ultimate Wolverine VS Marvel's Hulk" it is revealed that Bruce tries to maintain a healthy lifestyle, meditates, plays sport, and is actually vegan to keep the big, green man at bay, as his alter ego has cannibalistic tendencies.
7. Mark Waid's Superman
It was always believed that since Clark Kent was raised in Kansas, he followed the diet of America's farmers in the first half of the 20th century, but in the Birthright issue #2, this point of view changes.
In 2003, when Mark Waid and Leinil Francis Yu reinvented the Man of Steel origin story, they made him a vegetarian. The series explains that Superman is deeply disturbed by the notion of taking the life of another living being and, for that reason, does not eat meat. Thanks to his powers, Superman has seen the passage of the soul when dying and realizes how similar the death of an animal is to that of a human being.
8. Bobby Hill
"And They Call It Bobby Love" is the second episode of the third season of the Fox animated series King of the Hill. Despite the fact that his parents are deeply carnivorous, Bobby became a vegetarian to impress a veggie girl named Marie.
9. Shaggy from Scooby-Doo
There is an episode where Sia, the singer, tries to turn Scooby and Shaggy into vegans. At one point, Shaggy says, "Who wants to be on surveillance when we could be dating Sia?" Scooby replies, "And be vegan!" Then, everyone goes to a room where there are vegan pies, and they all drink dairy-free smoothies. In addition, in the 2002 movie Scooby-Doo: The Movie, Shaggy can be seen eating veggie burgers.
This is not accidental. Shaggy's voice actor was Casey Kasem, a radio personality who was vegan and often spoke on the radio about animal rights and environmental causes. In fact, Kasem played Shaggy from the start of the series in 1969 to 1997, but he quit after being asked to lend his voice to a Burger King commercial.
10. Lisa Simpson
Since the historic episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" of The Simpsons, first broadcast on October 15, 1995, Lisa Simpson has been an icon for the defense of animals and the environment.
The story is about a chance encounter that Lisa has with a very sweet little lamb, which makes this little saxophonist girl of only eight years old think whether it is worth eating an animal to satisfy her hunger.
But Lisa is not alone. She has vegetarian friends who help her in her transcendental life change. Apu, the owner of the market, was already living a compassionate lifestyle and had exchanged his shop's hot dogs for tofu dogs without anyone noticing.
Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, also help Lisa. The English singer agreed to appear in this chapter but requested that Lisa remain a vegetarian for the rest of the series. Linda told Entertainment Weekly that the episode was an opportunity for her and her husband to "spread the word vegetarian to a wider audience."
Lisa: "I never performed before, but some Itchy & Scratchy cartoons send the message that violence against animals is funny."
Bart: "They what? Cartoons don't have messages, Lisa."
Fortunately, Bart was wrong. Cartoons and comics often influence the way we see the world and help us maintain or change habits. These cultural productions allow us to reflect on the good and bad, question our values and those of society, and offer ourselves figures to imitate.
If you are still not vegan, why don't you follow Superman, Poison Ivy, or the Hulk's examples? You can even feel more athletic, healthy, and energetic than before! Click here to know more about a plant-based diet.
