And the Next President of the U.S.A. Is ... Captain America?

America stands divided, with a polarizing presidential election pushing things to extremes. When the populace gets tired of politics as usual, a write-in campaign lands a bona fide war hero in the Oval Office.

That's the setup for a two-issue story arc coming to The Ultimates, in which Captain America gets sworn in as commander-in-chief. If at least the first part of that scenario sounds familiar, it should: Marvel writer Sam Humphries told The Washington Post that the storyline sprang from the toxic environment surrounding the seemingly never-ending 2012 election.

"We wanted to dramatize an extreme version of what we see in America today," Humphries said. "In the face of all [this] divisiveness, what do we have in common? What does it mean to be an American? What can we agree on? And what makes America the place that it is?"

Cap decides to "answer the call of the people" and accepts the nomination, as can be seen in the preview panels above, which also offer a little insight into The First Avenger's management style (Hint: He's no desk jockey). The story arc kicks off in The Ultimates No. 15, on sale Wednesday, and continues in Issue 16 (out Sept. 26).

"I was taught that everyone must do their best," Cap says in his stirring acceptance speech outside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters (it doesn't look like he's using a TelePrompter). "That we must do everything we can to take care of each other. No exceptions. We all must live up to our potential. That when we are called, we must answer. Or we are lost."

Marvel Entertainment Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, who called the Ultimate Universe "the fun-house mirror of Marvel," said the sorry state of the union in that comic book world draws on current times but also amplifies the direness of the situation facing real-life America.

"This is a United States that's being torn asunder by special-interest groups — by opportunists looking to divide and conquer," Alonso told the Post. "This is a metaphor for what goes on in real life, but on steroids."

Speaking of performance-enhancing compounds, maybe mass-production of the Super Soldier Serum could solve the Medicare crisis.