Comic book company Marvel sent a cease-and-desist letter to a New York City Democratic councilman, asking the official to stop dressing up as Captain America for campaign ads.
In a letter posted on Twitter, Marvel’s deputy chief counsel requested that the campaign of Ben Kallos, who is running for Manhattan borough president, “refrain from using Marvel’s characters in its advertisements for your quest for the Borough Presidency or otherwise.”
“While Marvel appreciates your obvious affection for our properties and welcome your support as a fan, we ask that our characters not be used for political purposes or to support political campaigns,” reads the Nov. 15 letter.
Kallos tweeted a photo of the letter, writing, “Got this charming letter from @Marvel and got a kick out of it, thought you might too!”
Kallos has been dressing up as Captain America and has used photos of himself in the costume in his online campaign advertisements.{mosads}
In one fundraising letter, he wrote that “while Captain America was pretty busy fighting Hydra, sleeper agents, Loki, Ultron, and Thanos, Ben’s been fighting for everyday New Yorkers.”
“And like Captain America, he can do this all day, but we’ve got to make sure he’s got the resources to keep fighting,” he said.