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NHL and Stan Lee give each pro hockey team its own superhero. We rate all 30, including the lousy “Maple Leaf”

By Lia Grainger

| February 1, 2011

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The Toronto Maple Leaf (Image courtesy GME) — Other guardians can read minds, shoot flames out of their eyeballs and chuck ice missiles. The Maple Leaf just stands there, because that’s what trees do. While we understand the need to tie the character to the team name, isn’t “a giant walking and talking maple tree” taking things just a tad literally? Sure, he’s an immovable object, and he can grow branches at will, but what will the Maple Leaf do when faced with the Ranger’s sophisticated weaponry or the Flame’s lava balls?
RATING: 0/5

Fans of both hockey and comic books—yes, they do exist—have been buzzing ever since the NHL announced it would partner with comic legend Stan Lee to create 30 superheroes, one to match up with each NHL team. The Guardian Project, as this endeavour is known, has had a slow build to Sunday’s all-star game, when all of Lee’s creations appeared as 3-D projections over the rink at Raleigh’s RBC Centre. Though the quality of the motley assortment of characters varies wildly, there’s no denying that Toronto’s Maple Leaf is the worst of the bunch.

To get a sense of what the poor Maple Leaf is up against, check out our slide show with our rating of each Guardian (hilariously, all quotes are directly from the official descriptions) »