In 2000's X-Men, Senator Robert Kelly (who first appeared in 1980's X-Men #135) wanted to pass a law that would force mutants to register their identities and powers with the government. That led to Magneto targeting him, of course, and that villain's attempts to turn the Senator into a mutant led to him becoming...well, a puddle of water!
During a recent interview with Inverse, actor Bruce Davison claims that playing the anti-mutant baddie helped make him popular with Republican politicians serving under George W. Bush at the time.
"I was spending a lot of time in Washington with the Creative Coalition campaigning for the arts, and they would only send me into the Republican offices because the Republicans would all go nuts over Senator Kelly," he explained. "It was great, talking to [then-Kansas Senator Sam Brownback] and his people about, 'Oh, yeah, Senator Kelly. I can identify with this guy.'"
Davison went on to explain that while he struggled to get Brownback to help fun the arts, he and his aids "loved Senator Kelly" and the actor even believes playing the X-Men villain was "a useful door opener in those Bush years." As for which political reminds him of the villain, he named Vice President Mike Pence. "I'd rather not be compared to him, but yes, Pence is that guy."
This is definitely a bit of a weird one, and it's hard to believe Republican politicians were high on Davison because he played a bad guy who wanted to persecute mutants. Instead, it's likely they just enjoyed being able to interact with an actor who had starred in a huge blockbuster!
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