Battle of super heroes: Medvedev debuts as Captain America

Soon after PM Putin “premiered” as James Bond, Moscow’s streets have been adorned with posters portraying President Medvedev as a Russian clone of Captain America – all thanks to an anonymous artist’s fantasy.

Entitled Captain Russia: The First Ruler, the pictures show Medvedev in a leather suit with a US stars-and-stripes flag on his chest holding an iPad 2. The image clearly hints at the Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger, released this month.According to the signature, Captain Russia is a sequel to the earlier “film” involving Prime Minister Putin. In mid July, posters showing a James Bond-esque image of the PM appeared on several streets in central Moscow. The faux film’s tagline was “VV will cover,” with “VV” apparently standing for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s first name and patronymic. Both posters are signed by an anonymous artist who has already posted pictures of Medvedev and Putin in tennis uniform. The author claims that the posters have nothing to do with either the forthcoming presidential election, nor with the Captain America PR campaign. “I want to grab the attention of those bored people who run along Moscow streets never noticing what is happening around them,” the artist said in an interview with Afisha magazine. “I want to make those people laugh, to make the authorities angry, to break down the stereotypes.” The authorities were not much inspired by the artist’s idea – all the posters were soon removed. The Kremlin has not commented on the issue, but after the Putin posters were published, the authorities said the action bordered on hooliganism. Both Medvedev and Putin’s images have repeatedly been used by firms to attract attention to their products, as well as by political activists. For example, the prime minister was the face of a night party at a posh club in Moscow, while the president was featured in a commercial for electric drills.