As far as the Big Two go, DC Comics has gone to some pretty big lengths to make it clear that their heroes don't live in the same universe as the rest of us. Aside from the superpowered people running around, DC also features a number of countries and cities that don't exist in reality. Where Marvel prefers to set their heroes in well-known towns like Manhattan and San Francisco, DC likes to put them in fictionalized places like Central City and Metropolis.
But even with all the things DC has done to remove itself from reality, some real-life figures have made their way into the comics over the years. Most were little more than a cameo, but others played major parts in the DC Universe, whether they realized it or not.
10 Don Rickles Had Some Things To Say To Jimmy Olsen
Famous for his insult comedy, Don Rickles remains one of the most beloved comedians of all time, but what many people don't know is that he also happens to be a good friend of Superman and Jimmy Olsen. In Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #141, when Rickles stops by the Galaxy Broadcasting System offices to visit Morgan Edge, he comes face to face with the famous teen photographer and the hero Hoodie Rickles, a version of the comedian who is helping battle Darkseid. Don Rickles lets loose with a few of his famous quips and heads off, but not before making sure he gets to be the star of the issue's cover.
9 Neil DeGrasse Tyson Found Krypton
One of the most famous astrophysicists in the world (if not the most famous), Neil deGrasse Tyson made big news in the DC Universe when he worked with Superman to pinpoint where the Man of Steel's home planet of Krypton was located before it exploded.
As seen in 2012's Action Comics #14, Tyson, who is a resident of Metropolis in the DC Universe, discovers that Krypton's remains can be located in the constellation Corvus, some 27.1 light-years from Earth. Coincidentally, Crovus was named after a crow from multiple myths about the Greek god Apollo, and Superman's high school mascot was a crow.
8 Bill and Hillary Clinton Spoke At The Biggest Funeral In DC History
One of the most historic moments in the nearly 90-year history of DC Comics is the Death of Superman. The story, which saw the Man of Steel give his life to stop the monster Doomsday, was followed up by the Funeral for a Friend storyline, which saw DC's heroes, the people of Metropolis, and the leaders of the world come together to pay their respects to the greatest superhero of all time.
It seemed only natural that the President of the United States would speak at the funeral for Superman, and so it was that then-President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary both had a chance to mourn the Last Son of Krypton and be forever enshrined in one of comics' biggest stories.
7 Orson Welles Helped Stop An Invasion Of Nazi Aliens
Having credits as both the director of Citizen Kane and the voice of Unicron in Transformers: The Movie, it is safe to say that Orson Welles had a diverse career, and while his film exploits are what most people remember, the infamous storyteller also had his very own adventure with Superman.
Way back in 1950's Superman #62, the Man of Steel and Orson Welles teamed up to stop an alien invasion. Thanks to his famous 1938 Halloween War of the Worlds radio special that tricked people into thinking the world was being invaded by Martians, no one on Earth believes Welles when he radios back to his home planet that alien Nazis are planning to invade. No one, that is, except for Superman, who shows up to save the day.
6 Franklin Roosevelt Put Together The First Superhero Teams
One of the best-known Presidents of the United States and the man who sat in the Oval Office throughout much of World War II and the early days of DC Comics, it is no surprise that Franklin Roosevelt would show up in comics as often as he does, but it is without question that Roosevelt's biggest role in the DC Universe was the creation of Justice Society of America and the All-Star Squadron.
FDR first brought a number of heroes together in 1940 to create the JSA in order to stop Hitler from using the Spear of Destiny to destroy America. Just a year later, on December 7, 1941, the day of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Roosevelt once again called on a number of DC's heroes to protect America's shores from any further attacks, calling that team the All-Star Squadron.
5 Fidel Castro Helped Flash Celebrate His Birthday
While DC's heroes don't usually hang out with leaders of other countries, let alone countries that the United States has a strained relationship with, when the world found itself in the midst of an alien attack during 1989's Invasion!, the Flash was sent to Cuba to act as that country's protector.
Flash soon discovered that Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro, had been replaced by a shape-shifting Durlan and joined forces with the real Castro's new guerilla army to retake the island. After saving Cuba from alien control, Castro held a birthday party for Flash, who was turning 21.
4 Shakespeare Worked For Dream
Neil Gaiman's seminal work Sandman started off as a part of the DC Universe proper. Dream even goes to the JLI brownstone and meets Blue Beetle and Martain Manhunter before it became its own universe. However, the story of the Endless continues to show up in the DCU proper, so it fits that much of Gaiman's story also happened in the DCU.
This means that in the DCU, Shakespeare was hired by Dream to write two of his most famous plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, as seen in Sandman issues #s 19 and 75.
3 Jerry Lewis Had His Own Earth In The Multiverse
Running for 124 issues, The Adventures of Jerry Lewis, which started off as The Adventures of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis for the first 40 issues, saw the famous comedic actor's daily life adventures put into comic book form. Along the way, Lewis teamed up with a number of DC's heroes, including Superman, Batman, and Flash. These pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths stories were set on Earth-12, meaning that Lewis was the only celebrity to get his very own reality to play in for twenty years.
2 Frank Sinatra Rubbed Elbows With Jimmy Olsen
Sometimes known as the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra remains one of the best-known crooners the world has ever seen, and, like any good figure in pop culture, Sinatra found himself in a number of strange places, including the DC Universe.
Sinatra had the opportunity to mix it up with Jimmy Olsen twice - first in Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #64 when the teen photographer took a trip to Hollywood and met a number of celebrities, then in issue #108 when Jimmy will inherit a million dollars, but only if he can spend a million dollars in one day.
1 Grant Morrison Put Themself Into The Books
While they are best known for their writing, Grant Morrison found a way to include themself into the story while working on Animal Man, revealing to the C-list superhero that his life was nothing more than a comic book written and drawn by people who kept upping the danger to keep the sales up.
Now a part of the DC Universe, Morrison would later show up as a member of the Suicide Squad during the War of the Gods event series. Called "The Writer" and running around the battlefield with a typewriter, Morrison (the character) ends up writing his own death in Suicide Squad #58, which was actually written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale.