Heroes and Monsters of 2022
Below is our list of heroes and monsters from 2022. For the last few years, we’ve taken inventory in this fashion—personal, idiosyncratic, and somehow when assembled a snapshot of yet another unsettled, strange, glorious 12 months. (You can read the full archive here.) At this point, it’s become something of a holiday tradition.
As always, our list is by no means exhaustive. Each entry reflects less the perfect distillation of the year than our personal obsessions. But if you take all of this together, we hope you have a pretty representative time capsule of 2022. If we missed one of your nightmares or loves, maybe we can pick that up next year.
We will be adding to this list over the holidays. And so if you do not immediately see some of the items it will feature—a German coup, a bot, Mike Davis, Eric Adams, cars, strikers, a flamingo—please, keep coming back. You may even discover a few more.
Hero: Alabama Prison Strikers
They carried out a historic three-week labor strike and brought the neglect of the country's worst prisons to national attention.
Hero: Mike Davis
To read Davis on practically any subject was to come away with a sense of awe, and a promise to yourself to learn more about the world, and then do something about it.
Monster: Heinrich XIII
Heinrich XIII Reuss stands accused of being the ringleader of a coup plot inspired by the ludicrous theory that Germany is not a sovereign state.
Monster: Capital One Café
It can be hard to literalize how financialized capital has overtaken our lives. I figured coming to Capital One Café might help.
Hero: Pink Floyd, the Flamingo That Escaped a Kansas Zoo 17 Years Ago
"He's still out there. Maybe we'll see him again."
Hero: Megan Thee Stallion
"Traumazine" shattered pernicious tropes—and invited Black women like me to lean into anger, our vulnerabilities, and take control.
Monster: Eric Adams
The New York mayor spent most of his first year as a political enigma. But in the last quarter, Adams revealed his cruelty and ignorance.
Hero: The Gen-Z Voters Who Saved Us From Ourselves This November
Young people are turning up to vote in larger numbers and helping decide elections.
Monster: People Suing to Kill Student Debt Relief Because They’re Not Included
Cue the world’s tiniest violin.
Top image credits: Plan B Entertainment/ZUMA; Tom Dorsey/Salina Journal/AP; Scott Garfitt/AP; Francois Nel/Getty
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