Kari Lake Sparks Avalanche of Jokes, Memes With Superhero Picture

Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has been the subject of jokes, memes and strong criticism after sharing an image depicting herself as a superhero on Twitter.

Lake shared the illustration on Friday that seems to show her in a pose like Superman, wearing a jacket over a white T-shirt depicting the flag of the state of Arizona.

"Arizona First means fighting for Honest Elections," the former television news anchor tweeted along with the image, which also said "Arizona 1st."

Lake is currently appealing a Maricopa County judge's decision to dismiss her challenge to the Arizona gubernatorial election with just days before Democrat Katie Hobbs is due to be sworn in as governor.

Twitter users reacted to Lake's picture with criticism of her continued efforts to challenge the election, as well as memes and jokes mocking the Republican, with some comparing the image to former President Donald Trump's digital trading cards.

"Sore loser," tweeted bestselling horror author Stephen King.

Writer and producer @rolandclark responded with a gif of Judge Judith Sheindlin angrily saying "It's over," while registered nurse Leslie Wimes shared a gif of a dismissive Beyoncé captioned "Girl, bye."

Some Twitter users compared the image of Lake to former President Donald Trump's non-fungible token (NFT) trading cards, one of which shows him in a similar superhero-like pose.

"Lol… you and this guy are pathetic…" tweeted user Bill Allen, sharing an image of Trump in the superhero pose from his NFT collection.

"Bwahahahahahaha this your NFT trading card???" tweeted The MIXX Radio Network, adding a gif of Bart Simpson throwing away a cake with the words "At least you tried."

"Is this part of the Trump clown cards?" asked user Meghan Kelly Hall.

There was also more serious criticism of Lake's efforts to challenge the gubernatorial election, with Chapman University professor Tom Zoellner tweeting: "Putting Arizona first means respecting the clear results of an election."

Lake indicated this week that she was willing to take her election challenge all the way to the Arizona state supreme court after filing an appeal on Tuesday against the dismissal of two counts that went to trial in Maricopa County.

Maricopa County Superior Judge Peter Thompson ruled that "every single witness" had refuted Lake's claims of misconduct and that the court could not "accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence."

Lake has appealed Thompson's decision, her filing coming just a week before Hobbs is set to be sworn in as Arizona's fifth female governor on January 5.

Newsweek has asked Kari Lake's campaign for comment.

Correction 01/02/22 4.15 a.m. ET: This article has been corrected to say that Katie Hobbs will be Arizona's fifth female governor, not its first as previously stated.