Was there any controversy around the selection of Native heroine Owlwoman to be America's representative on the Global Guardians as opposed to either a more prominent American hero (like most of the JLA members), or a more explicitly patriotic hero (like, say General Glory or Major Victory)?
The crux of the question whenever you're asking a question like this is, controversial to WHOM.
(A thumbnail image of Owlwoman from her appearance on the Global Guardians' original membership poster)
Owlwoman certainly wasn't controversial to the Global Guardians when she joined their ranks. In order to be inducted as a Guardian you have to be sponsored by one of the team's existing members and be approved by a simple majority of that same membership after having been put forth as a candidate by your home nation. But how can this be? Certainly the United States wouldn't have chosen an obscure Native American heroine from rural Oklahoma when they could have appointed a much more prominent, much more "moderate" choice? Well that's the trick. Owlwoman wasn't put forth by the American government, in fact the American Congress has NEVER put forth ANY claims for membership to the Global Guardians. No, in fact Owlwoman was nominated by the Tribal Council of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Which under the written letter of the Guardians' charter is entirely allowed. The Cherokee Nation are a national entity with recognized powers of sovereignty and a mandate from the public to act in their interests and Owlwoman accepted the nomination officially. She was sponsored directly by Dr. Mist for membership and received unanimous approval for the team, the only hero to have received either honor in the group's storied history.
Was her choice controversial with the rest of the American superhero community? Certainly not. Most of the core makeup of the Justice League have made it clear that they do not work directly for or from any government institution and in fact multiple "American" superheroes like Superman or Wonder Woman have spoken about the fact that they do not consider themselves beholden to America in specific. Superman said to the press that if nominated for Guardian's membership, he would turn the nomination down as he feels the gravity of his presence would be destabilizing to the team as a whole.
Personally Owlwoman is a trusted member of the superhero community. While her public presence is limited (as of writing she only has about 9000 followers on Twitter and less than half that on Instagram) she is seen as the direct link between the American superhero community and the Global Guardians, a link that places supreme importance upon her as a mark for other American heroes to follow when they travel abroad.
Was her acceptance controversial with the American establishment? Not really? The American establishment doesn't care about the Guardians to begin with and its not like Congress or the President is going to issue some official protest to an American citizen being unanimously accepted among their ranks unless they wanted to make it really, really textual that their problem with her was her ethnicity.
So we whittle ourselves down to the lowest common denominator. Was her nomination and acceptance controversial with the alt right, pseudo-fascist conspiracy set who already place the Guardians up there with the UN and the Rothschilds as some kind of blood drinking globalist conspiracy? Honestly, Who gives a fuck?
