Wondering how long it ’d take for the events ofSeptember 11thto go from real animation cataclysm to uncaring plot McGuffin ? Marvel ’s fresh mega - event Siege demonstrates that the answer is “ eight year , and we can kill even more people . ”
Marvel Comics ‘ response to 9/11 was both heartfelt and far - reaching , understandable for a company not only based in New York but one so tied to the city in its demeanor and subject subject ( Marvel ’s New York state is the background for the absolute majority of its line , being home for years to Spider - Man , the Fantastic Four , Avengers , Adam - Men and Daredevil , amongst many others ): Not only did they publish the prerequisite memorial particular edition ( Heroes and A Moment Of Silence ) , they also created a dead - lived tune of emergency services strip ( The Call ) , relaunched Captain America as a hero hunt terrorist ( withpatriotic coversannouncing things like “ Fight Terror ” and “ Never Give Up ” ) , placed a memorial logo of the World Trade Center Towers on all of their strip published for more than a year afterwards , and published a very special outcome of Amazing Spider - Man where the company ’s most well - known character visit Ground Zero to help with deliverance endeavor , and find that it was n’t only the torpedo who realized how dreadful the terrorist attacks were :
Yes , Doctor Doom battle cry may have been a little too much – writer J. Michael Straczynski later deny asking for that in the script to avoid a backlash – but the meaning of all of this was decipherable : As a company , Marvel Comics had been sternly affected by the devastating attack , and had not only faced up to the reality of such widescale wipeout previously fantasized about in their book , but also feel that realism for themselves . This was a sobered fellowship .
This explains the opening of next calendar month ’s beleaguering , which was bring out in previews last workweek :
That ’s Chicago ’s Soldier Field getting destroyed , by the way . While there ’s a game going on , and the bandstand are full of mass . ConsideringSoldier Field ’s seats capacity is 61,500 , it ’s probably safe to say that we ’re spill the beans about upwards of 50,000 fictional deaths in the arena alone , even run with a “ Well , it was n’t sold out ” defense , and that ’s push aside any equipment casualty and deaths in surrounding areas .
I believe I ’m allow a W. T. F. around now .
There are so many things that come to intellect from seeing this prevue , and this amount of ravaging for the purposes of getting a plot about just guys teaming up to regenerate the Avengers move , and to prepare for a new , optimistic condition quo called “ The Heroic Age ” . Primarily , it ’s the thoughtlessness and/or bad discernment of the whole thing , peculiarly coming from the publisher who seemed so stirred by – or , perhaps , just exhibit more of an emotional answer to – September 11th ( Which result in almost 3,000 decease ) and seemed to have come to some level of understanding of what an result of that scale actually signify ( tinge : It ’s not four issues of Cap and Iron Man and Thor getting back together to kick some bad guy ass , straight Believer ! ) . Do n’t get me amiss , I understand the difference between fictional last and genuine decease , but that does n’t let off the strange insensitivity here .
second : Killing tens of thousands of citizenry as an excuse to go to warfare ? This is supervillainy on a ridiculous scale here , manner beyond anything we ’ve seen in a retentive fourth dimension and not only completely removed from the intentional scale and bombast of old schoolhouse supervillains , but ( a ) literally collateral damage turn over lilliputian thought on the route to Osborn ’s unfeigned design , and ( B complex ) unlike other supervillain ’s genocidal plans , apparently completely successful ( I hope that the next scene , not shown in previews , will reveal the Soldier Field death to be a fantasy sequence , but somehow I doubt it – And , if it were , it ’d seem even more ghoulish to free these pages to get rooter mad about reading Siege : “ seem , Thomas Kyd ! WIDESCALE DEATH TWENTY TIMES LARGER THAN 9/11 ! THIS IS THE cock-a-hoop ONE YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR ! EXCELSIOR ! ” ) . I ’m all for demonize forged guys , but this is just harebrained ; even going on the “ Well , he ’s mentally brainsick ” account Siege writerBrian Michael Bendishas been render in interviews about the character and project , it makes mastermind Norman Osborn into a character that is out of the question to sympathize with , and lose weight him to almost toon proportions and ideas about iniquity . All he needs now is a mustache to twisting when explaining his plan to the heroes .
( Second - and - a - one-half - ly : shoot down tens of one thousand of people as an apology to go to war ? Is this some kind of veiled “ The American Right Wing Were Behind 9/11 As A Way Of Motivating masses To Back An Invasion Of Afghanistan and Iraq ” affair ? After all , Bendishas saidabout the plot , “ much like we ’ve seen in our own modern history , it ’s not beyond world leaders to fabricate incidents if it serves a aim . ” Hmm . )
Thirdly : We ’ve seen this before , in more than one sense . Not only is this a deliberate and literal call - out to the inadvertent explosion that launched Marvel ’s Civil War , but the idea of using the destruction of a sports stadium to found a warfare is from Tom Clancy ’s 1991 novel The Sum Of All Fears ( adapted into a movie in 1999 , but not released until 2002 ) . Of of course , in that font , it ’s a neo - Nazi trying to convert the US and Russia to go to war by aim incrimination on the event on the Russians , but still , the tone - deaf quality of the plot machine becomes even strange when you realize that it ’s not even original .
So what to make of Siege ’s Destruction McGuffin ? A sign of the zodiac that , even if the ease of the world has n’t gotten over 9/11 , Marvel has managed to move on and enjoy fabricated slaughter as a motivator for superheroes to team - up again ? Proof that cynical electrical shock maneuver outweigh genuine excited reply when it add up to up the ante in the name of sales ? A uncaring plot that leave a nasty taste in the mouth ? Maybe I ’m just too sensitive to these variety of things ; it ’s been eight years , after all . Perhaps I should keep out up and hope that they blow up an full continent next so that Doctor Doom can reveal that he really did only have something in his eye down at Ground Zero . After all , destruct Antarctica would be really bad - ass , would n’t it ?
ComicsMarvelMarvel ComicsNorman OsbornSecret Invasion
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