Watching superhero productions and reading comics for many years, I came to one conclusion, which you probably also drew. These productions react to what is happening around us!
Comic reaction to problems
I’ve always been a fan of DC, but I can’t deny one thing to Marvel – it always reacts to contemporary problems and allows us to get used to them in a subversive way. And I’m not talking about World War II as a global conflict, which was reflected in almost every material related to culture. The covers of Captain America fighting the Nazis, including the famous one where he punches Hitler, have gone down in history. However, that was not the end.
An example is the problem of the Watergate scandal, which was also reflected in the comic event called Secret Invasion . There, Captain America discovers that the president himself was behind the plot threatening the USA, and Steve Rogers doubted all the values he represented, because he was shaken by the crisis of democracy. In 2006, the Civil War series was created , which was a metaphor for a divided country over the so-called Patriotic Act.
Social reactions also affected Spider-Man, who was supposed to help people get used to science. It is worth looking at the fact that in the beginning the genesis of this spider superhero was the story of a boy who was bitten by a radioactive spider. When the fear of the atom lessened, people at the dawn of the 21st century began to fear genetic experiments, and Peter Parker in his new beginnings was bitten by a genetically modified spider. Case? I don’t think it’s intentional by the creators.
Still from the movie “Spider-Man”
Film universe and difficult years
It’s the same with Marvel movies now. In Phase IV and on the verge of Phase V, I think it is best seen. The space-time of this universe and its problems coincided with the crises in our world.
The wars in Syria and Ukraine certainly did not escape the writers of the MCU. The last two films, Wakanda in my heart and Quantomania , present us with truly epic clashes, but also with the horror of the worst element, because only created by humans – war. In addition, every conflict has its basis, because if it’s not about resources, conquering your territory, it’s about protecting your own people. Let’s look at what the dictator from the Kremlin says. Doesn’t this coincide with the rhetoric of Namor, who also wanted to protect his people / nation at all costs? This was followed by a raw material conflict and the protection of vibranium deposits, just as the decision-makers from Moscow are concerned about deposits in north-eastern Ukraine. Kang the Conqueror, on the other hand, seems to be portraying Julius Caesar, as does Putin.
Migration crises in Europe related to the long war in the Middle East or the search for a better life away from organized crime and poverty on the Mexican-American border are another element that has become an important voice in the production of Falcon and The Winter Soldier . The General Council of Repatriation has to face the post-blip population growth and migration crisis. However, as is unfortunately often the case, immigrants are treated as a “necessary evil”, so a rebellion is born in them, which must be dealt with by Bucky and Sam, who by the way are aware of the frustration of homeless, migrant people.
As a result of the pandemic, some of us may feel a sense of lost time. So is the main character of Quantomania , trying to make up for lost years with his adolescent daughter (he lost almost 5 years as a result of being stuck in the quantum dimension). In us, 2020 and 2021 could also make a similar impression, which was felt already in 2022, when many longing people started leaving their homes and visiting their loved ones in different parts of the country, Europe and the world. WandaVision, on the other hand , is nothing more than a “guide” on how to go through the mourning that many of us carried in our hearts after losing loved ones during the pandemic period. The viewer is introduced to Wanda’s five different states before her “exit” from Westview takes place. So is Love and Thunder, which went even further to show us what a strong fight all cancer patients are fighting.
In the multiverse of madness is not only a novel about alternative realities, but also an attempt to familiarize the viewer with the fact that the reality we live in is not the only one. And it’s not just about string theories and various dimensions, but above all about the fact that the world of the Internet and progressive digitization is also our inseparable everyday life. Social accounts, online games, VR show us that everywhere we can expect good, but also bad. In our reality, everything is interconnected, from real life to the digital one.
These smaller problems that have been with us since the dawn of time will also appear in the Marvel movies, and not just in the final phases. Hawkeye shows the family crisis and the fact that blood ties do not oblige us to anything, because when someone does something wrong, like Kate’s mother, we should not be indifferent to it. Our family can be loved ones who support us and are not necessarily related to us. Finally, Moon Knight brings closer the problems of mentally lost people who need the support of the environment, because, unlike Marc Spector, they may not cope with traumatic events from the past. Especially after the period of pandemic isolation, many in our environment need help and understanding to go through the traumas that have grown in loneliness.
But what is it really like?
The convergence of some of the elements I have compiled may result from pure chance or be a response to the problems that surround us. However, their presentation in superhero films, where good always triumphs, not only allows you to get used to them, but also to believe in solving even the most difficult cases. Because where there is hope, there is always a solution!