The Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict post-WWII, primarily between the communists and capitalists. Marvel has it all figured out!
CAPTAIN AMERICA
-surgically altered to look identical to Steve Rogers, fought communists during the early 1950s, including the 'Red Skull'. In other countries, the communist influence began civil wars and revolutions- 1950s was when the Korean War took place.
FANTASTIC FOUR
-The historic rocket trip that made them gain power was a result of the space race.
HULK
-Igor Drenkov, a Russian spy was sent to America to steal weapons and secrets. His actions led to the accidental creation of the Hulk.
In Vietnam, the communist party won the country's power and pitted it under a communist government, but during the war many heroes like Iron man fought against the communist soldiers. In SAN DIABLO another revolution began, but this time, with the help of THOR, the democratic faction won the war and defeated the EXECUTIONER and his army. In China, the revolution changed under a communist government. The Radioactive Man, the Chinese scientist CHEN LU, was stopped by THOR.
I have never read X-MEN FIRST CLASS, instead I watched the film, in my opinion it was a fantastic explanation of the concept of brinkmanship during the Cuban Missile Crisis!!! We now know (Historian Gaddis' favourite line!) that it was Power-absorbing mutant Shaw that ordered Jupiter Missiles to be placed in Turkey, as well as influencing the USSR to place missiles in Cuba. AND- Shaw was depicted to be a Nazi! We know that the commander-in-chief avoided full-blown nuclear because Professor X told him to through telepathy. It was sad though to know the reason detente (easing of tensions) was possible was because the US and the USSR united and had a common enemy- the mutants- when it was essentially Professor X that was the mediator in the whole process.
The description of these events seem to make so much sense, but we have to balance the point of views. Superhero comics are often accused of being thinly veiled male power fantasies (in my case, female power fantasies). I would say the comics of this era were more guilty than most as they featured politically incorrect racial stereotypes that served no other purpose but to serve America's 'strategic' interests. Hitler or fictional Nazi villains would be regularly defeated in the name of freedom, only to return the menace the superhero population again. Fine, maybe it was their form of creative expression and it was not going to sell if it was anti-US.
It is so obvious that Marvel was pro-US (Gosh, who knows it might be the CIA's doing) as superhero comics were happy to dive into the conflicts of WWII and the Cold War, they paid little attention to the Vietnam War (LB Johnson's nightmare). I think it was not the type of conflict that clearly depicted 'good vs evil'. Tony Stark Iron Man's initial story has him injured and taken captive by Wong-chu, an Asian nemesis only less stereotypical than the Japanese villains of the WWII era. So, the Iron Man comics have since updated this origin and shifted Iron Man's debut to the modern Middle East, sound familiar???
Marvel's marvelousness does not end there! Issues after the Cold War was also part of their superheroes' lives: I haven't done enough comic reading yet, but I should soon write about The War on Terror where the superheroes helped in rescue operations, and the question of the nature of freedom and the need for security. Oh and I will definitely post an article related to The Great Recession. Apparently many popular heroes have faced the effects of the recession firsthand. Spiderman the everyman hero- Peter Parker was struggling to make ends meet and Tony Stark Iron Man faced a complete collapse of his company.
I need to get a copy of FEAR ITSELF. 'Spider-Man can't punch a recession' and there are endless Obama inspired comics- I am reading the Obama Amazing Spider-Man issue nowww!!! The comic creators of the 1940s only saw their heroes fighting evil and tyranny whereas now, we need heroes that can occupy much more complicated issues of economics, politics and society.
Looks like I can be a Marvel superhero after all.
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