I have been thinking the superhero movies were having many fascist themes themselves.
And their popularity was helped by a growing authoritarian movement in the USA.
The actual comics do not have many of the above issues, the movies reinforced certain themes.
I say this as someone who liked the comic books for many decades
I pissed off a lot of, supposedly left leaning, comic book fans when I told them I thought Tony Stark had a good point that the super heroes in the MCU needed to be regulated. They were doing too much investigating and acting on their own without any oversight to not make people nervous. Same with Justice League Unlimited.
At least with Superman(2025), the hero’s intervention in world affairs was just a scaled up Bystander Effect.
The Boys Showrunner, Eric Kripke, says the superhero ultimately exists to protect the status quo, to keep things as they are or once were during more nostalgic times, while the supervillain seeks change. A superhero is pro-establishment, working to uphold the system, and viewers can be trained to believe some exceptional being will fix everything.
The earlier superhero movies made in the USA helped support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there were strategies and meetings to deliberately do just that.
I think the later Marvel movies drifted away from typecasting the villains and made the plots less American centric. But it did not loose the parallels to the popular movies in Germany made in the late 30’s.
Yeah it’s not great the way supers tend to validate vigilantism. Ultimately you can have rule of law or some form of tyranny. There are middle grounds, but those are the options. Also the hero’s journey literary paradigm has regressive aspects. 🤓
“Rule of Law” is itself a form of tyranny. It is nothing more than the dictates of a hierarchical authority, originating from the authority of kings, trying to assert its control over others. It is a fundamentally oppressive system that can and has repeatedly throughout history been used to facilitate the oppression of marginalized peoples.
Hhhh yes I know some form of anarchism would probably be more egalitarian and just but a society will always have rules and mutual expectations and if we’re being honest no state can afford to let people see anarchism thrive, can they?
Every collective will always have to prepare for and content with oppositional actors. Sadly, this is a fact of life. Anarchist theory is well versed in the concept that the state will inevitably retaliate as the existence of an anarchist society threatens the perceived hierarchical structure that state authority is founded on. If people understand they do not need to acquiesce their political autonomy to an arbitrary authority to ensure stability in their lives, the state loses the power it has over the people.
Anarchist society is founded on mutual agreements between individuals or groups of people acting on consensus. Just because a society is anarchist doesn’t mean people are absolved of responsibilities. It is specifically that those responsibilities are taken on willingly and not coerced by arbitrary structures that only serve to oppress one for the benefit of another.
I have been thinking the superhero movies were having many fascist themes themselves. And their popularity was helped by a growing authoritarian movement in the USA.
The actual comics do not have many of the above issues, the movies reinforced certain themes.
I say this as someone who liked the comic books for many decades
I pissed off a lot of, supposedly left leaning, comic book fans when I told them I thought Tony Stark had a good point that the super heroes in the MCU needed to be regulated. They were doing too much investigating and acting on their own without any oversight to not make people nervous. Same with Justice League Unlimited.
At least with Superman(2025), the hero’s intervention in world affairs was just a scaled up Bystander Effect.
I was thinking something else, like
The earlier superhero movies made in the USA helped support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there were strategies and meetings to deliberately do just that.
I think the later Marvel movies drifted away from typecasting the villains and made the plots less American centric. But it did not loose the parallels to the popular movies in Germany made in the late 30’s.
Yeah it’s not great the way supers tend to validate vigilantism. Ultimately you can have rule of law or some form of tyranny. There are middle grounds, but those are the options. Also the hero’s journey literary paradigm has regressive aspects. 🤓
I like the comic where Batman beats up a racist cop
“Rule of Law” is itself a form of tyranny. It is nothing more than the dictates of a hierarchical authority, originating from the authority of kings, trying to assert its control over others. It is a fundamentally oppressive system that can and has repeatedly throughout history been used to facilitate the oppression of marginalized peoples.
Hhhh yes I know some form of anarchism would probably be more egalitarian and just but a society will always have rules and mutual expectations and if we’re being honest no state can afford to let people see anarchism thrive, can they?
Every collective will always have to prepare for and content with oppositional actors. Sadly, this is a fact of life. Anarchist theory is well versed in the concept that the state will inevitably retaliate as the existence of an anarchist society threatens the perceived hierarchical structure that state authority is founded on. If people understand they do not need to acquiesce their political autonomy to an arbitrary authority to ensure stability in their lives, the state loses the power it has over the people.
Anarchist society is founded on mutual agreements between individuals or groups of people acting on consensus. Just because a society is anarchist doesn’t mean people are absolved of responsibilities. It is specifically that those responsibilities are taken on willingly and not coerced by arbitrary structures that only serve to oppress one for the benefit of another.
Yeah like that one!