If you've living under a rock not reading comics, you've missed a lot. Superboy is dead and the DCU has been as mixed up as a Jackson Pollock. Last year, DC successfully tried to recapture of that Wolfman/Perez Crisis action with Infinity Crisis. I knew that darn Alex Luthor was bad from the get go.
Not to be outdone, Marvel is trying, and thus far, pulling it off, to do their own universe-wide treatment. Here's what's up:
The New Warriors, a team of screw up nobody heroes who became reality TV scum, try to take down a den of no-gooders. In the ensuing fight, Speedball (which, I could have sworn was some kind of drug, not some hero) and Nitro (a villain with the ability to blow things up... not pee energy drink) cause an explosion that consumes 900 little ones. It was a disaster that should not have happened. Heroes should not act like idiots. They should have protocol. There ought to be a law enforcing hero decorum.
What's happening now is that the government is getting ready to enact a hero registry policy and why not? Cops have to go through training and certification to be cops. So do firemen, federal agents, judges, etcera. Essentially, if act is passed and if the heroes don't register, they're outlaws.
Here's where I'm confused: what's the problem? The old Spider-man argument "If my identity becomes public knowledge, my family is in danger?" what about cops families? Remember that Chicago judge whose family was wiped out by neo-nazis a year or more ago? Doing the right thing isn't always easy and it isn't always popular, but it's still the right thing. If Spider-man is compelled to be a hero and the act is passed, I'll be incredibly disappointed with him if he breaks the law.
Which brings me to the sides. Captain America, the living essence of law, order and America it's self, is not only against the act, but he assaulted the Federal Agents in S.H.E.I.L.D. (the Marvel equivalent to the CIA). He is betraying his country. He is putting his interests before the safety of the United States. Captain America is a traitor. The Law is the law is the law. No one is above it. Captain America, despite his many years of service to his country, does not have the right to arbitrarily pick and choose which laws he wants to follow.
Most confusing is why Captain America is fighting a law hes already following. Captain Americas actual name, Steve Rogers, has been known through out the Marvel Universe for some time now. Could it be that the eighty something American champion has gotten a little soft upstairs?
So cheers to Iron man, Billionaire scientist Tony Stark, who is backing the law. And the Fantastic Four, the first heroic family, who has been public almost since day one. They are all fully aware of the risks theyre taking and if youre not, give DCs 2004 block buster Identity Crisis a read where Elongated Mans wife is murdered by someone who know who she was which, frankly, could have been anyone. Her status as an honorary member of the JLA was public knowledge. With that in mind, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and any other actual hero who steps up and joins the right side in the Civil War are far braver than we even knew. Sure, the Fantastic Four have fought off Galactus and Iron Man has battled his own demons along with Loki whatever other demons have crossed the path of the Avengers.
We all know how incredibly romantic the masks are and how wonderfully old fashioned and how terrifically silver age a secret identity is. But its no longer 1963, people. Its the twenty-first century and its time to grow up. If the law passes like it looks like it will, Ill expect the heroes to follow the law because if they decide not to, in my mind, theres very little difference between Captain America and any other so-called hero who sides with him and, say, Red Skull, Dr. Doom or Baron Zemo (who I understand Captain America is going to ally himself with before long). Captain America is becoming a terrorist under the ruse that hes trying to help us all somehow. Do not be confused, my fellow Americans: the law is the law for a reason. Not Captain America nor anyone else is except from it.
Not to be outdone, Marvel is trying, and thus far, pulling it off, to do their own universe-wide treatment. Here's what's up:
The New Warriors, a team of screw up nobody heroes who became reality TV scum, try to take down a den of no-gooders. In the ensuing fight, Speedball (which, I could have sworn was some kind of drug, not some hero) and Nitro (a villain with the ability to blow things up... not pee energy drink) cause an explosion that consumes 900 little ones. It was a disaster that should not have happened. Heroes should not act like idiots. They should have protocol. There ought to be a law enforcing hero decorum.
What's happening now is that the government is getting ready to enact a hero registry policy and why not? Cops have to go through training and certification to be cops. So do firemen, federal agents, judges, etcera. Essentially, if act is passed and if the heroes don't register, they're outlaws.
Here's where I'm confused: what's the problem? The old Spider-man argument "If my identity becomes public knowledge, my family is in danger?" what about cops families? Remember that Chicago judge whose family was wiped out by neo-nazis a year or more ago? Doing the right thing isn't always easy and it isn't always popular, but it's still the right thing. If Spider-man is compelled to be a hero and the act is passed, I'll be incredibly disappointed with him if he breaks the law.
Which brings me to the sides. Captain America, the living essence of law, order and America it's self, is not only against the act, but he assaulted the Federal Agents in S.H.E.I.L.D. (the Marvel equivalent to the CIA). He is betraying his country. He is putting his interests before the safety of the United States. Captain America is a traitor. The Law is the law is the law. No one is above it. Captain America, despite his many years of service to his country, does not have the right to arbitrarily pick and choose which laws he wants to follow.
Most confusing is why Captain America is fighting a law hes already following. Captain Americas actual name, Steve Rogers, has been known through out the Marvel Universe for some time now. Could it be that the eighty something American champion has gotten a little soft upstairs?
So cheers to Iron man, Billionaire scientist Tony Stark, who is backing the law. And the Fantastic Four, the first heroic family, who has been public almost since day one. They are all fully aware of the risks theyre taking and if youre not, give DCs 2004 block buster Identity Crisis a read where Elongated Mans wife is murdered by someone who know who she was which, frankly, could have been anyone. Her status as an honorary member of the JLA was public knowledge. With that in mind, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and any other actual hero who steps up and joins the right side in the Civil War are far braver than we even knew. Sure, the Fantastic Four have fought off Galactus and Iron Man has battled his own demons along with Loki whatever other demons have crossed the path of the Avengers.
We all know how incredibly romantic the masks are and how wonderfully old fashioned and how terrifically silver age a secret identity is. But its no longer 1963, people. Its the twenty-first century and its time to grow up. If the law passes like it looks like it will, Ill expect the heroes to follow the law because if they decide not to, in my mind, theres very little difference between Captain America and any other so-called hero who sides with him and, say, Red Skull, Dr. Doom or Baron Zemo (who I understand Captain America is going to ally himself with before long). Captain America is becoming a terrorist under the ruse that hes trying to help us all somehow. Do not be confused, my fellow Americans: the law is the law for a reason. Not Captain America nor anyone else is except from it.