Reviews

What the hell... Alright so I'd been ignoring Marvel for the last year or so and after seeing Bruce on the big screen again I thought I'd find out what he's been up to and turns out he's been dead for the most part because of this shit and I'm not having it!

First of all, the entire 'using a person with the ability to see the future in order to predict crimes' idea is exactly the same as it was in Minority Report, all the way down to the ethics debate and realization that the future has alternate possibilities that aren't being seen.

James Rhodes is pretty much murdered by Thanos immediately, destroying the opportunities he was given of being Secretary of Defense and later possibly running for President. His death seemed feeble and empty, only to swiftly push along the plot of Tony Stark being against using Ulysses as a tool. Offing a respected man of color so quickly for angst seems incredibly offensive in my opinion, but unfortunately if a writer's concept isn't original they have to stir up a reason for people to pay attention to their story somehow.

Only a few issues later Bruce Banner is also murdered for Tony angst, and the sheer amount of injustice involved in his death has left me feeling drained and depressed all day. I understand being worried about the vision Ulysses had, however, showing up at his home with around thirty people ready to arrest and turn against him if needed is not only a horrible way to treat someone, but it is obtuse. Obviously anybody would be furious when put in that situation like that, but the second Bruce starts to get angry Clint Barton shoots him, twice.

Clint then claims in court that he was given the materials to put the Hulk down if needed, since Bruce was worried he could not hold him in much longer. However, Bruce's exact words were to use the arrowhead 'if I Hulk out again'. Not 'if I become angry at a normal level shoot me in the face on my own front lawn'. Clint also claims that he could see Bruce's eyes start to turn green, but since the art in the comics does not show this, the reader can decide for themselves whether they believe him or not. Bruce's murder is applauded by the general public, since they only see him as the Hulk, and Clint is acquitted from any criminal charges for murdering a hero and a friend in a fashion that could also be seen as assisted suicide.

Obviously I'm bias since Bruce is my favorite Marvel hero, but writing his life as ending so unfairly for dramatic push feels like an insult to his character and everything he's been through during his narrative. Since he's an abuse survivor who has to struggle against his own anger, self loathing and destructive part of himself, he is somebody who other people who've experienced mistreatment and are left with negative attributes can relate with. Having him be betrayed by and murdered by his friends is a disparage towards people who saw a part of themselves in him, since there aren't many characters in media who have his traits and also a highly stigmatized mental illness but are still seen as heroic and caring people in total.

The rest of the comic wasn’t great or groundbreaking, more characters were traumatized and hurt, more people felt betrayed and the whole situation just created a wound so big that it would be unrealistic to pretend all the characters involved are fine now that it’s been over a year later.

Of course I recognize that comics and other media are often made to entice people into buying them through more spectacle than substance, but getting rid of two popular heroes who people of color and people who are mentally ill can feel empowered by leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Maybe if this story was more original and exciting by itself characters wouldn't have to die in order to sell it, but I guess asking for professional writers to produce decent plots is just too much.

Edit: Today I found this article calling out the racism in murdering Rhodey for a dramatic push, as well as racism found in Marvel comics as a whole. While I'm nowhere near an influential reviewer I do want to spread these words around as much as I can for others to see.

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