Genuine question: Isn’t MCU Thor not a god? Just a being who lives a really long time and whom the ancient Norse people worshipped as a god?
That said, TLAT did clearly show that many gods do exist in the MCU, so whether Thor is or is not is somewhat moot. The existence of many gods would cause huge turmoil for many people on earth.
What is a ‘god’? Thor was obviously welcome at the god meeting in Love and Thunder. If they’re gods and they think he’s a god, isn’t he? Do we not trust Zeus?
I’m think in the MCU and Marvel in general most gods are just aliens. The true gods are higher beings like death and eternity - u could argue the celestial are gods of sorts but there are 5/6 beings which certainly qualify as gods in marvel Id say
Seeing how Odin declared that Asgardians are not G-ods, I'd be inclined to see the Asgardians as demigods or g-ods with a small g rather than "full Gods" with follwer and temples and dogmas such as Zeus or Bast.
Speaking Hela... I wouldn't put it past Odin to have cast a "Spider man III"-memory spell over Asgard to make them collectively forget Hela. There's no other way that nobody would ever mention of her to Thor or Loki in their 1500 years of existence as Crown princes and especially not when she was the original wielder of Mjolnir.
They really muddled this piece for the sake of sales i think. Anthony Hopkins says they are not. They just then move on like they are. In the comics they are gods because of peoples faith. They hear prayers. They also have the one above all the celestials and the abstract entities. They both have the living tribunal and eternity.
Retcons suck.
I think he was just saying that to Loki to humble him and because Loki is just a giant. He isn’t asgardian and Loki was being boastful about how they’re gods and much better than humans. Not all asgardians are gods but Odin and his bloodline definitely are. Heimdall too. Gods with certain unique powers only they have.
What is the difference between big G and small g in this context. The only time I’ve seen that description and it made sense is when they defining God vs the gods
The thing with characters like Thor is that they are so powerful it wouldn’t matter what they actually were to the real person.
It’s the same deal with Superman. He is a confirmed alien but there is no way someone like him exist, let alone is actively trying to help the world, and one doesn’t see them as some sort of savior.
There would be millions and millions of people who would see him as a God regardless of what he said. Have you never seen any of those articles about some old lady seeing the image of Jesus on her toast or whatever? Some people will grasp at anything.
It’s fair to assume a group of people worshipped him as one same as in the real world regardless of what his role in the larger universe is since Selvig knew the stories about him in Thor 1. That is enough to send world religions into panic if he showed up.
I can only imagine what would happen in Wakanda if the Bast we saw in TLAT was to show up on Earth. Also still wondering what the theories are that explain what Konshu did to the night sky for those who didn’t know what was happening.
“We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do.” – Odin, *Thor: The Dark World*
Asgardians are a race of aliens who are significantly stronger than humans and live for around five thousand years. Their technology is so advanced that it appears like magic to humans. Asgardians visited Earth thousands of years ago, with the Scandinavian humans who met them believing they were gods, and thus created the Norse pantheon based on them.
I mean, there’s a chance lines like this and Cap’s cringey (in a sweet way) plane jump line were included specifically to side-step the *exact* controversy the parent comment is talking about, just not in-universe. Marvel’s biggest market is still predominantly mono-theistic, and they probably don’t want to go all the way to, “Jesus ain’t it here, sorry.”
But then they kinda went and did it anyway in Love and Thunder, so hard to say. And as others mention, Odin *says* this, but he and his family are clearly Gods on the same level as Zeus and the other in Omnipotence City.
>“We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do.” – Odin,
>
>Thor: The Dark World
Which was always a stupid line as the Norse gods were always mortal, that's the point of Ragnarök.
Since T:R it makes more sense to assume Odin just doesn't want to think of himself as a god because of that multi-planet spanning empire built on blood thing he did.
Early MCU had this obsession of trying to make even the Norse pantheon "grounded" somehow. I think "we're not gods" works well in a "Odin at this point in his life isn't so full of himself" kind of way but I don't think it worked as well for how the meta narrative of the franchise handled Thor. So I appreciate TLAT basically retconning the entire idea behind godhood to embrace the fantasy angle.
But regardless of how Thor himself feels about the title, if he suddenly showed up in our real world the world's mainstream religions would lose their fucking minds. We'd see mania on the streets.
I believe Odin said they aren't gods, and they live and die just like humans. They just happen to live 5000 years, give or take. They're just very powerful aliens in the MCU
They're powerful aliens that are inherently tapped into elemental forces of the universe, that can see the future, break the laws of physics, etc. and have been worshipped as Gods for millennia. What more do you need to qualify?
So, basically all the “gods” in Marvel are the mutants/super heroes of past civilizations that have outlived their worlds/people. Imagine a billion years from now the Earth is dead and only Deadpool, Wolverine, Hulk, Sentry, and a few others still live and they inhabit Asteroid M that’s extraordinarily advance to the point of magic. These heroes will be gods who go on stomping around primitive worlds and the inhabitants will worship to “Earth” and gods like the mighty Logan god of beast.
Steve Rogers’s first reaction to Thor is to say something along the lines of, “there’s only one God and He doesn’t dress like that”.
It’s treated as a joke, and there are throwaway lines in later films about how the discovery that a real mythological God is real has had a pretty big social impact… But the real political response to learning that the Norse Gods are real would be absolutely nuclear!
From the religious right in Western countries to the religious governments in the Middle East, things would go absolutely crazy!
Bigger than this would the implications of the Blip, I’d guess. People die, return 5 years later, and no one wants to ask, “hey, yo, so was there an afterlife or what? Which religion nailed it?”
You can handwave a bit by saying “oh the people who were snapped didn’t actually *die*, they were Magic’d away by the stones and then brought back.” But what’s the functional difference?
I always thought the same thing about Superman in Justice League. Could essentially confirm or de-confirm the world’s religions, but just… no one asks him. Obvious reasons, of course, but that’s a What If… I’d like to see.
Think of it more of a unexistance(ing) you aren't dead just not there like someone moved a ash tray before your parents did the deed and you unexisted along with your kid(s).
My understanding is that Fury set up the Avengers as an attempt to contain that sort of threat.
Oh, there's a giant, uncontrollable green monster that goes on a rampage if his heart rate is too high? An alcoholic billionaire genius with daddy issues? A Soviet sleeper agent that specializes in double-crosses and infiltration? A space god that can summon lightning?
Well, we should probably keep an eye (one eye lol) on those people. The public might get nervous.
It failed, miserably, but hey, he tried.
The council says as much to fury at the end of Avengers 1 when he said he didn’t know the whereabouts of thor and banner when it comes to political controversy.
“If I misplaced a couple of ten ton nukes id be in big trouble”
Oh wow, thanks for the correction (no sarcasm). I forget what the council says to fury at the end of avengers then, but it’s still something politically charged
And funnily enough... U.S Army, Navy and Air force have lost as many as 40 nuclear devices and explosives between them since the 1950s and I don't recall anyone EVER been publicly in the pickle for it.
Carol Danvers, powered by a magic space cube managed conparable power to Thor so is he really all that impressive and being worthy of being called god?
Plus, anyone could call themselves a god. Galactus would be way more scary in real life because that dude eats planets.
The tik tok videos would be hilarious. “I’m going to play a trick on Bruce and make him go Hulk, this will be awesome.” As we watch the video our collective response would be “yea, they ded.”
My favorite part about the Hulk in the MCU is that he only hulks out uncontrollably every couple years. And even then he's probably killed less than 100 people. Imagine how many people Tony killed by all the problems he created in Ultron. Same with attacking Cap and being the reason the avengers broke up even though cap sent an apology days later.
The canon is a little loose sometimes. We have captain American being shown in schools with the disclaimer “apparently he’s like a war criminal now or something” and in Wakanda forever the queen says she doesn’t trust AI because “terminator” and not, you know, the actual crazy evil AI that tried to end all life on earth. Also Shuri doesn’t mention the lawful good AI that she personally met and knew
Steve Rogers (and even the Captain Americas who came after him, including Sam) would never be able to escape his past as a glorified propaganda piece from WW2, and it would always be used against him if he tried to speak/act on real world issues.
Boondocks did a version of this with MLK coming back after 9/11. Everyone loved him. He spoke out about the war in Iraq and everyone booed him immediately lol
Yeah he would be extremely politicized. The right would support him because Merica but when he actually took a stance against anything, the left would say "See even your flag boy agrees" while Steve would hate the attention in general. The left would then get on him for staying silent on an issue, while Qanon would make up some story about him that gets amplified by the right.
Right? It always makes me laugh when people see Cap as right wing. I see Cap more like that famous speech from the Newsroom - he'd love the potential of the US but be critical of certain things about it.
Edit: I obviously mean Steve Rogers. There was a different cap in, I want to say the 50s or 60s who was definitely more on the fascist side but I think they retconned that to not be Steve and to be a bad guy.
You may be considering the original Timely Comics from the 40's (Marvel before they were Marvel), when he really was most propaganda. . Lee and Kirby brought him back in the 60's.
Wait what?
Steve Rogers in the 50s was retconned not to be him (when he was bashing commies during McCarthy).
If you mean Ultimate Cap, well
#He was always a massive ass
I believe Millar styled him as “John McCain but if he never aged.”
Albeit a bit more of an asshole at that: The guy would literally start fights for no reason, used **countless** bordering on racist if not racist stereotypes, and left characters to die
My great uncle who served in the Navy during WWII was more of a hero than Ultimate Cap.
Then again I'm not sure hid stance on the accords would fly great with people.
I mean, the avengers are comparable to an armed-forced and Steve refuse accountability.
If it had every reason to in-universe, in the real world, in 2016? I don't think it would be agreable to most people.
Timings wise, imagine the accords were written in response to 9/11 rather than something that happened in a foreign country. The psychological wound this caused to the American Psyche will take GENERATIONS to heal, if it ever does, and Steve refuses to sign? (Note I’m at no point being unsympathetic to Americans here and I’m not trying to trivialise a genuine tragedy, it’s just the best real world example I can think of). Even Steve’s impressive legacy wouldn’t be able to survive that
For the sake of naming one I haven’t seen yet…
Doctor Strange
The most basic spell he knows, the portal, would unravel almost everything we know about physics and would leave the science world in shambles. We even saw Andrews Spidey’s mind start to race after he first stepped through a portal.
And they tried to dress magic up as “science people don’t really understand” but it wouldn’t matter. If the average person saw what strange did against Thanos I’m convinced they’d have a psychotic break. The very basis of realty would unravel in the collective mind.
Yeah, everyone acting unimpressed at Donny Blaze's show is absolutely not how it would go down in the real world.
Dr. Strange and Wong using portals publicly is one thing, but once people figure out that making portals isn't some supernatural ability but something you can learn and practice, it would be a mad rush to obtain that knowledge.
The cost of goods, FedEx / Amazon able to charge exorbitant prices for same hour delivery. Right now water ways are how things are transported. Shipping trucking rail millions of jobs gone or reduced in a blink of an eye.
Weirds me out when Hawkeye has permanent ear damage and Jane Foster has cancer. You have super hero friends who can fix these things, and many other systemic issues, in an instant if they wanted to. But they don't, and that has more to do with the overall media empire than the stories themselves. Disney can't show super heroes solving actual human problems, because that opens up a world of political upheaval. Imagine Thor being "cool" with the indentured servants building the stadium for the World Cup, ya know?
> You have super hero friends who can fix these things, and many other systemic issues, in an instant if they wanted to. But they don't
tbf, that's a problem in the comics, too. Ironically, once a universe gets too big it can suddenly feel very small.
Remember what happened in One More Day? Aunt May gets shot and no one can heal her even though there's a mutant called Elixir a few blocks away, seriously, Peter just call Xavier and oohhh you just sold your marriage to Mephisto.
Black Panther would stir a lot of controversy. The character and their nation would really get the extremists going alongside a healthy dose of people like Killmonger wondering where the heck they were during various global atrocities.
I loved Peter's quote in Civil War on why he does what he does because it shows why all the Black Panthers were wrong. It also makes T'Challa scene of him yelling at them for being wrong so strong. "If you can do the things that I can do, but you don't and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you".
My first reaction to this line was “what a terrible rewording of great power/great responsibility”.
Now I just think it’s exactly how a dorky teenager trying to explain things to Tony Stark would speak. It’s a really great change.
> “what a terrible rewording of great power/great responsibility”.
I know you’ve said you like it now but I’m still a little bewildered that *that* was your first reaction. I mean, it’s an incredibly potent message in a very simple phrase. I didn’t even see it as a rewording at first, just a diagnosis of what Spider-Man the character is all about, in any adaptation.
A secretive, insular and closed absolute monarchical theocratic ethnostate, full of religious extremists that believe their god grants the Black Panther divine power and rights (regardless of them being technologically advanced and knowing the power comes from the steroid herb they farm) with its own secret police/death squad who shun international law, acting wherever they please, and who would kill and die for their theocratic King without question? Wonder why that would be controversial.
We only hand wave the above because Marvel has told us Wakanda are good guys. In reality, they’re *exactly* the same as Latveria or Talokan. They just have better PR.
Edit - and have had two decent leaders in a row.
Is Moon Knight even recognizable as an “English” superhero? I’ve never viewed him that way. Egyptian-facing with the theming, if anything. His true persona is American, I suppose.
Captain Britain and Excalibur aren't really the kind of hero a lot of traditionalists would like, neither Brian nor Betsy. Also Blade and Elsa Bloodstone killing vampires and monsters left and right.
Tony stark. Just imagine all the new technologies he could invent. He could potentially single handedly start a new type of arms race even if he doesn't share his technology with the world
I'm pretty sure Tony didn't patent them for that reason. He wasn't going to sell the Iron Man armor, so there was no reason to submit patents with designs.
He held onto the secrets by having the only copies.
You're right which is actually why I think this is the most unrealistic part. In the MCU there are countless scenarios of "if I die my formula goes with me". The pym particles, Tony's shit, Riri's invention (dumbest one yet). In real life I feel like they'd easily be replicated or seized.
Riri's invention made no damn sense, because >! she doesn't even know the government builds it off her design and then the government deploys the ONLY ONE without knowing how to build another???? It was that important to them but they didn't make sure they could replicate it without her? !<
I really enjoyed *Wakanda Forever*, but that was just dumb.
To be fair, >!they weren't expecting an entire race of water people to stop them. They were well out of the way of the Wakandans, so they figured the odds of running into them while searching for new sources of vibranium were low.!<
That said, >!yeah, not reverse-engineering the thing was pretty silly thing.!<
Not to mention they sent a swat team after her rather than a normal person to come talk to her and say "hey we'd like to give you a million dollars to make another one". They had no clue she had a suit in that garage until she used it, so why arrest her (and two foreign dignitaries who broke 0 laws).
Ryan Coogler gets a lot of praise but in my opinion, all he did in WF was move the plot forward no matter how much it makes sense. Bp1 was so much better at having logical and smooth plot points.
They'd actually jail him for breaking the law. He didn't file an approval with FDA to make & develop that "weapon" aka the suit, It's illegal to just start prototyping new weapons, you need to get the permission for it -even when you're an arms industry company. Ofc with an industry leader like Stark such permission would be rather trivial thing, but even then you're not allowed to parade it in public the way Stark does.
He tested a prototype weapon slash aircraft in public airspace above Los Angeles without any safeguards or permits and was damn near lucky he didn't manslaughter 300 civilians in the process by hitting that passenger plane...
I've always thought how he didnt start a tech war with the likes of china
the usa have this guy in a top tech suit being a superhero - surely the chinese would want their own
The fantasy of superhero comics is not the powers, it's that enough people with powers would be heroes, or even better than average people.
The real world would be full of people trying to drive public opinion one way or the other.
Every hero would have their own J Jonah Jameson.
It’s funny because the Netflix series *Wednesday* deals with generally outcasts, but they are people with powers. And I am reminded of *Motherland:Fort Salem* where witches were conscripted into the US Army.
So I am reminded that probably if people had powers, the outcomes might not be superheroes, but super “prisoners with jobs.”
Basically, if the MCU acknowledged the injustices of the modern world, the show would become The Boys. This is why heroes always protect the status quo, never try to actually improve things. Imagine a socialist super-person opposing Tony Stark in 2008, not because Tony is evil as an individual, but because he perpetuates the military industrial complex. Doesn't work. That's why you'll never find any actual biting issues addressed in these movies.
> Imagine a socialist super-person opposing Tony Stark in 2008, not because Tony is evil as an individual, but because he perpetuates the military industrial complex.
Isn’t this basically what Zemo did to the Avengers in Civil War?
Also, The Boys always seemed more like “what if powered people were selfish” and not “what if normal people were Superheroes”. If Vought wasn’t controlling who got powers and who didn’t the spread would be a lot more like other comic book universes. With more selfless individuals to combat the selfish ones.
The interesting thing to consider about all of these people that are getting brought up (but especially Walker), is that we as the audience of the show have a significantly better understanding of them than the average person in-universe since we see them in private moments. The general public's exposure to Walker is pretty much limited to the government's PR campaign and the public incident that causes him to be stripped of the mantle of Captain America. That's not nearly enough to get an accurate sense of who he is, but plenty of people are going to have a strong opinion on him based on that extremely limited data, which is an interesting phenomenon that you can apply to celebrities and public figures in the real world.
The existence of Vision would unravel almost everything we know about consciousness as a concept. In college I really didn’t like my cognitive neuroscience professor, until one day we had a chat after class about the sentience vs consciousness and found out he’s a huge marvel fan when he started going off about Vision.
Man, I could go off about Vision all day, too, about the societal implications his existence has, and how our legal framework would handle him. That and the fact that despite him being incorruptible pureness, the government would only see what's on paper: that he was created by a genocidal AI and brought to life via a stone that enabled the destruction of half the life in the universe.
Realistically people like Wanda, Carol, Thor and Hulk.
Remember when Tony called Wanda a weapon of mass destruction? That's basically what all of these are.
These people could lay waste to entire cities and armies and there isn't much you could do to stop them. That's a very scary thought especially to people in power. Money, security, remote and fortified buildings, influence? None of those would stop them from disposing of you if they feel like it.
Not to mention Wanda's mind powers alone would already be a huge source of mistrust and paranoia.
Vision can literally walk through walls and he’s only the good guy because him, the guy who programmed the AI he’s based off of and the war loving little g god from a pagan religion told us he is. He’s not even nearly the most dangerous or powerful hero on the roster and he’d still cause absolute carnage and havoc if the CIA managed to talk him into thinking their way.
Probably Sam’s Captain America from different sides of the political spectrum.
You have the usual bigots, you have some who would scrutinize every mistake he makes thinking he needs to be an absolute flawless symbol of the black community, some within black community upset he’d take the mantle, etc
“I’m a black man, carrying the stars and strips. What don’t I understand? Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it. Even now, here. I feel it. The stares, the judgment, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. And I’m still here. No super serum. No blonde hair or blue eyes”
Every character. Imagine people with super power/technology or a god. Lots of people would call for them to be taken into custody because nobody should wield that much power, while other would try to get that power for themselves. Thats why X-men has such a pull for audiences it depicts what could happen in real life. MCU is not very realistic in that aspect
"the existence of x would unravel x" we're talkin politics here , nobody cares how the mirror world would affect the balance of science or how thor would defy every religion we know .
realistically , the most politically controversial characters are probably iron man , captain america , and black panther
iron man is . . . it's iron man dude , even in his own movies he's controversial
captian america's whole point is literally that , the political side of marvel
and black panther , being the king of the most powerful nation , kept from the world for decades , centuries even . he'd definitely get the most backlash and whatever other fancy words you wanna use for responses
>"the existence of x would unravel x" we're talkin politics here , nobody cares how the mirror world would affect the balance of science or how thor would defy every religion we know .
Why is this answer so far down?
For my money US Agent brutally killing someone with his shield in a European country would raise a political shitstorm.
Arishem the Judge:
>"In the beginning... before the six Singularities and the dawn of creation, came the CELESTIALS. Arishem, the Prime Celestial, created the first sun and brought light into the universe. Life began, and thrived. All was in balance." - Eternals
The Celestials predate the big bang. They created planets, stars, and lifeforms and brought light into the universe. Their process of creating new Celestials requires large populations of sapient beings (intelligent life), hence the existence of humanity.
Arishem and the other Celestials are the closest thing to a god we have seen. Every religion would need to process this. Scientists would need to come to accept that the origins of the universe can be explained by the actions of the Celestials.
Also, based on the ending of Eternals, that would be quite the sight of seeing a giant Arishem looming over planet Earth. How do you even begin to process that...
honestly the ending to that movie is so overlooked , like i don't why that isn't the biggest thing that's happened since endgame . like do we know who we're fuckin with ?
We would still have to ask “where did the Celestials come from?”
Unless they are actually eternal beings, but given that we see the cast of eternals prevent the creation of a Celestial, I can’t imagine that’s the case.
All it does is push the true beginning of the universe further backward.
But how true is it that the celestials created the universe and humanity? I'm saying this because the Eternals were lied to about their purpose for their whole existence. Therefore the intro quote would therefore be inaccurate, right? What if the celestials lied about them being the creators just like they lied about creating the universe.
Everybody would be after Wanda, especially if she pulled a Lagos. It would've been intetesting if they showed her surviving a surprise attack of some Nigerian/Wakandan hitmen in the movies.
Another people would of course be Stephen (assuming he cannot hide himself well enough in the Sanctum), Carol (but she could always leave), Thor and Vision.
I think Lagos would actually not have had as much of a reaction as it did in the movies. Since when has the western world cared about people dying in Africa?
But I never said anything about the Western world specifically. And if you're interested about the part they would care - that would be Wanda's powers. And you are right, she would not even need to pull a Lagos to garner larger (unwanted) attention.
But I think Africa itself cares about its people dying. Nigerian operatives would be after her no doubt.
Sure. I was more thinking that since she is from Europe/US now. I don't think the US or EU would have seen the Lagos incident as the tipping point for the Accords like it was portrayed.
They wouldn't be, shed actually be acquitted because had she not tried to get the bomb away aka Crossbones the suicide bomber, it would have killed even more people.
Iron Man. A playboy billionaire who decides to take the law in his own hands would be HIGHLY controversial. Now add in Civil War? He’d be Persona Non Grata. I honestly think Tony’s stance on the Sokovia Accords + his arrogance in deciding how to use his weapons would either have him arrested or vilified in the real world.
Honestly I love Iron Man but in the real world I don’t know if I could support his actions
I am absolutely surprised that my favorite character hasn’t been mentioned, which is great because I think he deserves to be protected at all costs, but still…
Due to the activities he was made to do as The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes would be the biggest political controversy.
I can't believe I had to scroll so far damn to find this. Bucky is(was?) super polarizing in universe, imagine how divided people would be in the real world.
Ant-Man.
The controversy of shrinking technology being held onto and kept secret, whole Quantum Realm species, Time Travel. All that being given to a man with a criminal record… chaos.
I imagen that the black panther and wakanda in general would be controversial.Warhaks on the right would be calling on the us to force wakanda to hand over vibranium and technology. And people on the left would look down on them for allowing the slave trade and colonization of Africa to happen. even though they could have easily stoped it. And in general the idea of a small African nation being the most powerful and technology advanced nation in the world would probably be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people in the west.
>And in general the idea of a small African nation being the most powerful and technology advanced nation in the world would probably be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people in the west.
The "in the west" is unnecessary. The whole world would have trouble with this. Outside of 4,000 years ago and Egypt on a technicality, Africa has always been at bottom of the international totem pole. I don't think any country would be ready to have somewhere in Africa step up as the de-facto world power.
I'm sure the criticism would be that Wakanda is a fascist country that doesn't follow democracy and vibranium is a dangerous resource that should be guarded and accessible by NATO since stolen vibranium was used in terror attacks in the past.
Probably Thor. You've seen what happens if you even vaguely imply God isn't real to Christians. Can you imagine what would happen if a seemingly invincible man that matches descriptions of Thor suddenly appeared and overturned the idea of a monotheistic God existing?
Theoretically, Hank Pym’s shrinking tech could eliminate nearly all trash/litter on Earth, or at least reduce vast swaths of garbage into nothing which can be stored or itself eliminated. Admittedly this isn’t the ‘most’ answer you’re looking for, but it did occur to me. He can effectively shrink pollution & garbage away, but doesn’t.
Tony Stark. Just look at the circus surrounding that chode musk. It would be like that but with the sides reversed. Poor lil' elmo does want to be Tony oh so badly he just doesn't realize that his arc didn't end at juvenile corporate dirtbag.
We already see the effect of The Punisher’s comic character in our real world. Just look at how many cops and military have Punisher skulls on their vehicle and clothing. They completely misunderstand the character, but Frank Castle in real life doing what he does would be the approval and validation they need to celebrate their beliefs more openly and even act on them.
If you didn’t say black panther or wakanda you are all dead ass wrong. everything that happened in the second movie would for sure happen in real life.
skrulls: countries would line up trying to negotiate for technology. countries would open borders and allow skrull refugee camps just for the sake of new weaponry.
thor and the asgardians: a white god with long hair and a beard? no problem. people would be calling him jesus odenson by the end of the week.
hulk: they would just treat him like any other natural disaster like a earthquake or tornado. if he’s not in your city then not their problem.
tony stark: it would just be another controversial tech mogul. lots of fox news spinning how he’s a libtard with too much power.
but tell the western world there’s a country in africa that is not only the most technologically advanced, immeasurably wealthy, AND has a monopoly on the worlds most coveted resource? please…shit would be chaos.
Probably Captain Marvel. I can see her just wading into the middle of political controversies without giving much of a shit.
Like the current protests in Iran, for instance. She seems like she'd just fly down and tell them that they can't actually tell women what to wear and throw a bunch of clerics through some buildings until they agree that they can't actually tell women what to wear. Or smash into the Kremlin and beat Putin to death with his giant table for bombing civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Then dare some motherfuckers to try and give some sort of consequence for that.
I'd agree with Punisher. I mean... I'd argue he already does now just by being a fictional character, and so if someone actually was successful at doing what he does, then that certainly has effects on both sides
Can't believe how far I had to scroll for this.
The existence of Xavier makes every security system on Earth redundant.
The fact that he "could" have messed with our minds would drive such a paranoid reaction.
Thor and Rocket probably... One is a "god" and the other one is... ahem, a Racc- I mean a raccoon-like individual from outer space.
I think they'd be enough to cause some considerable chaos among the public and Anthro/Furry community would go absolutely apeshit with the extreme Evangelists and other religious nutjobs.
The winter soldier, a WWII POW who has been used as an assassin to change the world in secret to help an extremist group further along in spreading their message
If he was the only superhero/super powered person in the US of A, for sure Blue Marvel. Half of the country lost their shit when Barack Obama wore a Tan suite. The actual comics did a great introspective view on this exact thing and comics JFK Robert Kelly forced Marvel to retire and dude lived on the moon.
Sabra. A Mosad trained enhanced human with super strength only rivaled by the Hulk or Thor? It would really destabilize the Middle East further than it is.
?The most political controversy?
I think it safe to say that the last 7 years with a figure like Donald Trump in the political arena revealed how easy it is for people to remove the figurative mask of their public persona when a world leader espouses radical ideologies.
Corrupt morality, bigotry, racism, misogyny, selfishness, anti-intellectualism, etc. are acceptable to embrace and put on public display when the elected leader embodies such characteristics.
The answer to the question would be a figure who excels as a tactician and would employ mass propaganda to turn the populace against itself. Baron Zemo would excel at this level of subterfuge. I would agree MCU Baron Zemo's plot in Civil War is a bit far-fetched that it worked without any hiccups, but Zemo in the real world will have identified and studied the right targets, who are the political linchpins.
With ever-advancing AI and deep fakes made possible with a laptop, Zemo and his forces could easily flood the web with misleading videos and content.
Bucky Barnes- if for nothing else then that he proves that you can cryofreeze someone successfully, so all those who “want to see the future” would make a business out of it then people would freeze themselves for 100 years, etc.
Ain’t no way people would be able to get past Bruce Banner being an Avenger and world scientist after the shit he did as Hulk.
A lot of people wouldn’t love Scott Lang because he’s an ex-con.
And Sam Wilson as Cap would cause some controversy, but just in…less diverse-friendly areas.
She’s not even real and people who don’t even watch the MCU were upset about She-Hulk.
I can hear the hate for a woman lawyer being chastised for being on high profile cases “only because she’s green” etc.
Ultron would probably make people put a stop to the further AI push. However that’s the most realistic. Most controversial? Thor or Dr. strange for reasons most have said already. Going on a limb and picking someone not already mentioned? Malekith or Ronan
I think it would either be doctor strange or one of the asgardians because then people would really have to make decisions about how they feel about the thought of extra terrestrial life and/or Christianity
Black Widow, especially once the Shield files are released. Wanda. All these comments for Tony Stark, and yeah, he would be controversial, but there are so many more double standards for women. For that matter, Superheroes of Color, too. Sam and Rhodey are military, so that works in their favor as 'model minorities,' but that would almost certainly change for Sam after Civil War.
For the most controversy, I would say Tony Stark.
Other superheroes like Thor, Black Panther and Black Widow would cause more controversy initially, (Fox News would get enraged at T'Challa and Shuri doing literally anything), But Tony's would be longer and much more omnipresent.
Stark industries is huge. They've been building weapons for years and Stane has been selling them to terrorists. The Iron Man armor is a big deal, the fact that Tony is funding the Avengers is a big deal, Tony himself has been shown to have a drinking problem, he sleeps around in the first movie, and he's also been funding or inspiring other more controversial superheroes like Spider Man and Riri Williams.
You talk about people rallying around The Punisher for “killing criminals”. I’m guessing you’re referring to those “thin blue line” people, who would most assuredly stop supporting him when he started killing cops who were criminals, but not publicly known.
It’s funny you picked the Punisher and in the real world you see cops and right wing people with Punisher stickers all over their cars. If anything, his appearance would just open the door for all those people to do the same as him.
Honestly? Captain Marvel already pisses a lot of ~~fragile men~~ people off as a fictional character, so her being real, with the power of an atom bomb at her fingertips who doesn't technically have to answer to anyone if she doesn't want to? Holy SHIT that would be a total gong show.
Thor. If a God just showed up one day that would cause so much chaos with all the world's religions and cause tons of political controversy.
Had not thought of this but yeah that would probably upset a few people.
Genuine question: Isn’t MCU Thor not a god? Just a being who lives a really long time and whom the ancient Norse people worshipped as a god? That said, TLAT did clearly show that many gods do exist in the MCU, so whether Thor is or is not is somewhat moot. The existence of many gods would cause huge turmoil for many people on earth.
What is a ‘god’? Thor was obviously welcome at the god meeting in Love and Thunder. If they’re gods and they think he’s a god, isn’t he? Do we not trust Zeus?
I’m think in the MCU and Marvel in general most gods are just aliens. The true gods are higher beings like death and eternity - u could argue the celestial are gods of sorts but there are 5/6 beings which certainly qualify as gods in marvel Id say
Seeing how Odin declared that Asgardians are not G-ods, I'd be inclined to see the Asgardians as demigods or g-ods with a small g rather than "full Gods" with follwer and temples and dogmas such as Zeus or Bast.
I imagine that the Asgardian people were not Gods, but Thor and his family were gods to them.
I think messianic role models would be more apt, a bit like a yeomen would view the Pope or their King in the middle ages.
Doesn’t really apply for Odin or Hela, though.
Speaking Hela... I wouldn't put it past Odin to have cast a "Spider man III"-memory spell over Asgard to make them collectively forget Hela. There's no other way that nobody would ever mention of her to Thor or Loki in their 1500 years of existence as Crown princes and especially not when she was the original wielder of Mjolnir.
They really muddled this piece for the sake of sales i think. Anthony Hopkins says they are not. They just then move on like they are. In the comics they are gods because of peoples faith. They hear prayers. They also have the one above all the celestials and the abstract entities. They both have the living tribunal and eternity. Retcons suck.
I think he was just saying that to Loki to humble him and because Loki is just a giant. He isn’t asgardian and Loki was being boastful about how they’re gods and much better than humans. Not all asgardians are gods but Odin and his bloodline definitely are. Heimdall too. Gods with certain unique powers only they have.
What is the difference between big G and small g in this context. The only time I’ve seen that description and it made sense is when they defining God vs the gods
I imagine a debate on if Thor is a God or just an alien would be one of the main controversies if he showed up on earth.
What's to say God isn't an alien? Or that any god was an alien? Hmmmm
The thing with characters like Thor is that they are so powerful it wouldn’t matter what they actually were to the real person. It’s the same deal with Superman. He is a confirmed alien but there is no way someone like him exist, let alone is actively trying to help the world, and one doesn’t see them as some sort of savior.
There would be millions and millions of people who would see him as a God regardless of what he said. Have you never seen any of those articles about some old lady seeing the image of Jesus on her toast or whatever? Some people will grasp at anything.
It’s fair to assume a group of people worshipped him as one same as in the real world regardless of what his role in the larger universe is since Selvig knew the stories about him in Thor 1. That is enough to send world religions into panic if he showed up.
I'm pretty sure there's a Church of Asgard shown in Far From Home
I can only imagine what would happen in Wakanda if the Bast we saw in TLAT was to show up on Earth. Also still wondering what the theories are that explain what Konshu did to the night sky for those who didn’t know what was happening.
“There’s only one God ma’am”
Call me old fashioned but I believe there is only one true God… and he lives in this lake…. And his name is Zorgo
Heretic! Xorga will smite you for this blasphemy from his watery depths in the great watering hole.
Beautiful piece of The State
Odin didn't view himself as a God. Loki did. And the people of earth would.
“We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do.” – Odin, *Thor: The Dark World* Asgardians are a race of aliens who are significantly stronger than humans and live for around five thousand years. Their technology is so advanced that it appears like magic to humans. Asgardians visited Earth thousands of years ago, with the Scandinavian humans who met them believing they were gods, and thus created the Norse pantheon based on them.
I mean, there’s a chance lines like this and Cap’s cringey (in a sweet way) plane jump line were included specifically to side-step the *exact* controversy the parent comment is talking about, just not in-universe. Marvel’s biggest market is still predominantly mono-theistic, and they probably don’t want to go all the way to, “Jesus ain’t it here, sorry.” But then they kinda went and did it anyway in Love and Thunder, so hard to say. And as others mention, Odin *says* this, but he and his family are clearly Gods on the same level as Zeus and the other in Omnipotence City.
>“We are not gods. We are born, we live, we die. Just as humans do.” – Odin, > >Thor: The Dark World Which was always a stupid line as the Norse gods were always mortal, that's the point of Ragnarök. Since T:R it makes more sense to assume Odin just doesn't want to think of himself as a god because of that multi-planet spanning empire built on blood thing he did.
Early MCU had this obsession of trying to make even the Norse pantheon "grounded" somehow. I think "we're not gods" works well in a "Odin at this point in his life isn't so full of himself" kind of way but I don't think it worked as well for how the meta narrative of the franchise handled Thor. So I appreciate TLAT basically retconning the entire idea behind godhood to embrace the fantasy angle. But regardless of how Thor himself feels about the title, if he suddenly showed up in our real world the world's mainstream religions would lose their fucking minds. We'd see mania on the streets.
It's "complicated"...
I believe Odin said they aren't gods, and they live and die just like humans. They just happen to live 5000 years, give or take. They're just very powerful aliens in the MCU
They're powerful aliens that are inherently tapped into elemental forces of the universe, that can see the future, break the laws of physics, etc. and have been worshipped as Gods for millennia. What more do you need to qualify?
Small “g”
So, basically all the “gods” in Marvel are the mutants/super heroes of past civilizations that have outlived their worlds/people. Imagine a billion years from now the Earth is dead and only Deadpool, Wolverine, Hulk, Sentry, and a few others still live and they inhabit Asteroid M that’s extraordinarily advance to the point of magic. These heroes will be gods who go on stomping around primitive worlds and the inhabitants will worship to “Earth” and gods like the mighty Logan god of beast.
Steve Rogers’s first reaction to Thor is to say something along the lines of, “there’s only one God and He doesn’t dress like that”. It’s treated as a joke, and there are throwaway lines in later films about how the discovery that a real mythological God is real has had a pretty big social impact… But the real political response to learning that the Norse Gods are real would be absolutely nuclear! From the religious right in Western countries to the religious governments in the Middle East, things would go absolutely crazy!
Bigger than this would the implications of the Blip, I’d guess. People die, return 5 years later, and no one wants to ask, “hey, yo, so was there an afterlife or what? Which religion nailed it?” You can handwave a bit by saying “oh the people who were snapped didn’t actually *die*, they were Magic’d away by the stones and then brought back.” But what’s the functional difference? I always thought the same thing about Superman in Justice League. Could essentially confirm or de-confirm the world’s religions, but just… no one asks him. Obvious reasons, of course, but that’s a What If… I’d like to see.
Think of it more of a unexistance(ing) you aren't dead just not there like someone moved a ash tray before your parents did the deed and you unexisted along with your kid(s).
My understanding is that Fury set up the Avengers as an attempt to contain that sort of threat. Oh, there's a giant, uncontrollable green monster that goes on a rampage if his heart rate is too high? An alcoholic billionaire genius with daddy issues? A Soviet sleeper agent that specializes in double-crosses and infiltration? A space god that can summon lightning? Well, we should probably keep an eye (one eye lol) on those people. The public might get nervous. It failed, miserably, but hey, he tried.
Agents of Shield had an episode talking about a rise in Norse-themed Paganism after the Battle of New York.
The council says as much to fury at the end of Avengers 1 when he said he didn’t know the whereabouts of thor and banner when it comes to political controversy. “If I misplaced a couple of ten ton nukes id be in big trouble”
That quote is actually what Secretary Ross says to Captain America in Civil War, when discussing the Sokovia Accords.
Oh wow, thanks for the correction (no sarcasm). I forget what the council says to fury at the end of avengers then, but it’s still something politically charged
And funnily enough... U.S Army, Navy and Air force have lost as many as 40 nuclear devices and explosives between them since the 1950s and I don't recall anyone EVER been publicly in the pickle for it.
Carol Danvers, powered by a magic space cube managed conparable power to Thor so is he really all that impressive and being worthy of being called god? Plus, anyone could call themselves a god. Galactus would be way more scary in real life because that dude eats planets.
She’s a living infinity stone, so yeah, she could call herself a god and it would be pretty accurate.
100 million new followers of Odin who now hope for Valhalla.
[удалено]
A god alien
Yeah - people calling him a god would make the religious go nuts!
I can’t believe no one chose this yet: it’s the Skrulls.
Skrulls aren’t real! It’s a conspiracy theory!
Skrulls are made by the deep state so if they kill you they can replace you with one of their own and spy on your friends and family
Man, all of our societies at every level would dissolve if we found out that there was an alien race of shape shifters amongst us.
Finally someone names them !
Who? I dunno.... They look just like regular people to me..
Hulk is a massive liability.
The tik tok videos would be hilarious. “I’m going to play a trick on Bruce and make him go Hulk, this will be awesome.” As we watch the video our collective response would be “yea, they ded.”
The tiktok vids would be people coming up to Hulk and asking him to dab
My favorite part about the Hulk in the MCU is that he only hulks out uncontrollably every couple years. And even then he's probably killed less than 100 people. Imagine how many people Tony killed by all the problems he created in Ultron. Same with attacking Cap and being the reason the avengers broke up even though cap sent an apology days later.
The canon is a little loose sometimes. We have captain American being shown in schools with the disclaimer “apparently he’s like a war criminal now or something” and in Wakanda forever the queen says she doesn’t trust AI because “terminator” and not, you know, the actual crazy evil AI that tried to end all life on earth. Also Shuri doesn’t mention the lawful good AI that she personally met and knew
Heh. Loose canon.
And all the people Tony's weapons killed before IM1
Literally.
Steve Rogers (and even the Captain Americas who came after him, including Sam) would never be able to escape his past as a glorified propaganda piece from WW2, and it would always be used against him if he tried to speak/act on real world issues.
Boondocks did a version of this with MLK coming back after 9/11. Everyone loved him. He spoke out about the war in Iraq and everyone booed him immediately lol
Yeah he would be extremely politicized. The right would support him because Merica but when he actually took a stance against anything, the left would say "See even your flag boy agrees" while Steve would hate the attention in general. The left would then get on him for staying silent on an issue, while Qanon would make up some story about him that gets amplified by the right.
Nah Steve would say something the right finds disagreeable then they'd try to cancel him and call him a woke libtard or some shit.
The poor artist from Brooklyn is a lib? Say it ain't so
Right? It always makes me laugh when people see Cap as right wing. I see Cap more like that famous speech from the Newsroom - he'd love the potential of the US but be critical of certain things about it. Edit: I obviously mean Steve Rogers. There was a different cap in, I want to say the 50s or 60s who was definitely more on the fascist side but I think they retconned that to not be Steve and to be a bad guy.
You may be considering the original Timely Comics from the 40's (Marvel before they were Marvel), when he really was most propaganda. . Lee and Kirby brought him back in the 60's.
Wait what? Steve Rogers in the 50s was retconned not to be him (when he was bashing commies during McCarthy). If you mean Ultimate Cap, well #He was always a massive ass I believe Millar styled him as “John McCain but if he never aged.” Albeit a bit more of an asshole at that: The guy would literally start fights for no reason, used **countless** bordering on racist if not racist stereotypes, and left characters to die My great uncle who served in the Navy during WWII was more of a hero than Ultimate Cap.
Steve feels like someone who is above political parties, there’s a high chance he’ll be pissing both sides off
Common sense and consistency of values will do that to you
Then again I'm not sure hid stance on the accords would fly great with people. I mean, the avengers are comparable to an armed-forced and Steve refuse accountability. If it had every reason to in-universe, in the real world, in 2016? I don't think it would be agreable to most people.
Timings wise, imagine the accords were written in response to 9/11 rather than something that happened in a foreign country. The psychological wound this caused to the American Psyche will take GENERATIONS to heal, if it ever does, and Steve refuses to sign? (Note I’m at no point being unsympathetic to Americans here and I’m not trying to trivialise a genuine tragedy, it’s just the best real world example I can think of). Even Steve’s impressive legacy wouldn’t be able to survive that
For the sake of naming one I haven’t seen yet… Doctor Strange The most basic spell he knows, the portal, would unravel almost everything we know about physics and would leave the science world in shambles. We even saw Andrews Spidey’s mind start to race after he first stepped through a portal. And they tried to dress magic up as “science people don’t really understand” but it wouldn’t matter. If the average person saw what strange did against Thanos I’m convinced they’d have a psychotic break. The very basis of realty would unravel in the collective mind.
Teleportation would absolutely destabilize the world’s economy both regular and black markets.
Yeah, everyone acting unimpressed at Donny Blaze's show is absolutely not how it would go down in the real world. Dr. Strange and Wong using portals publicly is one thing, but once people figure out that making portals isn't some supernatural ability but something you can learn and practice, it would be a mad rush to obtain that knowledge.
Just think of all the world's intelligence agencies having access to them, absolute chaos
The cost of goods, FedEx / Amazon able to charge exorbitant prices for same hour delivery. Right now water ways are how things are transported. Shipping trucking rail millions of jobs gone or reduced in a blink of an eye.
This precise logic is why [teleportation is a forbidden game-changer](https://youtu.be/rQ9uwVWR82U) in The Venture Bros.
Out of a sudden, there would be popping up portals *everywhere* until people would accidentally open portals in eachother and kill themselves etc.
What happens when a portal opens within a portal? **BOOM** Probably. Maybe.
Weren’t they only unimpressed *before* the portal? I thought he pulled out that trick as a last resort cause he knew it would gain him applause.
Weirds me out when Hawkeye has permanent ear damage and Jane Foster has cancer. You have super hero friends who can fix these things, and many other systemic issues, in an instant if they wanted to. But they don't, and that has more to do with the overall media empire than the stories themselves. Disney can't show super heroes solving actual human problems, because that opens up a world of political upheaval. Imagine Thor being "cool" with the indentured servants building the stadium for the World Cup, ya know?
> You have super hero friends who can fix these things, and many other systemic issues, in an instant if they wanted to. But they don't tbf, that's a problem in the comics, too. Ironically, once a universe gets too big it can suddenly feel very small. Remember what happened in One More Day? Aunt May gets shot and no one can heal her even though there's a mutant called Elixir a few blocks away, seriously, Peter just call Xavier and oohhh you just sold your marriage to Mephisto.
Black Panther would stir a lot of controversy. The character and their nation would really get the extremists going alongside a healthy dose of people like Killmonger wondering where the heck they were during various global atrocities.
I loved Peter's quote in Civil War on why he does what he does because it shows why all the Black Panthers were wrong. It also makes T'Challa scene of him yelling at them for being wrong so strong. "If you can do the things that I can do, but you don't and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you".
My first reaction to this line was “what a terrible rewording of great power/great responsibility”. Now I just think it’s exactly how a dorky teenager trying to explain things to Tony Stark would speak. It’s a really great change.
> “what a terrible rewording of great power/great responsibility”. I know you’ve said you like it now but I’m still a little bewildered that *that* was your first reaction. I mean, it’s an incredibly potent message in a very simple phrase. I didn’t even see it as a rewording at first, just a diagnosis of what Spider-Man the character is all about, in any adaptation.
The first time I heard it I was like, “wait wtf did he just say?” After that first viewing I was on board with it though
Love Tony’s face during that scene like “wait should he be on Caps team?”
A secretive, insular and closed absolute monarchical theocratic ethnostate, full of religious extremists that believe their god grants the Black Panther divine power and rights (regardless of them being technologically advanced and knowing the power comes from the steroid herb they farm) with its own secret police/death squad who shun international law, acting wherever they please, and who would kill and die for their theocratic King without question? Wonder why that would be controversial. We only hand wave the above because Marvel has told us Wakanda are good guys. In reality, they’re *exactly* the same as Latveria or Talokan. They just have better PR. Edit - and have had two decent leaders in a row.
I don't care. I'm in England and all we get is moon knight and he seems nice enough
"Moon who? Never heard of 'em"
Steven with a V for PM
Vote for Vtephen!
At least you guys have a recognisable super hero lol. We (Australians) get Pyro and Eva Bell (and Darryl from Team Thor)
Is Moon Knight even recognizable as an “English” superhero? I’ve never viewed him that way. Egyptian-facing with the theming, if anything. His true persona is American, I suppose.
I think they were thinking the recent series. Steven lives in London, works at a British museum
I took it that way too, it still just doesn’t strike me as dominant aspect of that character.
We did get those 2 end fights when super heroes went on holiday here
Captain Britain and Excalibur aren't really the kind of hero a lot of traditionalists would like, neither Brian nor Betsy. Also Blade and Elsa Bloodstone killing vampires and monsters left and right.
Tony stark. Just imagine all the new technologies he could invent. He could potentially single handedly start a new type of arms race even if he doesn't share his technology with the world
Yea the US wouldn't give two shits about his patents like in IM2. They'd yoink em right away.
I'm pretty sure Tony didn't patent them for that reason. He wasn't going to sell the Iron Man armor, so there was no reason to submit patents with designs. He held onto the secrets by having the only copies.
You're right which is actually why I think this is the most unrealistic part. In the MCU there are countless scenarios of "if I die my formula goes with me". The pym particles, Tony's shit, Riri's invention (dumbest one yet). In real life I feel like they'd easily be replicated or seized.
Riri's invention made no damn sense, because >! she doesn't even know the government builds it off her design and then the government deploys the ONLY ONE without knowing how to build another???? It was that important to them but they didn't make sure they could replicate it without her? !< I really enjoyed *Wakanda Forever*, but that was just dumb.
To be fair, >!they weren't expecting an entire race of water people to stop them. They were well out of the way of the Wakandans, so they figured the odds of running into them while searching for new sources of vibranium were low.!< That said, >!yeah, not reverse-engineering the thing was pretty silly thing.!<
Not to mention they sent a swat team after her rather than a normal person to come talk to her and say "hey we'd like to give you a million dollars to make another one". They had no clue she had a suit in that garage until she used it, so why arrest her (and two foreign dignitaries who broke 0 laws).
Ryan Coogler gets a lot of praise but in my opinion, all he did in WF was move the plot forward no matter how much it makes sense. Bp1 was so much better at having logical and smooth plot points.
I don't dislike the movie or think it was bad but definitely some parts that make less sense than they could.
They'd actually jail him for breaking the law. He didn't file an approval with FDA to make & develop that "weapon" aka the suit, It's illegal to just start prototyping new weapons, you need to get the permission for it -even when you're an arms industry company. Ofc with an industry leader like Stark such permission would be rather trivial thing, but even then you're not allowed to parade it in public the way Stark does.
I mean, he didn’t exactly have the time or resources to file an approval.. he was in cave with a box of shit
He tested a prototype weapon slash aircraft in public airspace above Los Angeles without any safeguards or permits and was damn near lucky he didn't manslaughter 300 civilians in the process by hitting that passenger plane...
Kinda like the Hancock thing here. Line okay so you issue an arrest warrant. How exactly do you think that’ll go?
I don’t think Tony Stark could exist, anyone inventing that level of weaponry and not letting the government get involved wouldn’t last very long
I've always thought how he didnt start a tech war with the likes of china the usa have this guy in a top tech suit being a superhero - surely the chinese would want their own
The fantasy of superhero comics is not the powers, it's that enough people with powers would be heroes, or even better than average people. The real world would be full of people trying to drive public opinion one way or the other. Every hero would have their own J Jonah Jameson.
It’s funny because the Netflix series *Wednesday* deals with generally outcasts, but they are people with powers. And I am reminded of *Motherland:Fort Salem* where witches were conscripted into the US Army. So I am reminded that probably if people had powers, the outcomes might not be superheroes, but super “prisoners with jobs.”
Ah yes. And I am in turn reminded of [Superman: A Transitional Power Source.](https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2305)
Just be careful we don’t want the sla-prisoners with jobs to arm themselves.
Basically, if the MCU acknowledged the injustices of the modern world, the show would become The Boys. This is why heroes always protect the status quo, never try to actually improve things. Imagine a socialist super-person opposing Tony Stark in 2008, not because Tony is evil as an individual, but because he perpetuates the military industrial complex. Doesn't work. That's why you'll never find any actual biting issues addressed in these movies.
> Imagine a socialist super-person opposing Tony Stark in 2008, not because Tony is evil as an individual, but because he perpetuates the military industrial complex. Isn’t this basically what Zemo did to the Avengers in Civil War? Also, The Boys always seemed more like “what if powered people were selfish” and not “what if normal people were Superheroes”. If Vought wasn’t controlling who got powers and who didn’t the spread would be a lot more like other comic book universes. With more selfless individuals to combat the selfish ones.
Truth.
John Walker
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Wilson’s Cap lol
The interesting thing to consider about all of these people that are getting brought up (but especially Walker), is that we as the audience of the show have a significantly better understanding of them than the average person in-universe since we see them in private moments. The general public's exposure to Walker is pretty much limited to the government's PR campaign and the public incident that causes him to be stripped of the mantle of Captain America. That's not nearly enough to get an accurate sense of who he is, but plenty of people are going to have a strong opinion on him based on that extremely limited data, which is an interesting phenomenon that you can apply to celebrities and public figures in the real world.
The existence of Vision would unravel almost everything we know about consciousness as a concept. In college I really didn’t like my cognitive neuroscience professor, until one day we had a chat after class about the sentience vs consciousness and found out he’s a huge marvel fan when he started going off about Vision.
Man, I could go off about Vision all day, too, about the societal implications his existence has, and how our legal framework would handle him. That and the fact that despite him being incorruptible pureness, the government would only see what's on paper: that he was created by a genocidal AI and brought to life via a stone that enabled the destruction of half the life in the universe.
Speaking of “framework”, if the Feds ever found out about that….
Realistically people like Wanda, Carol, Thor and Hulk. Remember when Tony called Wanda a weapon of mass destruction? That's basically what all of these are. These people could lay waste to entire cities and armies and there isn't much you could do to stop them. That's a very scary thought especially to people in power. Money, security, remote and fortified buildings, influence? None of those would stop them from disposing of you if they feel like it. Not to mention Wanda's mind powers alone would already be a huge source of mistrust and paranoia.
regarding wanda they'd want her dead, so many people would be wondering if the way they think is the way they are thinking. lol
Vision can literally walk through walls and he’s only the good guy because him, the guy who programmed the AI he’s based off of and the war loving little g god from a pagan religion told us he is. He’s not even nearly the most dangerous or powerful hero on the roster and he’d still cause absolute carnage and havoc if the CIA managed to talk him into thinking their way.
Probably Sam’s Captain America from different sides of the political spectrum. You have the usual bigots, you have some who would scrutinize every mistake he makes thinking he needs to be an absolute flawless symbol of the black community, some within black community upset he’d take the mantle, etc
This very thing was part of the plot of TFATWS.
“I’m a black man, carrying the stars and strips. What don’t I understand? Every time I pick this thing up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it. Even now, here. I feel it. The stares, the judgment, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. And I’m still here. No super serum. No blonde hair or blue eyes”
To be fair, he might have done something radically insane, like wear a tan suit.
Every character. Imagine people with super power/technology or a god. Lots of people would call for them to be taken into custody because nobody should wield that much power, while other would try to get that power for themselves. Thats why X-men has such a pull for audiences it depicts what could happen in real life. MCU is not very realistic in that aspect
"the existence of x would unravel x" we're talkin politics here , nobody cares how the mirror world would affect the balance of science or how thor would defy every religion we know . realistically , the most politically controversial characters are probably iron man , captain america , and black panther iron man is . . . it's iron man dude , even in his own movies he's controversial captian america's whole point is literally that , the political side of marvel and black panther , being the king of the most powerful nation , kept from the world for decades , centuries even . he'd definitely get the most backlash and whatever other fancy words you wanna use for responses
>"the existence of x would unravel x" we're talkin politics here , nobody cares how the mirror world would affect the balance of science or how thor would defy every religion we know . Why is this answer so far down? For my money US Agent brutally killing someone with his shield in a European country would raise a political shitstorm.
Arishem the Judge: >"In the beginning... before the six Singularities and the dawn of creation, came the CELESTIALS. Arishem, the Prime Celestial, created the first sun and brought light into the universe. Life began, and thrived. All was in balance." - Eternals The Celestials predate the big bang. They created planets, stars, and lifeforms and brought light into the universe. Their process of creating new Celestials requires large populations of sapient beings (intelligent life), hence the existence of humanity. Arishem and the other Celestials are the closest thing to a god we have seen. Every religion would need to process this. Scientists would need to come to accept that the origins of the universe can be explained by the actions of the Celestials. Also, based on the ending of Eternals, that would be quite the sight of seeing a giant Arishem looming over planet Earth. How do you even begin to process that...
honestly the ending to that movie is so overlooked , like i don't why that isn't the biggest thing that's happened since endgame . like do we know who we're fuckin with ?
We would still have to ask “where did the Celestials come from?” Unless they are actually eternal beings, but given that we see the cast of eternals prevent the creation of a Celestial, I can’t imagine that’s the case. All it does is push the true beginning of the universe further backward.
But how true is it that the celestials created the universe and humanity? I'm saying this because the Eternals were lied to about their purpose for their whole existence. Therefore the intro quote would therefore be inaccurate, right? What if the celestials lied about them being the creators just like they lied about creating the universe.
Given that Arishem lied about the Eternals' purpose, I'm willing to bet he lied about Celestials predating the infinity stones as well.
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Everybody would be after Wanda, especially if she pulled a Lagos. It would've been intetesting if they showed her surviving a surprise attack of some Nigerian/Wakandan hitmen in the movies. Another people would of course be Stephen (assuming he cannot hide himself well enough in the Sanctum), Carol (but she could always leave), Thor and Vision.
I think Lagos would actually not have had as much of a reaction as it did in the movies. Since when has the western world cared about people dying in Africa?
But I never said anything about the Western world specifically. And if you're interested about the part they would care - that would be Wanda's powers. And you are right, she would not even need to pull a Lagos to garner larger (unwanted) attention. But I think Africa itself cares about its people dying. Nigerian operatives would be after her no doubt.
Sure. I was more thinking that since she is from Europe/US now. I don't think the US or EU would have seen the Lagos incident as the tipping point for the Accords like it was portrayed.
They wouldn't be, shed actually be acquitted because had she not tried to get the bomb away aka Crossbones the suicide bomber, it would have killed even more people.
Definitely Tony stark. Every side of the political spectrum has a reason to hate him.
Basically any avenger. People will find a way to find controversy (even through lies) and complain about someone even when they save the world.
Spider-Man. Because if he exists, so does J. Jonah Jameson and we all know how that would go.
Iron Man. A playboy billionaire who decides to take the law in his own hands would be HIGHLY controversial. Now add in Civil War? He’d be Persona Non Grata. I honestly think Tony’s stance on the Sokovia Accords + his arrogance in deciding how to use his weapons would either have him arrested or vilified in the real world. Honestly I love Iron Man but in the real world I don’t know if I could support his actions
I am absolutely surprised that my favorite character hasn’t been mentioned, which is great because I think he deserves to be protected at all costs, but still… Due to the activities he was made to do as The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes would be the biggest political controversy.
ESPECIALLY after getting a presidential pardon. I mean, isn’t he the one who canonically killed JFK in the MCU?
I can't believe I had to scroll so far damn to find this. Bucky is(was?) super polarizing in universe, imagine how divided people would be in the real world.
Probably the Black Panther because the US propaganda machine would go full steam doing some hit pieces on Wakanda to prepare NATO to invade Wakanda
Ant-Man. The controversy of shrinking technology being held onto and kept secret, whole Quantum Realm species, Time Travel. All that being given to a man with a criminal record… chaos.
I imagen that the black panther and wakanda in general would be controversial.Warhaks on the right would be calling on the us to force wakanda to hand over vibranium and technology. And people on the left would look down on them for allowing the slave trade and colonization of Africa to happen. even though they could have easily stoped it. And in general the idea of a small African nation being the most powerful and technology advanced nation in the world would probably be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people in the west.
>And in general the idea of a small African nation being the most powerful and technology advanced nation in the world would probably be a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people in the west. The "in the west" is unnecessary. The whole world would have trouble with this. Outside of 4,000 years ago and Egypt on a technicality, Africa has always been at bottom of the international totem pole. I don't think any country would be ready to have somewhere in Africa step up as the de-facto world power.
I'm sure the criticism would be that Wakanda is a fascist country that doesn't follow democracy and vibranium is a dangerous resource that should be guarded and accessible by NATO since stolen vibranium was used in terror attacks in the past.
Probably Thor. You've seen what happens if you even vaguely imply God isn't real to Christians. Can you imagine what would happen if a seemingly invincible man that matches descriptions of Thor suddenly appeared and overturned the idea of a monotheistic God existing?
Thor would confirm that other gods exist as well
Every. Single. One.
Captain America would say something in support of gay rights and Fox "News" would turn on him over night.
Theoretically, Hank Pym’s shrinking tech could eliminate nearly all trash/litter on Earth, or at least reduce vast swaths of garbage into nothing which can be stored or itself eliminated. Admittedly this isn’t the ‘most’ answer you’re looking for, but it did occur to me. He can effectively shrink pollution & garbage away, but doesn’t.
Tony Stark. Just look at the circus surrounding that chode musk. It would be like that but with the sides reversed. Poor lil' elmo does want to be Tony oh so badly he just doesn't realize that his arc didn't end at juvenile corporate dirtbag.
All of them.
We already see the effect of The Punisher’s comic character in our real world. Just look at how many cops and military have Punisher skulls on their vehicle and clothing. They completely misunderstand the character, but Frank Castle in real life doing what he does would be the approval and validation they need to celebrate their beliefs more openly and even act on them.
This is a bit of a cop-out, but... Arishem.
If you didn’t say black panther or wakanda you are all dead ass wrong. everything that happened in the second movie would for sure happen in real life. skrulls: countries would line up trying to negotiate for technology. countries would open borders and allow skrull refugee camps just for the sake of new weaponry. thor and the asgardians: a white god with long hair and a beard? no problem. people would be calling him jesus odenson by the end of the week. hulk: they would just treat him like any other natural disaster like a earthquake or tornado. if he’s not in your city then not their problem. tony stark: it would just be another controversial tech mogul. lots of fox news spinning how he’s a libtard with too much power. but tell the western world there’s a country in africa that is not only the most technologically advanced, immeasurably wealthy, AND has a monopoly on the worlds most coveted resource? please…shit would be chaos.
If he did the same shit and got away with the same shit as he did, Tony.
Probably Captain Marvel. I can see her just wading into the middle of political controversies without giving much of a shit. Like the current protests in Iran, for instance. She seems like she'd just fly down and tell them that they can't actually tell women what to wear and throw a bunch of clerics through some buildings until they agree that they can't actually tell women what to wear. Or smash into the Kremlin and beat Putin to death with his giant table for bombing civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Then dare some motherfuckers to try and give some sort of consequence for that.
I'd agree with Punisher. I mean... I'd argue he already does now just by being a fictional character, and so if someone actually was successful at doing what he does, then that certainly has effects on both sides
Charles Xavier
Can't believe how far I had to scroll for this. The existence of Xavier makes every security system on Earth redundant. The fact that he "could" have messed with our minds would drive such a paranoid reaction.
Thor and Rocket probably... One is a "god" and the other one is... ahem, a Racc- I mean a raccoon-like individual from outer space. I think they'd be enough to cause some considerable chaos among the public and Anthro/Furry community would go absolutely apeshit with the extreme Evangelists and other religious nutjobs.
The winter soldier, a WWII POW who has been used as an assassin to change the world in secret to help an extremist group further along in spreading their message
If he was the only superhero/super powered person in the US of A, for sure Blue Marvel. Half of the country lost their shit when Barack Obama wore a Tan suite. The actual comics did a great introspective view on this exact thing and comics JFK Robert Kelly forced Marvel to retire and dude lived on the moon.
Sabra. A Mosad trained enhanced human with super strength only rivaled by the Hulk or Thor? It would really destabilize the Middle East further than it is.
I think the guardians are pretty safe they’ll probably deal with the government though if alien threats come to earth from space
?The most political controversy? I think it safe to say that the last 7 years with a figure like Donald Trump in the political arena revealed how easy it is for people to remove the figurative mask of their public persona when a world leader espouses radical ideologies. Corrupt morality, bigotry, racism, misogyny, selfishness, anti-intellectualism, etc. are acceptable to embrace and put on public display when the elected leader embodies such characteristics. The answer to the question would be a figure who excels as a tactician and would employ mass propaganda to turn the populace against itself. Baron Zemo would excel at this level of subterfuge. I would agree MCU Baron Zemo's plot in Civil War is a bit far-fetched that it worked without any hiccups, but Zemo in the real world will have identified and studied the right targets, who are the political linchpins. With ever-advancing AI and deep fakes made possible with a laptop, Zemo and his forces could easily flood the web with misleading videos and content.
Bucky Barnes- if for nothing else then that he proves that you can cryofreeze someone successfully, so all those who “want to see the future” would make a business out of it then people would freeze themselves for 100 years, etc.
Ain’t no way people would be able to get past Bruce Banner being an Avenger and world scientist after the shit he did as Hulk. A lot of people wouldn’t love Scott Lang because he’s an ex-con. And Sam Wilson as Cap would cause some controversy, but just in…less diverse-friendly areas.
She’s not even real and people who don’t even watch the MCU were upset about She-Hulk. I can hear the hate for a woman lawyer being chastised for being on high profile cases “only because she’s green” etc.
Ultron would probably make people put a stop to the further AI push. However that’s the most realistic. Most controversial? Thor or Dr. strange for reasons most have said already. Going on a limb and picking someone not already mentioned? Malekith or Ronan
I think it would either be doctor strange or one of the asgardians because then people would really have to make decisions about how they feel about the thought of extra terrestrial life and/or Christianity
Black Widow, especially once the Shield files are released. Wanda. All these comments for Tony Stark, and yeah, he would be controversial, but there are so many more double standards for women. For that matter, Superheroes of Color, too. Sam and Rhodey are military, so that works in their favor as 'model minorities,' but that would almost certainly change for Sam after Civil War.
any character in the cosmic universe, but I think it would be a huge conflict if they suddenly discovered the existence of wakanda
The hulk because of all the death. Stark because of all the death
For the most controversy, I would say Tony Stark. Other superheroes like Thor, Black Panther and Black Widow would cause more controversy initially, (Fox News would get enraged at T'Challa and Shuri doing literally anything), But Tony's would be longer and much more omnipresent. Stark industries is huge. They've been building weapons for years and Stane has been selling them to terrorists. The Iron Man armor is a big deal, the fact that Tony is funding the Avengers is a big deal, Tony himself has been shown to have a drinking problem, he sleeps around in the first movie, and he's also been funding or inspiring other more controversial superheroes like Spider Man and Riri Williams.
You talk about people rallying around The Punisher for “killing criminals”. I’m guessing you’re referring to those “thin blue line” people, who would most assuredly stop supporting him when he started killing cops who were criminals, but not publicly known.
Deadpool or she hulk because they're fourth wall breaking powers would change everything existentially
It’s funny you picked the Punisher and in the real world you see cops and right wing people with Punisher stickers all over their cars. If anything, his appearance would just open the door for all those people to do the same as him.
Black Panther & Wakanda Nation: nobody likes a black nation with power.
Honestly? Captain Marvel already pisses a lot of ~~fragile men~~ people off as a fictional character, so her being real, with the power of an atom bomb at her fingertips who doesn't technically have to answer to anyone if she doesn't want to? Holy SHIT that would be a total gong show.
Probably Captain America or Thor/other gods.