So I saw this video recently that talked about how the government helps fund Marvel movies like Iron Man, Captain America, and Captain Marvel to make the military look cool.
Now for my part, I don’t care that the American military is doing this. For one thing, it’s nothing new, so I can see right through it. In the eighties we had masculinity-fests like Top Gun, Aliens, Predator, Rambo. The pro-army motifs in any Michael Bay film is so obvious it’s laughable. Movies you wouldn’t expect to get funded have influence, like Batman & Robin, and… Mac and Me?, and… Bye Bye Birdie? What the hell?
Anyway, grab a handful of movies and one or two have some U.S. military interference. But the video says that, like all propaganda, these representations are all cool and no fool. Iron Man starts out with cool army Jeeps, Captain Marvel is about a cool fighter pilot and her fighter pilot friends (her cat is named Goose, even). The guy with “America” in his name is the leader of them all.
They don’t show the periods of boredom, the sexual harassment, the compromising moral decisions. And like he says, I’m not expecting “The Hurt Locker” but bias is bias. Twenty MCU films and no counterpoint.
But here’s the thing, while Marvel movies might glorify the military, it does a terrible job at glorifying the military’s boss–the government. And who would want to join the military when the people who run it are either incompetent, evil, or conspirators?
The video talks about Everett K. Ross (the Martin Freeman character who was in Civil War and Black Panther) being a heroic CIA guy. I think he’s a puss. Maybe he’s a good guy, but he’s incomparable to the real characters. He can’t handle Bucky Barnes when he’s in the chair. Everyone in Wakanda outclasses him. He’s way out of his league. He can’t even control a video game.
In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark is forced before a senatorial hearing to explain why he shouldn’t have to give up his suit. He runs circles around them as if they’d said the Iron Man was full of tubes. (And this is before Garry Shandling is revealed as a HYDRA boi so he’s repping the U.S. in totality). Here’s a choice quote:
Senator Stern: My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America.
Tony Stark: Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you’re in. You can’t have it.
Senator Stern: Look, I’m no expert…
Tony Stark: In prostitution? Of course not, you’re a senator. Come on!
And this:
Senator Stern: I think we’re done with the point that he’s making. I don’t think there’s any reason…
Tony Stark: The point is you’re welcome, I guess.
Senator Stern: For what?
Tony Stark: Because I’m your nuclear deterrent. It’s working. We’re safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can’t have it. But I did you a big favor. (stands and turns to face the Senate) I’ve successfully privatized world peace. What more do you want? For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns.
And I couldn’t give this one up.
Tony Stark: I’m not saying I’m responsible for this country’s longest run of uninterrupted peace in thirty-five years! I’m not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a Phoenix metaphor been more personified! I’m not saying Uncle Sam can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea, because I haven’t come across anyone man enough to go toe to toe with me on my best day! It’s not about me. It’s not about you, either. It’s about legacy, the legacy left behind for future generations. It’s not about us!
Meanwhile in reality, he would be so in jail. You can’t make rockets and bombs in your basement. You can’t tease jet fighters. And you certainly can’t fly to the middle east and take justice into his own hands. If the Air Force would fire on a little girl flying her pet geese on a migration (seeFly Away Home) so why wouldn’t they leap on Stark? America does not subscribe to that Ayn Rand objectivism.
In Captain America, we see a lot of rah-rah with Steve Rogers who can’t wait to join up, no matter what his body says. But then, after they “make a man out of him” what does he get to do? Touring the country with a cheesy USO show. KP duty would be better. At least he could use his super-soldier strength to peel those potatoes.
In the first Avengers movie, there’s some kind of shadow government that orders Nick Fury around (minus cool points for him) and they want to blow up Manhattan. There’s a cool fighter jet here too, even if it’s carrying a nuke to our deaths.
Here’s a big one: In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it turns out that HYDRA’s been running the government all along. I guess the Pentagon thought this was okay, since this means it wasn’t really America doing the bad stuff. But I say, how was the government so stupid in the first place to allow that to happen? Aren’t there supposed to be checks and balances for this sort of thing? And how many people were compromised? It’s impossible for the gov’t to keep secrets, so it must have been very few.
And finally, Captain America: Civil War… well, it’s in the freaking title. The Civil War was one of the most devastating obstacles to American development. Country literally tore itself apart. The whole crux of the movie is about the government handing down regulations and the heroes defying them in the name of morality.
Captain America’s always been based in ethics. It’s not about America the country, it’s America the principle. And who’s the biggest antagonist (aside from Helmut Rando Zemo)? It’s Secretary of State and miltary man (40 years, he says) Thaddeus Ross. A top brass military commander. The guy trying to enforce these laws. The guy who imprisons our heroes. The guy Rhodey hangs up on and lies to (in Infinity War). A huge jerkass. And no one likes him. Do you like him? Didn’t think so.
A lot of the MCU is about rebelling against authority. The military’s all about bowing to authority, being broken by it. Captain America would rather become a criminal and fugitive from the country he loves than follow one of its unjust laws. Captain Marvel takes out her entire (former) squadron. That makes it pro-military but anti-military-principles.
