which Marvel hero would actually be seen as villainious in reality?

[Agent Z]

I think just about any superhero with a secret identity would be seen as villainous or at least less trustworthy than their peers whose identities are public.

Also the Hulk.

Daredevil, both before and after his ID was revealed.

Before, he's a brutal vigilante working in the shadows against those he deems criminal. How Spidey has a worse rep, I'll never know.

Once outed as Matt, he's a ruthless criminal who manipulates the justice system to his advantage.

Well for starters, Daredevil doesn't have a media mogul personally gunning for him. In fact, he has at least one friend in the press who sticks up for him.

[The Cool Thatguy]

*sigh* This again. I’m so tired. The “all people from the 40’s had to have been racist” argument falls apart when you consider the fact that two of the reigning kings of using fiction/pop culture to fight for equality, re: Gene Roddenberry (creator of Star Trek) and Jack Kirby (co-creator of Cap, the original X-Men, and Black Panther) were both from the 40’s. In fact what do these two men have in common other than the themes in their body of work? They both served in WW2.

BTW Mr. (Fred) Rogers was also “from the 40’s”. Just saying.

Moreover Cap was not created to be an accurate portrayal of life in the 40’s. Simon and Kirby based him on the Golem of Prague mythology. The A on Cap’s helmet? In Hebrew it is the letter א, which represents “truth”. In the golem of Prague mythology that activated the golem. Steve’s origin is also reminiscent of the golem of Prague story. The golem was molded from raw material (a young, frail Steve Rogers) but through magic (the super soldier serum) became a strong and formidable defender of the Jewish community. The golem had a star on his chest, just like Cap does. There are other parallels as well. Thus Steve was never meant to be this modern day representative of the Greatest Generation, that was never his creators’ intent. He was always meant to be a champion brought to life for the explicit reason of defending the marginalized.

More on that here: https://blog.nli.org.il/en/captain_america/

Well said.

I'd also add that the very basics of Cap is why he shouldn't be made into the Millar paraody he was in Ultimates.

Cap was created by two Jewish writers to be the pinnacle of the Aryan ideal, to punch Nazis in the face before America knew we needed to punch Nazis in the face.

[DrNewGod]

I'm a little surprised that nobody came up with Moon Knight yet. Especially when he took to branding people's foreheads with a red-hot crescent device.

Image.jpg

I don't think he would classify as a villain, per se, but I imagine almost all highly religious people (with the possible exception of Buddhists and Zoroastrians) would take issue with somebody calling themselves a Thunder God.

Image.jpg

*sigh* This again. I’m so tired. The “all people from the 40’s had to have been racist” argument falls apart when you consider the fact that two of the reigning kings of using fiction/pop culture to fight for equality, re: Gene Roddenberry (creator of Star Trek) and Jack Kirby (co-creator of Cap, the original X-Men, and Black Panther) were both from the 40’s. In fact what do these two men have in common other than the themes in their body of work? They both served in WW2.

BTW Mr. (Fred) Rogers was also “from the 40’s”. Just saying.

Moreover Cap was not created to be an accurate portrayal of life in the 40’s. Simon and Kirby based him on the Golem of Prague mythology. The A on Cap’s helmet? In Hebrew it is the letter א, which represents “truth”. In the golem of Prague mythology that activated the golem. Steve’s origin is also reminiscent of the golem of Prague story. The golem was molded from raw material (a young, frail Steve Rogers) but through magic (the super soldier serum) became a strong and formidable defender of the Jewish community. The golem had a star on his chest, just like Cap does. There are other parallels as well. Thus Steve was never meant to be this modern day representative of the Greatest Generation, that was never his creators’ intent. He was always meant to be a champion brought to life for the explicit reason of defending the marginalized.

More on that here: https://blog.nli.org.il/en/captain_america/

US Civil Rights legislation would not have seen the light of day without old, white men from the 1940s. They didn't start the movement, or suffer its consequences, but they helped it along.