Anti-russian sentiments in Marvel Comics

[Baron of Faltine]

The Cold War elements are somewhat outdated but it isn't like Russia doesn't still engage in espionage, sabotage and assassination.

It's an open secret that Western countries have had attacks from Russia's GRU intelligence operatives
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-56798001

The lazy outdated stereotypes are still rife in comics across the board. Despite having access to the greatest information tool in human history (the internet), you still get some lazy outdated depictions of certain nationalities, cultures, regions and so on.

As an Italian sometimes I got the feeling that the only things about my nation that some writer know come from watching the godfather movies and playing super mario. The more a cultured one's reader the roman empire, albeit in a very very confusing way(the 300 AD and 300 bC are wild different but apparently Rome was the same as far as pop culture is concerned).

[SJNeal]

For real, I was done by issue....12? I dunno. We were dealing with vampires and the Winter Guard and the Squadron Supreme had just showed up and were working for Coulson. Maybe I lasted more than 12 issues? Felt like longer, anyway. Couldn't support it anymore, and felt like I had stuck around too long already.

I bailed after the first 6 issues.

Y'all are both smarter than I am. I stuck around until just after "War of the Realms" (#20, 22?).

But back to Russia... Aaron succeeded in making me dislike a bunch of characters I'd only previously been indifferent toward.

[Baron of Faltine]

Y'all are both smarter than I am. I stuck around until just after "War of the Realms" (#20, 22?).

But back to Russia... Aaron succeeded in making me dislike a bunch of characters I'd only previously been indifferent toward.

The bizarre thing about Aaron writing is that his ideas , at the base, are not bad. In theory that should have been cool, or at least reasonably trashy fun, like riffing wickerman with your friends. But instead come out...confusing and at times very boring on long term. As he throw his ideas here and there but do pretty much nothing with it.
I hope I make my thoughts clear as much as I can

[The Invincible Beawulf]

But back to Russia... Aaron succeeded in making me dislike a bunch of characters I'd only previously been indifferent toward.

Maybe you should check out the Winter Guard mini (still ongoing). It's written by Ryan Cady (not Jason Aaron), & I think it's pretty decent so far.

[Psy-lock]

If Winter Guard are working for the government then they are villains and deserve to be cancelled forever. And frankly, "Winter Guard" is a ridiculous name and most of them are goofy Avangers knock-offs. I sure hope they won't make it to the MCU.

[danielsan52]

If Winter Guard are working for the government then they are villains and deserve to be cancelled forever. And frankly, "Winter Guard" is a ridiculous name and most of them are goofy Avangers knock-offs. I sure hope they won't make it to the MCU.

Winter Guard are awesome and the name is much better than Soviet Super Soldiers. However I wish there was a real Phantasia that was replaced by a Dire Wraith and I would love to see all the Soviet mutants on Krakoa.

[Username taken]

It's more of an anti-gov't stance rather hating the Russian people. Same as just about every gov't portrayed in comics. Most portray gov't as effectively criminal although they're using a broad brush.

This basically,

Aaron is just painting a picture where the Russian Government is doing shady things.

He pretty did the same thing with the US government. It’s more an anti-government thing than anything else. Most governments are portrayed as being shady in comics, even the Canadian government had the Department K thing.

[ed2962]

The bizarre thing about Aaron writing is that his ideas , at the base, are not bad. In theory that should have been cool, or at least reasonably trashy fun, like riffing wickerman with your friends. But instead come out...confusing and at times very boring on long term. As he throw his ideas here and there but do pretty much nothing with it.
I hope I make my thoughts clear as much as I can

I actually like his writing in other places, but here it became clear that he's just going through the motions.

[ed2962]

This basically,

Aaron is just painting a picture where the Russian Government is doing shady things.

He pretty did the same thing with the US government. It’s more an anti-government thing than anything else. Most governments are portrayed as being shady in comics, even the Canadian government had the Department K thing.

It depends on the story. A lot of times when the US "government" is the doing something wrong it's due to either corrupt or incompetent individuals or a specific program is wrong. Rarely is the reader supposed to think there's something wrong with American ideology in general and the govt is simply acting it out.

Having said that yeah, distrust or suspicion of the government has been a thing since at least Watergate and Ronald Reagan even ran on "Governmant isn't the solution to the problem, government is the problem." It's not surprising that such attitudes show up in pop culture including comics.

[Username taken]

It depends on the story. A lot of times when the US "government" is the doing something wrong it's due to either corrupt or incompetent individuals or a specific program is wrong. Rarely is the reader supposed to think there's something wrong with American ideology in general and the govt is simply acting it out.

Having said that yeah, distrust or suspicion of the government has been a thing since at least Watergate and Ronald Reagan even ran on "Governmant isn't the solution to the problem, government is the problem." It's not surprising that such attitudes show up in pop culture including comics.

Agreed.

It's been a thing for a while now.

How its depicted varies but there's an undercurrent of distrust towards governments amongst writers.

[The Overlord]

This is true. But there's a long list of mostly forgotten characters from all nationalities, including America, that this applies to. Those old propaganda villains....there's a reason they almost never get used today, and nobody puts any effort into them when they do show up.

As I said earlier, I don't condone racist/nationalist caricatures. But if the argument is that the Russian government is written as villainous....not only do comics treat almost every government that way, including our own, but in Russia's case it's true because Putin is the worst.

Red Skull started off as a propaganda character and became one of the biggest Marvel villains, he has an actual backstory and he is not a deep character, but he is compelling in what he represents and how evil he is. I don't really know anything about Red Ghost or Titanium Man that isn't surface level.

Frankly, comic book writers are better at critiquing Nazism than Marxism. You could do something interesting with Red Ghost or Titanium Man, but it would take some actual work.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Maybe you should check out the Winter Guard mini (still ongoing). It's written by Ryan Cady (not Jason Aaron), & I think it's pretty decent so far.

I’m enjoying the mini. Liking it much better than Aaron’s portrayal of the Guard. It’s hard to like anything Aaron writes anymore. He destroys characters. I won’t mention any names. Thor, She-Hulk, Namor. Why would he treat the Russians any differently?

[Ultimate Captain America]

Do we actually see the Russian government in all that (even if with fictional characters), or is it just the Winter Guard in itself? Do the Winter Guard represent the will of the Russian government, or are they like the Avengers and the US, as they do basically what they want?

[king of hybrids]

Do we actually see the Russian government in all that (even if with fictional characters), or is it just the Winter Guard in itself? Do the Winter Guard represent the will of the Russian government, or are they like the Avengers and the US, as they do basically what they want?

Red Widow has them all on a leash and is openly crushing on the Russian President*

Which is somehow a step up from X-Force, where they seem to have forgotten the USSR actually fell

*Marvel and DC need to go back to using fictional stand ins for public figures, for sliding timescale reasons if nothing else (it’s been what, less than 10 years in universe since events that were published in 1963) on top of being farcical

[The Invincible Beawulf]

I’m enjoying the mini. Liking it much better than Aaron’s portrayal of the Guard. It’s hard to like anything Aaron writes anymore. He destroys characters. I won’t mention any names. Thor, She-Hulk, Namor. Why would he treat the Russians any differently?

This. In Avengers, Aaron basically writes them as bloodthirsty USSR soldiers or whatever... I'm not complaining since it's just Aaron

Red Widow has them all on a leash and is openly crushing on the Russian President*

Which is somehow a step up from X-Force, where they seem to have forgotten the USSR actually fell

*Marvel and DC need to go back to using fictional stand ins for public figures, for sliding timescale reasons if nothing else (it’s been what, less than 10 years in universe since events that were published in 1963) on top of being farcical

And also this.

With the exception of Red Widow, every member of the Winter Guard emphasizes they wanna do good for the Russian people. They are suspecting that the WG are just puppets of the Russian government/president -- also, Yelena Belova & Alexi Shostakov wanna reveal some dirty secrets of the government to finally open up the eyes of the team.