Should Marvel revamp and use Russian super villains again?

[HaveAtThee]

No. Xenophobia is dumb.

[The Overlord]

If Marvel uses these Russian villains again, would they ditch Marxism for Russian nationalism?

The problem with those old Russian super villains is they were not very interesting characters, Marvel comics was never good at discussing Marxism, so most of those old Russian villains were generic bad guys who happened to be Communists, rather than well defined characters.

You would hope that if these Russian villains were used again, they would be better defined this time and not just one dimensional characters.

[Ultimate Captain America]

Similarly, I suspect that Putin may have supporters in the Russian superhero community, even though he allegedly has jailed and murdered rivals and launched a very unpopular war in Ukraine. It's an easy write-up. I mean it wouldn't be the first time that a heroic institution mandated to protect and serve the people turned out to harbor individuals who secretly support more sinister political views and activities. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ke...ons/ar-AAQAS4A

The key thing is the control of the narrative. The official story within Russia is that Ukraine is full of Nazis, and they declared war to get rid of the nazis in Ukrania. Of course, to keep such a thing working you need to control all the national press, keep the foreign press out, and if possible control even the internet, and that includes social networks. The dictatorship of China had a great success in that, Russia has a more limited control of the internet in comparison, but aims to the same thing.

So, what we need here is that Reed Richards or Tony Stark makes some devise to circumvent those controls and tell the Russians and Chinese the truth about their dictators.

[Digifiend]

Correct. She was severely injured in Bendis's Secret War mini IIRC, which was her first appearance. She was briefly installed as Prime Minister of Latveria by SHIELD after Doom was arrested and deposed in Mighty Avengers IIRC.

Wasn't she deposed in Invincible Iron Man? She was in Latveria when Ironheart fought her.

That name doesn't work considering the USSR has not existed in over 30 years. An interesting question is could any of these characters be heroes in Russia or would they be drafted into Putin's war efforts?

That's why it was changed to Winter Guard in a retcon.

[Triniking1234]

Similarly, I suspect that Putin may have supporters in the Russian superhero community, even though he allegedly has jailed and murdered rivals and launched a very unpopular war in Ukraine. It's an easy write-up. I mean it wouldn't be the first time that a heroic institution mandated to protect and serve the people turned out to harbor individuals who secretly support more sinister political views and activities. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ke...ons/ar-AAQAS4A

It's pretty easy to do a story about Russian characters and not mention Putin.

[JudicatorPrime]

It's pretty easy to do a story about Russian characters and not mention Putin.

True, but if the OP is going for a fictional universe where the story is based on real world events, it's kind of difficult not to mention the man running the show in Russia. It would be like trying to sell a comic in the 1940s featuring the villainy of Nazi Germany without ever mentioning Hitler or any of his commanding officers. But Marvel could always borrow a page from DC and start fictionalizing real world locations and governments.

[Triniking1234]

True, but if the OP is going for a fictional universe where the story is based on real world events, it's kind of difficult not to mention the man running the show in Russia. It would be like trying to sell a comic in the 1940s featuring the villainy of Nazi Germany without ever mentioning Hitler or any of his commanding officers. But Marvel could always borrow a page from DC and start fictionalizing real world locations and governments.

He's been President/Prime Minister since 2000. If they never mentioned it before, they don't need to mention it now.

Don't they already do that?

[MajorHoy]

Marvel has a ton of Russian super villains that were created during the Cold War that seemed irrelevant after 1991 and aside of Red Ghost joining the Intelligencia, most of them have not done much since 1991. But now that there is tension between Russia and the US, should these Russian villains return and be revamped to fit modern times or should these Russian villains stay in limbo?

One has to be careful when trying to tie in comic book stories to ongoing current events. There's a bit of lag-time involved between "current" events and how soon a comic book story can be conceived / produced / distributed, especially if you're not doing a digital-only (or at least digital-first) comic book.

[Ultimate Captain America]

No. Xenophobia is dumb.

What would be xenophobe about this idea?

[danielsan52]

I’d rather they take their existing Russian mutants to Krakoa and have the other heroes secede.

[JudicatorPrime]

He's been President/Prime Minister since 2000. If they never mentioned it before, they don't need to mention it now.

Don't they already do that?

I honestly don't read every comic that Marvel has published, so I'm not quite sure how they handle real world leaders. We do know that some of the U.S. Presidents have both appeared and been referenced by name in past books. I imagine if the writers wanted to, they could continue that same approach with President Putin, or whomever. Or not. It just depends on what type of story they want to tell.

[The Overlord]

I’d rather they take their existing Russian mutants to Krakoa and have the other heroes secede.

1. I wouldn't let Omega Red on Krakoa, that guy is a psychopath.

2. With non-mutant Russian characters, like Red Ghost or Titanium Man, are saying they should secede by taking over Siberia or something? I doubt they would be allowed on Krakoa.

[JudicatorPrime]

Maybe the best approach isn't to give new life to the villains, but to their victims?

https://globalnews.ca/news/8699005/b...illed-ukraine/

[danielsan52]

1. I wouldn't let Omega Red on Krakoa, that guy is a psychopath.

2. With non-mutant Russian characters, like Red Ghost or Titanium Man, are saying they should secede by taking over Siberia or something? I doubt they would be allowed on Krakoa.

No, I meant people like Red Guardian, Starlight, etc should leave and join a Euro Team. The villains can stay there and rot. lol

[JudicatorPrime]

No, I meant people like Red Guardian, Starlight, etc should leave and join a Euro Team. The villains can stay there and rot. lol

I thought that both had joined The People's Protectorate/Winter Guard? I was always a fan of Tanya Belinsky (Starlight), but as is typically the case with characters that I like, Marvel killed her off. I was actually hoping that Ewing would resurrect her for his Defenders project.