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  1. #1
    Mighty Member
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    Default Anti-russian sentiments in Marvel Comics

    I just read Avengers #49 as well as X-force and I was a bit embarrassed.

    First of all: I'm not a fan of Putin's Russia at all, but being European, knowing a minimum of the complexity of Russian politics and the way the opponents fight inside the country, I have the impression that Marvel treats the Russian situation in its comics in a totally caricatured way, a kind of evil empire a la star wars, even more than in the cold war.

    Already, they show Russia as a dictatorship in the Star Wars style, without nuance. Russia is not a dictatorship, it is an Authoritarian democracy (the distinction is slim but important). There is a fragile freedom of speech, an opposition (which is often locked up and even killed sometimes, yes, but which can speak freely in some private newspapers). Moreover Russia, although still having a strong geo-strategic power in certain regions, and an important military force, is not economically what it was.

    Marvel wants to talk about a geo-strategic, totalitarian adversary of the west, democracy or human rights with a real economic strength? Let them talk about China. But since they still have movies to sell them, it's not going to happen anytime soon...
    Last edited by lordozone; 10-13-2021 at 09:44 PM.
    I try to improve my english, feel free to correct me by DM if you see some mistakes !

  2. #2
    see beauty in all things. charliehustle415's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lordozone View Post
    I just read Avengers #49 as well as X-force and I was a bit embarrassed.

    First of all: I'm not a fan of Putin's Russia at all, but being European, knowing a minimum of the complexity of Russian politics and the way the opponents fight inside the country, I have the impression that Marvel treats the Russian situation in its comics in a totally caricatured way, a kind of evil empire a la star wars, even more than in the cold war.

    Already, they show Russia as a dictatorship in the Star Wars style, without nuance. Russia is not a dictatorship, it is a totalitarian democracy (the distinction is slim but important). There is a fragile freedom of speech, an opposition (which is often locked up and even killed sometimes, yes, but which can speak freely in some private newspapers). Moreover Russia, although still having a strong geo-strategic power in certain regions, and an important military force, is not economically what it was.

    Marvel wants to talk about a geo-strategic, totalitarian adversary of the west, democracy or human rights with a real economic strength? Let them talk about China. But since they still have movies to sell them, it's not going to happen anytime soon...
    [the middle east has entered the chat]

  3. #3

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    what, if any, are the markets for Marvel to sell comic books in the Russian Federation zones?

  4. #4
    Latverian ambassador Iron Maiden's Avatar
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    Black market would be my guess

  5. #5
    Spectacular Member CitizenXXX's Avatar
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    totalitarian democracy
    Authoritarian democracy.

    There are several publishers in Russia that buy licenses and publish Marvel comics, a lot of Marvel comics have been published in Russian.
    In addition, there are comic shops selling original comics. There is a market, though I cannot judge its scale.

    https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%...81%D0%B8%D0%B8
    Last edited by CitizenXXX; 10-13-2021 at 09:33 PM.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by CitizenXXX View Post
    Authoritarian democracy.

    There are several publishers in Russia that buy licenses and publish Marvel comics, a lot of Marvel comics have been published in Russian.
    In addition, there are comic shops selling original comics. There is a market, though I cannot judge its scale.

    https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%...81%D0%B8%D0%B8
    Yes, sorry, Authoritarian, I have edited.

    [the middle east has entered the chat]
    ? Like I said, not a fan of Putin or his middle east policy.
    Last edited by lordozone; 10-13-2021 at 09:48 PM.
    I try to improve my english, feel free to correct me by DM if you see some mistakes !

  7. #7
    ...of the Black Priests Midnight_v's Avatar
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    Wow. This is really interesting stuff. Never considered that a Russian person might pick up our books and be like >>> W... THE HELL. Marvel<<<< Riveting.
    My priority is enjoying and supporting stories of timeless heroism and conflict.
    Everything else is irrelevant.

  8. #8
    see beauty in all things. charliehustle415's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lordozone View Post
    Like I said, not a fan of Putin or his middle east policy.
    I'm referring to the fact that every "enemy" of the United States get the super villain treatment.

    After 9/11 it was all things middle east and muslim (see anything by Millar, Miller or any other edgy book in the 2000's)

    It ebbs and flows with the times; I understand it can be frustrating but in a decade or so it will be China and then a decade after that it will be Bezos' Moon colony so on and so forth

  9. #9
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    Its also worth remembering that the current AVENGERS run also treats the United States as an "enemy government", technically. Since the Avengers relocated to their current mountain headquarters and elected the King of Wakanda as their team leader, they have had a more hostile relationship with U.S. authorities with the evil Phil Coulson the recurring character representing the U.S. gov't and the U.S.'s official superhero team the Squadron Supreme has been portrayed as villains in the book just as much as the Winter Guard has.

  10. #10
    Spectacular Member Fort Nerd's Avatar
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    I think it might be part of a bigger problem with portraying Slavic people in general. Shang-Chi was successful and praised for delivering a realistic Asian-American portrayal (give or take a few magic fights and a dragon lol) yet Black Widow relied heavily on boring stereotypes of Russians. Russian characters in comics tend to have ridiculous names (Rasputin??? c'mon), not use patronymics, and have masculine last names for female characters (instead of eg. Maximova, Romanova. IDK if that's a common thing in Russia but I lived in CZR for a year and they REALLY like to take it to absurd levels (you can find books by someone called JK Rowlingova in a bookstore)

    Slavic folks from somewhere other than Russia are pretty much nonexistent. I wanna praise Wandavision here because even though they invented a fictional country, I felt connected with the main character, particularly when she was using American culture as escapism.

    I promise though, if anybody ever tried to portray my country's government as supervillains, I will be throwing money at the screen lol.
    Last edited by Fort Nerd; 10-14-2021 at 02:32 AM.

  11. #11
    Astonishing Member danielsan52's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lordozone View Post
    I just read Avengers #49 as well as X-force and I was a bit embarrassed.

    First of all: I'm not a fan of Putin's Russia at all, but being European, knowing a minimum of the complexity of Russian politics and the way the opponents fight inside the country, I have the impression that Marvel treats the Russian situation in its comics in a totally caricatured way, a kind of evil empire a la star wars, even more than in the cold war.

    Already, they show Russia as a dictatorship in the Star Wars style, without nuance. Russia is not a dictatorship, it is an Authoritarian democracy (the distinction is slim but important). There is a fragile freedom of speech, an opposition (which is often locked up and even killed sometimes, yes, but which can speak freely in some private newspapers). Moreover Russia, although still having a strong geo-strategic power in certain regions, and an important military force, is not economically what it was.

    Marvel wants to talk about a geo-strategic, totalitarian adversary of the west, democracy or human rights with a real economic strength? Let them talk about China. But since they still have movies to sell them, it's not going to happen anytime soon...
    Yeah okay. A simple Google search will show you Russian Government’s anti gay stance against LGBTQ people and how the general public hates and wants us gone.

    How about google images of “Russia beating/starving/torturing Ukraine people”??

    **** Russia.
    Last edited by danielsan52; 10-14-2021 at 03:22 AM.
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by charliehustle415 View Post
    [the middle east has entered the chat]
    true LMAO

    Quote Originally Posted by danielsan52 View Post
    Yeah okay. A simple Google search will show you Russian Government’s anti gay stance against LGBTQ people and how the general public hates and wants us gone.

    How about google images of “Russia beating/starving/torturing Ukraine people”??

    **** Russia.
    Dude comics are very-anti gov. and anti-cops and anti-corporations.Doesn't mean they are very anti-America.But Russia is treated badly for the whole country including population, it's very stereotypical.

    Comics have mistreated LGBTQ+ people which I'm sure you're very passionate about, so why are you so casually okay w/ a medium portraying an entire country for something they are not.

  13. #13
    The King Fears NO ONE! Triniking1234's Avatar
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    I thought OP was gonna talk about the old comics cuz Russia was up to some shady **** in the old Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America comics I had.

    But yeah I forgot Marvel currently has the Russians farming metahumans for their army, working vampires and putting mutants in concentration camps. RIP.

    Quote Originally Posted by danielsan52 View Post

    **** Russia.
    I mean the guy you're responding to doesn't like the Russian government either but Marvel doesn't have to make them look like all the Satans combined.
    "Cable was right!"

  14. #14
    Spectacular Member CitizenXXX's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by danielsan52 View Post
    Yeah okay. A simple Google search will show you Russian Government’s anti gay stance against LGBTQ people and how the general public hates and wants us gone.

    How about google images of “Russia beating/starving/torturing Ukraine people”??

    **** Russia.
    Oh dude
    Images in Google
    I could tell you about the Ukrainian government after the coup of 2014, about Ukrainian nationalism, about Odessa on May 2, about the shelling of Lugansk and about many terrible things that you cannot even judge by the pictures in Google. I can, because I am Ukrainian and I have the right to do so, but I will not - this is not the place for that.
    Russia is a huge, beautiful, interesting country with wonderful people. Crazy, monstrous laws? Yes. Lots of things that you or I may not like.
    But it will pass, like the racist laws in the United States (right?), but the people and the country will remain.

  15. #15
    Astonishing Member danielsan52's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Triniking1234 View Post
    I thought OP was gonna talk about the old comics cuz Russia was up to some shady **** in the old Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America comics I had.

    But yeah I forgot Marvel currently has the Russians farming metahumans for their army, working vampires and putting mutants in concentration camps. RIP.



    I mean the guy you're responding to doesn't like the Russian government either but Marvel doesn't have to make them look like all the Satans combined.
    To clarify, I also have no problem with Comics portraying the US govt be equally as corrupt and hate filled and racist. Henry Peter Gyrich and others are comparable to current US politicrits.
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