SpunkySmurph
I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet, but, regardless, I'm making a thread about it.
Am I the only one that noticed how shockingly similair Marvel's Civil War and the Cadmus situation/Capes vs. Government theme that was ongoing in JLU are?
Essentially, they were nearly identical ideas, tainted and altered by the different, varying values and traditional conflicts of the two companies (Marvel and DC).
For Marvel, they gave it a sense of the Marvel brand of ongoing, ceaseless inner conflict (Everything from Captain America vs. Ironman, to Spiderman doubting himself, to Storm and the chieftans doubting her Wakandan priorities). You were supposed to be able to identify with both Cap and Tony, despite making Tony such a jackass.
For DC, they painted it with their typical style of traditional, clear-cut, black and white, good vs. evil conflict. This is shown in that Batman and Superman remained allies, while battling the ever-so-evil government, who sought to end the JLU, and was being puppeteered by an evil president with a hidden agenda.
In the case of DC, however, they changed their style towards the end. Heroes start turning themselves in, Supes has inner moral conflict, etc. Of course, this is all set straight when it turns out that Luthor is the real villain, as moral dillemas are too infrequent in the DCU for it to last.
Anyways, despite the above, the two themes within the show and the comic are starkingly alike. On a broader scale, they are both about approaches to deal with the potential meta-human threat. They both become "hero vs. government". They both discuss the morality of each side of it.
On a smaller scale:
CW
tarts with Hero-Villain conflict causing massive casualties
JLUtarts with an alternate version of Heroes dominating people
CWHIELD allies with the US government to institue a plan to register all heroes.
JLU:The US government organizes CADMUS to institue contingency plans to combat heroes
CW:Pro-reg clones Thor
JLU:CADMUS clones Supergirl
CW:Pro-reg recruits Captain Mar-vell, returned from the dead.
JLU:CADMUS recruits Doomsday, back from the dead.
CW:Pro-reg organizes the Thunderbolts, and forces the super-villains to becomes soldiers for them.
JLU:CADMUS organizes Task Force X (a.k.a. Suicide Squad) and feeds them explosive nanites, forcing the super-villains to work for them
CW:Creates super-teams, gives them identities similair to greek gods, to have a many more recruits.
JLU:Literally creates a super-team (Ultamen), and clones them to have a whole army of personal, made-from-scratch heroes
CW:Uses the Thunderbolts to take down rogue heros and puts them in the negative zone
JLU:Uses Task Force X to break into JLA headquarters and capture the Anhhilator
CWpiderman was manipulated into joining Pro-reg, but only tmeporarily
JLU:Captain Atom was manipulated into joining the government, but only temporarily
CW:Captain America was labeled as a terrorist
JLUuperman was inches away from killing a president
CW:The war ends when Captain America turns himself in
JLU:The war almost ends when all of the founding members of the JLU (except for Batman) turn themselves in
CW:Lex Luthor turned out to be manipulating it all
JLU:Tony Stark turned out to have risked a war just to fund it
...
And there are more after that.
Any thoughts?
Preferences between the war-bringing, conflict causing, direct, do-or-be-criminalized approach of CW and the under-handed, scheming, over-the-top contingency plans of the JLU?
Am I the only one that noticed how shockingly similair Marvel's Civil War and the Cadmus situation/Capes vs. Government theme that was ongoing in JLU are?
Essentially, they were nearly identical ideas, tainted and altered by the different, varying values and traditional conflicts of the two companies (Marvel and DC).
For Marvel, they gave it a sense of the Marvel brand of ongoing, ceaseless inner conflict (Everything from Captain America vs. Ironman, to Spiderman doubting himself, to Storm and the chieftans doubting her Wakandan priorities). You were supposed to be able to identify with both Cap and Tony, despite making Tony such a jackass.
For DC, they painted it with their typical style of traditional, clear-cut, black and white, good vs. evil conflict. This is shown in that Batman and Superman remained allies, while battling the ever-so-evil government, who sought to end the JLU, and was being puppeteered by an evil president with a hidden agenda.
In the case of DC, however, they changed their style towards the end. Heroes start turning themselves in, Supes has inner moral conflict, etc. Of course, this is all set straight when it turns out that Luthor is the real villain, as moral dillemas are too infrequent in the DCU for it to last.
Anyways, despite the above, the two themes within the show and the comic are starkingly alike. On a broader scale, they are both about approaches to deal with the potential meta-human threat. They both become "hero vs. government". They both discuss the morality of each side of it.
On a smaller scale:
CW
tarts with Hero-Villain conflict causing massive casualtiesJLU
tarts with an alternate version of Heroes dominating peopleCW
HIELD allies with the US government to institue a plan to register all heroes.JLU:The US government organizes CADMUS to institue contingency plans to combat heroes
CW:Pro-reg clones Thor
JLU:CADMUS clones Supergirl
CW:Pro-reg recruits Captain Mar-vell, returned from the dead.
JLU:CADMUS recruits Doomsday, back from the dead.
CW:Pro-reg organizes the Thunderbolts, and forces the super-villains to becomes soldiers for them.
JLU:CADMUS organizes Task Force X (a.k.a. Suicide Squad) and feeds them explosive nanites, forcing the super-villains to work for them
CW:Creates super-teams, gives them identities similair to greek gods, to have a many more recruits.
JLU:Literally creates a super-team (Ultamen), and clones them to have a whole army of personal, made-from-scratch heroes
CW:Uses the Thunderbolts to take down rogue heros and puts them in the negative zone
JLU:Uses Task Force X to break into JLA headquarters and capture the Anhhilator
CW
piderman was manipulated into joining Pro-reg, but only tmeporarilyJLU:Captain Atom was manipulated into joining the government, but only temporarily
CW:Captain America was labeled as a terrorist
JLU
uperman was inches away from killing a presidentCW:The war ends when Captain America turns himself in
JLU:The war almost ends when all of the founding members of the JLU (except for Batman) turn themselves in
CW:Lex Luthor turned out to be manipulating it all
JLU:Tony Stark turned out to have risked a war just to fund it
...
And there are more after that.
Any thoughts?
Preferences between the war-bringing, conflict causing, direct, do-or-be-criminalized approach of CW and the under-handed, scheming, over-the-top contingency plans of the JLU?
