A/N: this is written as a companion to Civil War; a newspaper article released a couple of weeks before the events of the film. Because of this, it does NOT contain any spoilers x
THE AVENGERS: HEROES OR VILLAINS?
Writer AG Tattersall takes a closer look for the New York Times at how Western society's perception of the Avengers in popular culture may affect public response in weeks to come.
Despite a smattering of similar events throughout history, most - at least, the American most - consider the 2012 Battle of New York as a turning point in the history of so-called "Enhanced" humans, more commonly known as superheroes. Our small blue world became much smaller and, if not for the actions of a brave few, more vulnerable. The Avengers, most of them already known to the public eye, attained that rare dual status of being military champions and celebrity icons. Suddenly, their faces were everywhere, and children were begging their parents for, please, just one more Iron Man figurine - a man responsible for the death of (admittedly not exactly innocent) Obadiah Stane.
The merest suggestion that these Avengers, under the jurisdiction of the shadowiest of government organisations, might be anything other than benevolent was immediately brushed aside, as was any belief that, regardless of their intentions, they may cause more harm than good. So what if the infamous Loki only tried to conquer Earth because his once-mythical brother had ties to our home? So what if he was taken to a world we know next to nothing about, instead of answering for his crimes like the war hero that he was? The Avengers, man! They're the good guys!
That was the answer that solved everything. It helped that we could forgive them the damage to the world's most influential city - New York is a hardy place, after all. As was Greenwich, as was Washington, when the Avengers brought trouble raining down upon those places too.
It was not until the Ultron debacle that people began to remove their rose-tinted spectacles. Not only was the malevolent AI a direct result of the actions of Stark and Banner, their exploits had spread to countries they had no business in. What people seem to forget is that the Avengers are a Western creation. Even Thor, an alien, influenced Slavic religion that was the heritage of many Americans' ancestors. According to reports, Natasha Romanoff gave up her Russian citizenship along with her former career to become the good, wholesome sidekick of Captain America. Although still well-known, many Eastern countries viewed the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, who so perfectly encapsulate American ideas of honour, freedom and so on, as the next door neighbour's problem. There are no icons of Asian theology in their ensemble, no epitome of an Arabic country decked out in their flag's colours leading the team. This lack of representation, barely made up for by the efforts of the World Security Council to hold the actions of the American SHIELD to account, would no doubt have caused more bother if the Avengers had in fact had a direct impact on the people of these cultures' lives.
And then Iron Man proceeded to drag the Hulk through the fast-rising African nation of Wakanda, causing immeasurable devastation in the process. And then Ultron stole some of South Korea's most advanced technology, created by a government-funded science program, which the Avengers conveniently failed to return. And then Sokovia fell out of the sky.
The eastern European nation is one with both a complex past and present, even without the interference of the Avengers. Its ranking on the Human Development Index is a lowly 0.733, putting at 44th out of 47 for the most developed European countries. It is not in the European Union, its government was on the fringes of the Soviet alliance during the Cold War, and even now it is struggling to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis, due to it, like Hungary and Ukraine, being directly on the route from the war-stricken country to the higher standards of living on the western side of the continent. Before the events of May 2015, the Stark Relief Foundation had no interest in the small, insignificant country, despite it having been repeatedly hit by the weapons his company used to make - something which, no doubt, had a major effect on the country's level of poverty. Now, the name of Sokovia has become the byword for every mistake and negative consequence of the Earth's protectors. This is perhaps because the people of Sokovia, Wakanda and so on have not been subject to the Western propaganda which painted these Avengers as heroes of all, and as such can see them with much less optimistic eyes.
Many have pointed out that, since the Avengers became a private acquisition of Stark Industries as opposed to a glorified strike team of an elite espionage-based wing of government, their antics have become far more destructive. The rumours of an EU treaty that will return them under direct government jurisdiction have been welcomed, reportedly even by Tony Stark itself. It seems that we have a binary view of the Avengers - much like everything else nowadays, we must either love them, hate them or, for the lucky few, continue to be completely indifferent to them.
By sensationalising them, by viewing them as gods and characters rather than merely the people that they are, society has given the Avengers a bar so high it is almost impossible to rise to. When they clear it, we applaud in our amazement; when they fail, as they will inevitably do so, they have failed us and are worthy of our contempt. We do not allow them to make mistakes, and this is understandable. By placing the fate of the Earth on less than a dozen shoulders, we have given them more responsibility than any group so small should have.
Yes - by giving those who protect the Earth just a few, instantly recognisable and empathetic faces as opposed to an anonymous government organisation, we have allowed the general public to understand international affairs as they never have before. The world, at least the Western one, is united under them as they could never be by controversial world leaders in boring suits. And yet by doing this, we have created icons, modern gods, that these few people simply cannot be expected to, well, be. This system has the same flaws as a monarchy, someone appointed rather than elected who has nigh-on divine status, which means that their actions have a massively disproportional impact on all our lives - not just because of the direct effects of world-saving, but also because we glorify these actions until they become the stuff of legend. And legends are, more often than not, possible for real people to achieve. And we have forgotten that the Avengers are, in fact, real people, and must be treated as such - complex people capable of both good and bad, with not a good/evil binary but a scale of morality that they struggle with just as we do. This is, perhaps, why the Eastern and African countries were the ones who responded to Avenger activity just as they would had any other non-celebrity persons destroyed their homes; they had not been groomed to think any which way, but were able to see them with a clarity the Western world had lacked since the WWII days of Captain America.
This article neither condemns nor glorifies the Avengers as other think pieces seem to do - that misses the point altogether. Instead, it is appeal that we forget all the propaganda for and against them, and instead remember to perceive and judge them just as we would ourselves. In the real world, the matter is never so simple as superhero and evil villain. Insiders are saying that the Avengers are not nearly as united internally as their publicist would like us to believe, and it is likely that, soon, we will see some form of conflict between them that will try to force us to once again label one side as right and one as wrong. Before doing so, both in matters of the Avengers and in the wider world, take a moment to remember: we are all just humans. Even the aliens.
A/N super mega bonus to get you hyped for Civil War, I wanted to do something properly immersive, like it had been straight up taken from the MCU itself, and thus this thinkpiece was made. It's also written to tally pretty much exactly with how I would respond to Civil War stuff if I was in the MCU, so maaaaaybe this will lead on to a self-insert oneshot one day? Possibly, possibly not. I also wanted to try and tie real-life current events into the MCU, even just a little bit. Anyway, until then enjoy this rambling pointless pretend-article that makes little to no sense. And I promise I'll post the proper next Civilian File soon.