An Open Letter To Marvel

Thank you, Marvel.

Thank you for showing us that "heroes" should have the courage to make deals with the devil.

Thank you for giving your readers role models who would rather rather give into temptations offered by the embodiment of evil than deal with a traumatic death, as adults must do every day.

Thanks for teaching us that a whole new, happy life (with only "some small part of your soul" unhappy) is available, if you just make a deal with a powerful evil entity. I truly hope that the next time Dr. Doom or Thanos offer up a Faustian bargain to one of your heroes, they emulate Peter Parker's example and accept it. Because you've taught us that heroes should do the thing that makes them feel better, no matter who offers the deal.

Thank you for showing us that heroes shouldn't resist evil. That when something goes bad in your life, the only alternative is to further empower the most evil being in your universe. That evil is more powerful than a love "that comes along but once in a millennia," and therefore what's the point of us non-heroes trying to resist temptation.

And finally, thank you, Marvel, for taking a hero I had grown up with; a hero who I admired for always persevering, no matter the hardship or tragedy that came his way; a hero dedicated to doing the right thing no matter the temptation thrown his way...thank you for taking that hero and turning him into a whining, selfish, solipsistic, emotionally stunted coward who makes bargains with Mephisto.

Fuck you, Marvel. Fuck you very much.