Avengerspalooza #5--Writing Yourself Out Of A Corner

For this and all posts today, SPOILER ALERT for Siege and the 95 Avengers titles released Wednesday...SPOILERS start after the Avengers logo...




One of the big outcomes of Siege was this:

In heaven's name, why?

Not that I'm a big supporter of the SHRA, mind you. It's just that, in the context of recent Marvel history, repealing the Registration Act makes just about zero sense.

Let's review: in the event that kicked off Civil War, a bunch of idiot young superheroes acted recklessly, leading to a bunch of civilian deaths. This led to a huge nationwide movement to register superheroes. The rationale, as given by this grieving mother:

So with something like 90% public support, the SHRA was passed, we had a brief tiff, Captain America's side lost, and Tony Stark was put in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. And superheroes had to register or else.

Then the Secret Invasion happened, and even though it lasted about 12 seconds, apparently it traumatized the public. For no reason that makes sense, Stark was blamed for everything, and for reasons that make even less sense, he was replaced by Norman Osborn.

But the Registration Act was still in effect. And the public supported it and Osborn enforced it.

Than Osborn went loopy (big surprise) and set-up an excuse to attack Asgard. But even though it was a set-up, one would think that it proved more than ever the need for the SHRA--Volstagg's careless use of his power led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths (albeit with a merciful end to the Chicago Bears' season), even though the main blame goes to the U-Foes. And before anyone tries to completely exonerate Volstagg, this is the same universe wherein they boast that the Hulk's rampages have never killed a single innocent bystander (including many fights against the U-Foes). So there really can be no excuse for Volstagg blowing up Soldier Field, attacked or not.

So Norman starts an unauthorized war, gets put down like a mad dog. And Steve Rogers replaces him.

Now, what, exactly, in all of that justifies repealing the Super Hero Registration Act? Why, in all of this, do the mother's arguments above no longer apply?

Volstagg's actons proved that untrained, unlicensed super-beings are still dangerous to the public at large. And wouldn't that just strengthen the popularity of the law? And Sally Floyd is still writing articles condemning people who oppose the Act, right?

Yes, Osborn was bad, but that had nothing to do with the SHRA. (And can I point out that the question of the "nation's top cop" being a force for good or evil depending entirely on the man holding the role indicates a serious lack of checks and balances in the system? Fury and Stark and Osborn had the position...does that mean the only thing stopping the first two from running amok was that they weren't already evil??)

Yes, I know that in New Avengers Finale #1, Cap explains that it was his sole demand for taking the position of "top cop"--that the SHRA be scrapped. Well, Steve is a returned-from-the-dead-but-presumably-still-under-arrest-for-violating-said-law-and-leading-armed-insurrection criminal, so maybe any demands he makes are simply letting the terrorists win.

But wouldn't repealing the Registration Act be hugely unpopular? Doesn't every single reason it was passed still apply? Have the people forgotten? Or do they just not care anymore?

The real answer, of course, is that Bendis wanted to end this "story five years in the making" by having the SHRA lifted, because you can't very well have a Heroic Age while being puppet government soldiers. But, it seems pretty clear, he had absolutely no clue how to get there. There is nothing in the stories that Bendis has told that has undone the set-up Millar gave is in Civil War. Nothing.

Maybe, if Bendis really cared about selling this development, he could have had an unregistered hero break out of prison, sacrifice herself by stopping Sentry on national TV while rescuing puppies, and have the public realize how unjust the SHRA was. Or something. But no, Bendis just wants to get from story point A to story point B, so he arbitrarily declares it done, even though it makes no sense in the universe he's set up.

So, if the SHRA was ever justified, it still is, and repealing it is a stupid exercise in Bendis writing himself out of a corner. And if it wasn't justified, than someone owes the public over the marvel Universe (and readers of Marvel Comics) apologies for wasting 5 years of our time.