Ask, and Ye Shall Receive...Answers: Episode 45

This week's questions is about government agencies in the DC and Marvel Universes. How come they're allowed to kill and make up their own rules? Which Universe is worse?

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21 Comments

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viin

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I have always like the idea of SHIELD in the marvel universe. Im more of a DC reader but I havnt read anything about ARGUS yet but I like the idea of it.

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Bogey

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I think these government agencies are atrocious but DC is far worse when you got someone like Amanda Waller at the helm of ARGUS.

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Doing_Wrong_So_Nicely

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Excellent video Tony. It seems S.H.I.E.L.D. is a bit nicer than DC's different agencies. Also, that t-shirt is crazy.

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wundagoreborn

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Edited By wundagoreborn

mmmm... comfy sheets.

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The_Vein

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Edited By The_Vein

At 4:30 I suddenly thought I was watching a Makerbot video!

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frogjitsu

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Edited By frogjitsu

I have no problem with sheild. I rather enjoyed whenever Nick Fury made a guest appearance back in the day. And even now, Agent Venom was awesome, and Hulk'new arrangement with Shield has piqued my interest. And I thoroughly enjoy Sam Jackson in the Cinema Universe, lol. With Shield, for the most part they work with heros, especially, since a some of them have worked for sheild, heck Tony and Cap were both the Director at one point. So even though they might be at odds sometimes, they usually have a decent working relationship, except maybe during and after civil war, and they were only at odds with unregistered heroes. The others were practically glorified shield agents. You know the Marvel heros seem to battle each other more than they battle shield.

As for DC, I don't know to much about their agencies, so I have no comment.

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Spideress

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Someone has to be responsible for the actions of heroes and making sure they maintain certain boundaries - as one of the government's roles is to protect its citizens, then yes, it should be the government's job to establish some kind of connection with its operating heroes and maintain some kind of control. This was the whole point of Marvel's Civil War (at least it was supposed to be, though I never felt the issue was really fairly addressed, as the writing clearly made Cap "right" and Tony "wrong" in the most embarrassingly, heavy-handed way possible, but I digress), as too many "good" heroes (most famous example, the Scarlett Witch) had gone rogue and done serious harm without any real consequences (as the Avengers have proven time and again they are TERRIBLE at policing their own).

So I get why these agencies exist. But, clearly, they abuse that power, especially with people such as Waller and Osborn in charge of them. Because of this, they should be subjected to the same public scrutiny as all other government agencies, as ultimately, (at least within the USA) they are answerable to the American people, a body of citizens that most heroes themselves belong.

It's all tricky and very grey area - how much control is too much?

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animehunter

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Thanks @g_man for answering my question, guess what I need to do, is look at it in terms of grey and not black & white.

but I would like to pose another question.

How far is too far?

How far can people, like Amanda Waller, take the way they do things and not be considered as bad as the bad guys she's suppose to be protecting the people against?

Which could result is heroes like Batman saying, enough is enough, and attempts to shut them down. Although if such action is taken, would mean that he would be fighting the government as well, as they are the ones that gave her the position and responsibility in the first place.

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RedheadedAtrocitus

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Simply put, when government is in control its hard to tell a government entity what to do and what not. Its mostly the argument of telling government to stop and their response is "you and what army?" When they are in control, ones like SHIELD or ARGUS or other entities, then they kinda make the rules since the populace who put government in power gave them the sanction to do so. Superheroes are rather self-appointed and they realize that only by following rules do they get people on their side should they choose as such. Exactly why I think most superheroes would stay clear of belonging to a government group if they could manage so, I imagine. As for these government entities taking superheroes in their midst, sure its an abuse of power. Any abuse of power by the government is wrong...but its up to the individual to determine whether it is abuse or is justified.

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MadeinBangladesh

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I Hate the crap out of SHIELD and Argus. Screw these Govt agencies!

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BaneStrokeLoboGrundyBatArrow

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Meh I guess SHEILD is okay don't know much about Argus

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Battle_Forum_Junkie

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"...Give up, just quit, because in this life, you can't win. Yeah, you can try, but in the end you're just gonna lose, big time, because the world is run by the Man!"

Sorry, that quote was going through my head the whole video. :P

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Malonius

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Mutants in the Marvel Universe have certainly never had the best of luck with government agencies. Project Wideawake and Weapon X have both wreaked havoc in the mutant community. The Hulk also has had a lot of trouble with the government. The U.S. Army was always after him.

During the modern period in the Marvel Universe (since Avengers Disassembled), Marvel has made a concerted effort to make the government response more cohesive and rational. It makes sense that SHIELD would be a much bigger behind the scenes player than was previously known. It would make sense that leaders in the superhuman community would have been pro-actively coordinating behind the scenes a la The Illuminati. It would make sense that some members of the superhuman community would want to be fully integrated into the government's chain of command and others wouldn't a la Civil War. It would make sense that the mutants would resent their government-associated friends for not doing more to stop things like Project Wideawake a la AvX.

The government cannot allow vigilantism, but a lot of superheroes are vigilantes for the very reason that they don't trust the government. The Punisher, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Magneto...these people will never become government agents for different and good (from their perspective) reasons. This puts them at odds with the government and makes for very interesting conflict.

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X_Person

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Thank you Malonius for bringing up mutants and the government, I mean they seriously have screwed up in the past there, just leave the non-threatening mutants alone. Think of the M.R.D and Weapon X (they lost their most successful test subject). Another thing, I agree with SHIELD being extremely annoying. I love the new Venom, but if I was a hero I seriously would hate them. I understand why the helicarrier gets taken down so often. However, I feel SHIELD, at some point, helps out heroes, so they can call in a favor later on. They aren't as secretive as the DC govt. agencies but the Marvel ones seem much more powerful.

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Mezmero

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I feel like we need to change the title of this feature. Far too often do these videos end with "there is no answer." Thanks for the video G-Mangler.

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Lonestar9

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Great question and answer. I've read almost all of Amanda Waller from the new 52. There's nobody I dislike more than her, I think I even like some villains more than her! Nothing I've read from her stories gives her likable features, but I do get where she's suppose to be coming from I guess. I don't dislike Shield nearly as much, they seem more rational and fair. Although I don't read stuff like Secret Avengers, that sounds like as much of a messed up concept as Argus. I'll just say that in real life or the fantasy life, governments pretend to do what's best for the "people" but overall they just are paranoid and mostly suck.

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Chaos Burn

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Really eager to know what Marvel team that is in the picture being used for this video article, is it the most recent Thunderbolts?

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animehunter

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superkryptonian

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None compare to the IRS

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knishes8452

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Edited By knishes8452

I find secret agencies like SHIELD very annoying. I just see them as a bunch of assholes with guns running around thinking they can do whatever they want. They don't give a shit about normal citizens, they just want to fuck shit up because they know they can.