Quite by coincidence, a comics community I read had this rather good entry (http://community.livejournal.com/seebelow/321045.html#cutid1) in their 'characters you totally hate' meme:
"4. Henry Pym
For all the talk about "women in refrigerators"- talk which, admittedly, I agree with- the case of Henry Pym is still kind of mysterious to me. It does not matter if you are a an alcoholic, a drug addict, a pimp, a hooker, a Communist, a philanderer, a Skrull, or a Life Model Decoy, you can still overcome these afflictions and be seen as a hero again. Here are some other things you can do and still be seen as heroic:
* Betray your species to alien invaders * Declare war against the Surface World. Repeatedly. * Kill your wife with radioactive sperm * Devour your own children * Cause earthquakes, floods, famine * Consume whole planets * Cause suns to go nova
If you do any or all of these things, you can still be a Good Guy. However, if you beat your wife, even once, you will forever more be defined as "that asshole wifebeater", and you have no future whatsoever as a character.
Unless you're Reed Richards, I guess. But I think Reed is a member of the Promise Keepers, plus his wife was possessed by the ghost of an evil feminist or something at the time, so nobody is bothered by that little incident."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-17 07:52 pm (UTC)"4. Henry Pym
For all the talk about "women in refrigerators"- talk which, admittedly, I agree with- the case of Henry Pym is still kind of mysterious to me. It does not matter if you are a an alcoholic, a drug addict, a pimp, a hooker, a Communist, a philanderer, a Skrull, or a Life Model Decoy, you can still overcome these afflictions and be seen as a hero again. Here are some other things you can do and still be seen as heroic:
* Betray your species to alien invaders
* Declare war against the Surface World. Repeatedly.
* Kill your wife with radioactive sperm
* Devour your own children
* Cause earthquakes, floods, famine
* Consume whole planets
* Cause suns to go nova
If you do any or all of these things, you can still be a Good Guy. However, if you beat your wife, even once, you will forever more be defined as "that asshole wifebeater", and you have no future whatsoever as a character.
Unless you're Reed Richards, I guess. But I think Reed is a member of the Promise Keepers, plus his wife was possessed by the ghost of an evil feminist or something at the time, so nobody is bothered by that little incident."