Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest Thinkers, The

by White, Mark

  NOTES

  1. Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 236–243.

  2. Avengers, vol. 1, #9 (October 1964).

  3. Bishop Joseph Butler, “Sermons VIII and IX,” in Fifteen Sermons (London: Ware, Longman, and Johnson, 1774).

  4. For a brilliant philosophical discussion of excuses, see J. L. Austin, “A Plea for Excuses,” in Philosophical Papers (New York: Oxford, 1979), 175–204.

  5. Avengers, vol. 1, #57 (October 1968), reprinted in Essential Avengers Vol. 3 (2001).

  6. Avengers, vol. 1, #54–55 (July–August 1968), reprinted in Essential Avengers Vol. 3 (2001).

  7. Claudia Card, The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), chapter 8. 

  8.X-Men, vol. 1, #4 (March 1964), reprinted in Essential Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (2010).

  9. For more on this, see Charles Griswold, Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

  10. For Tony’s own issues with forgiveness and atonement, see Christopher Robichaud, “Can Iron Man Atone for Tony Stark’s Wrongs?” in Iron Man and Philosophy, ed. Mark D. White (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), 53–63.

  11. For that matter, could anyone forgive a mime?

  12. What, no mime joke? Can’t think outside the box? Ha-ha . . .

  13. For instance, in Avengers, vol. 1, #401 (August 1996).

  14. Jacques Derrida, On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness, trans. Mark Dooley and Michael Hughes (New York: Routledge, 2001), 32–33.

  15. Leo Zaibert, “The Paradox of Forgiveness,” Journal of Moral Philosophy 6 (2009): 365–393.

  16. For more on the distinction between justice (or retribution) and revenge, see Robert Nozick, Philosophical Explanations (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 366–370.

  17. Iron Man, vol. 1, #229 (April 1988), reprinted in Iron Man: Armor Wars (2007).

  18. Avengers, vol. 1, #213 (November 1981).

  Chapter 8

  GODS, BEASTS, AND POLITICAL ANIMALS: WHY THE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

  Tony Spanakos

  The world needs what it always needs. Heroes. Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents . . . Not H.A.M.M.E.R. Agents. Avengers. Now, maybe more than ever.

  —Steve Rogers1

  When the Avengers title was relaunched in 2010, we were told that “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes united against a common threat! On that day the Avengers were born—to fight the foes that no single hero could withstand!”2 This was no surprise, since Stan Lee told true-believing fans essentially the same thing in the original Avengers #1 in 1963. But the claim is misleading, if not inaccurate. The Avengers may believe that they “assemble” in order to fight great foes, but there is more to it than this.

  When not Avengers, they perform great world-saving deeds on their own, but they long for fellowship and they languish emotionally. (Even their solo superheroics are often done in tandem with fellow Avengers in the great tradition of the “Marvel team-up.”) So what is the real reason why the Avengers assemble? Aristotle (384–322 BCE) would say that in working together as a community the Avengers act excellently (arête) and develop fellowship (philia).3 Ultimately, through their common action, they flourish (eudaimonia). And that is why they assemble.

  Assembling for Necessity or Perfection?

  We can easily dismiss the claim that the Avengers came together out of necessity, to defeat a supervillain whom they could not defeat alone. The evidence for this is that the Avengers originally assemble to fight Loki, who confuses them into fighting the Hulk.4 But even casual readers of Marvel Comics know that Thor fought Loki on his own throughout his long comics career. Loki is therefore not a foe whose defeat could only be secured by the concerted action of the Avengers. The same could be said of Kang, Modok, the Submariner, and many other Avenger villains who have also fought solo Avengers. Necessity hardly sustains the Avengers; there must be something else that makes them keep assembling.

  Let’s look at Aristotle’s explanation of the creation of the city-state (polis) for suggestions. Man, not sufficient in himself to live in isolation, needs the polis to ensure reproduction, stability, security, and the possibility of exchange.5 But while necessity might lead to forming a polis, it is maintained for reasons that go far beyond that. The polis, or city-state, is the political community that responded to something more fundamental in the lives of the Greeks. Put bluntly, “One cannot be a human being except in the context of a polis,”6 and the man outside of the polis is either a god or beast.7 A god does not need the polis, and a beast has neither use nor appreciation of it. For the mortal man in between, the polis is the place where fellowship (philia) is found, excellence (arête) is enacted, and human thriving (eudaimonia) is developed and perfected.

  Aristotle’s argument is based on his belief that man is a “political animal” (zoon politikon). But many of the Avengers are not ordinary humans. They are gods, mutants, and machines—one is even a Beast. It doesn’t matter. One may join the Avengers for the same reason one joins Aristotle’s polis, necessity. But one also remains in the Avengers for the same reason one remains in the polis, for the sake of the good life.

  Elementary Greek Lessons (Approved by the Comics Code)

  With all due respect to our good friend Ares, further elaboration on a few ancient Greek terms might help. The polis was different from other communities based on its size and the role of citizens in its social and political life.8 Also, Aristotle’s use of the word “political” is far broader than its use today. Having its roots in the life of the polis, politics for Aristotle encompasses the social, economic, and (what we call) political aspects of living in common with others. This distinction is important because, aside from a few examples such as Tony Stark’s time as secretary of defense and head of S.H.I.E.L.D., most Avengers eschew “politics,” even though they may be very political. Captain America, for example, is the living embodiment and symbol of the American spirit, but he refuses to run for president, only begrudgingly serving as head of U.S. security following Norman Osborn’s “Dark Reign.” In fact, he often avoids formal politics to engage in more meaningful and direct “political” action (saving the lives of citizens, defending the country from foreign/alien invasion, or simply being a role model to generations of Americans).

  The Avengers do not form their own polis in the sense of an independent political unit (like Genosha or the various dwelling places of the Inhumans), but they do engage in political community. The reason that they do this—and the reason they keep returning to the Avengers—is that avenging allows them a path to attaining eudaimonia that is more perfect than they can achieve in their solo careers. Commonly translated as happiness or fulfillment, eudaimonia “consists . . . in satisfying the desires that are necessary for man to have in order to live a full, rich life.”9 But reading eudaimonia as “happiness” in the twenty-first-century sense may distort its meaning in a couple of ways: first, happiness might be read in a hedonistic way, and second, it might be seen as an internal condition. Aristotle would disavow both. The first can be discarded because a full life is one based on reason and not pleasure, and the second can be discarded because happiness is not a feeling but a way of being. Specifically, Aristotle’s understanding of happiness (eudaimonia) involves virtue or excellence (arête), action that is practiced and developed over time. Arête is excellence in doing something, not simply an internal characteristic of the soul.10 While it is often used in a moral sense, arête can also be used to characterize the excellence that a carpenter has in terms of building a house. In other words, it is excellence relative to the craft or function of the craftsman, and it reaches its acme in the field of ethics and political life because this is the function of all humans.11

  If arête is found in action within the community, it supplements and is supplemented by the development of fellowship or friendship, philia (last Greek word, I promise), between citizens. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues th
at “the happy man [eudaimoni] must have society. . . . And it is obviously preferable to associate with friends [philon] and with good men than with strangers and chance companions. Therefore the happy man requires friends.”12 Philia can develop for different reasons: advantage (I am friends with you because you can get me a job); pleasure (Jersey Shore’s Snooki enjoys hanging out with the Sitch and JWoww because they are mad funny); or virtue (you are friends with me because you want what is good for me for my sake).13 This last form of philia, “wanting for someone what one thinks good, for his own sake and not for one’s own, and being inclined, so far as one can, to do such things for him,” is the highest level of friendship.14 In this version of friendship, the person sees his or her fellow as “another self” and finds in him or her someone also committed to arête: “Hence it is necessary for anyone who is going to be happy [eudaimonisonti] to have excellent friends [philon].”15

  Superheroes, obviously, perform superheroic acts of excellence regularly, whether they are members of the Avengers or not. But even though they may stop crime and superpowered villains in their solo careers, their lives and acts are necessarily incomplete. Inevitably, the desire for eudaimonia leads them to return to the Avengers, or at least to regular interaction and team-ups.

  Ms.-Sing Her Friends

  Jessica Jones: Remember the time you kept the . . . sun from exploding?!

  Ms. Marvel: You know what I did next? I went home and sat on my butt for six months, eating Ben & Jerry’s and watching old movies.16

  Following the “House of M” story arc, Carol Danvers “realized that she was not living up to her full potential as Ms. Marvel” and decided to emphasize her solo adventuring.17 But, six months later, when she defeats Stilt-Man in battle, he does not recognize her, and her recently hired publicist gets her a spot on the TV show Super Powers called “Where Are They Now?”18 She complains about this to Jessica Jones, another ex-Avenger, telling her that she left the Avengers because as an Avenger she waited for people to save, whereas, on her own, she goes out “on patrol” and “find[s] out you’re needed before you’re needed.”19 And yet when she sees some green aliens on the next two pages, her first instinct is to call Captain America. In fact, the entire first issue of her new comic book series is shaped not by her solo adventures, nor by forging her own identity, but by her inability to escape from being an Avenger.

  Another important Avenger in Carol’s life is Iron Man (Tony Stark), who is not just a fellow crimefighter but also a recovering alcoholic (like Carol) and Carol’s sponsor for Alcoholics Anonymous.20 So when he asks her to join and lead his Avengers team after the Marvel Universe “Civil War,” this is coming from more than someone who also fights crime.21 It is coming from a fellow on several levels, someone who understands her as few others can. After all, they not only act excellently together (in fighting crime), but they also find happiness in each other’s excellence (staying sober, for instance).

  In the first year of her solo run, Carol tries to find herself and realize her potential. Aristotle says the human function is to attain eudaimonia, and accordingly Ms. Marvel identifies her function, saying that “heroes need to . . . I need to make a difference.”22 Ironically, she only comes to this understanding once she decides to return to (and lead) the Avengers. Before she makes this decision, supervillains do not recognize her, TV producers consider her a has-been, and she has nothing resembling a “normal life.”23 Perhaps she cannot lead a normal life—not because she is a superhero, but specifically because she is an ex-Avenger.

  Carol tries to explain herself to her publicist, who ultimately does not understand her and cannot form a bond of philia with her. By contrast, Jessica Jones really gets her on a personal level, and Carol also has deep, meaningful conversations with Captain America and Tony Stark. When she engages in the arête of a superhero, Carol usually does so with other former or actual Avengers (Doctor Strange, Tigra, Valkyrie). Thus although she continues to act as a solo hero, she is not able to flourish the way she had hoped. When she finally understands what her purpose is, she fulfills it as an Avenger. On the cover of Mighty Avengers #1 and the opening splash page, Ms. Marvel glides down into battle, completely confident leading the Mighty Avengers, including veterans such as the Wasp, Wonder Man, the Black Widow, and Iron Man, all of whom are seasoned heroes. She finds eudaimonia among those with whom she shares philia, the Avengers.

  Getting Her Arête Together

  You were a mess . . . you weren’t half the woman you’ve become over the last couple of years.

  —Luke Cage to Jessica Jones24

  Luke Cage (Power Man) uses these words, among others, to convince Jessica that he truly wants to marry her. She was a mess, and she is one of the most intriguing and compelling characters in Marveldom. She is perpetually unhappy, self-deprecating, and utterly lacking in self-confidence. Jessica gained her powers when she was exposed to some chemicals following a car accident that killed her parents and brother.25 Prior to the accident, she was a miserable loner—so much so that she had a crush on Peter Parker and even he didn’t notice her—but she is even more so following her accident, given her guilt over partially causing it. After her convalescence in the hospital, Jessica is given the good news that she can return to her old high school and that a foster family wants to adopt her.26

  When Jessica returns she is more alienated than ever, treated like a freak by the cheerleaders, humiliated by the jocks, and pitied by Peter Parker.27 In her frustration, she runs away and discovers she has superstrength and can fly, but she is still thoroughly unsatisfied. Describing her early superheroing, Jessica says she tried it “for about a week. And it wasn’t a good week. It was an angry week. But I kept telling myself. There’s people in need. People causing trouble. That was the excuse but really . . . I just wanted to hit things.”28 Years later, she gives up the “superhero game” and becomes a private detective.

  Jessica seems to be perpetually looking for eudaimonia. More so than probably any Marvel character, she is a loner. Her fundamental repulsion at being a superhero makes it seem unlikely that she would need to be an Avenger. But like her friend Carol Danvers, she is miserable when she is not an Avenger. She drinks excessively, has meaningless trysts (repeatedly), uses foul language, and smokes like a chimney. There is no eudaimonia. She even yells at Carol when she urges Jessica to take on a case.29 Despite her outburst, she knows that Carol is her friend. This is why Jessica, who trusts no one, can tell Carol about her one-night stand with Luke Cage (a former and future Avenger). Ironically, when Carol tells her that Luke is a “cape chaser” (dates only superheroines), she tries to set Jessica up with Scott Lang, a former Ant-Man.30 In other words, although Carol criticizes Luke for only dating heroes, Jessica seems trapped in the same pattern—and not only “capes” but Avengers in particular.

  In the series The Pulse, Jessica is already pregnant with Luke’s child, and many of her fellow Avengers pitch in to help. Carol organizes a lunch with Jessica and Sue Richards (the Invisible Woman) because Jessica is worried about what her kid will be like, having two superheroes for parents.31 Sue, also a former Avenger, allays Jessica’s fears by telling her about the two kids she and Mr. Fantastic have. Later, Carol takes Jessica and Luke to the design studio of founding Avenger Janet van Dyne (the Wasp) to help Luke find a new superhero outfit.32 When Jessica’s water breaks, Carol flies her to the hospital, and when Luke can’t get to the hospital because of heavy traffic, Jan issues the call, “Avengers Assemble!”33 In their moment of human need, Jessica and Luke, both fiercely independent, get a little help from their friends—all of them Avengers.

  Later, the woman in charge of the hospital insists on getting Jessica out of the hospital because “we cannot give birth to whatever she has in there! We don’t know what kind of mutant is going to come out! She could give birth to an atomic bomb or—or a poison!!”34 When she suggests sending Jessica to the Baxter Building or S.H.I.E.L.D., she is interrupted by Captain America, who says, “That won’t
be necessary. . . . We’ll take her.”35 Cap, surrounded by the New Avengers, takes her to the house of Doctor Strange, a former Avenger, to give birth. During the birth, Ms. Marvel is right next to her, holding a cloth to her head.36 While the paparazzi wait outside, powerless journalist Ben Urich wonders, “What about the person behind the mask . . . who needs help and friends and love just like the rest of us . . . Who will be there to help them when things don’t go their way? When tragedy strikes?”37 As if the point needed further clarification, Urich’s narration is matched with images of Luke, Cap, Spidey, Spider-Woman, and Iron Man.

  Together with Luke and a baby girl, Jessica becomes less dark; she’s even happy at times. Interrupting her wedding to Luke, she inserts her own vows, telling him: