Polite Dissent

I just finished reading Avengers #503, Chaos part 4, and there were several scenes that struck me as particularly awkward and ill-conceived. This isn’t an in-depth review or discussion of the comic (see the Precocious Curmudgeon or the Comic Treadmill for some good thoughts on the issue), but a look at those five scenes that caught my eye.

• In regards to Jan and Wanda’s poolside conversation, I don’t think women really talk that way. I think it’s more how men imagine women talk, not how they really do.

• Doctor Strange: “I am a practitioner of the mystic arts and I have achieved Master level.”
  This is an awkward statement that needs some more clarification. Why didn’t he just use his normal nom de guerre of “Sorcerer Supreme” which explains the situation better?
  What exactly is a Master Level sorcerer anyway? I figure that it’s one of three things:
  1. Like any other Master’s Degree, it’s an advanced degree in magic. That would make him Stephen Strange, M.D., M. Sor. He probably wrote his thesis on “The Metatextural Analysis of the Jungian System and Sexual Dynamics: a Comparison between the Books of Eibon and the Vishanti Texts.” This concept also suggests that somewhere there’s a Doctorate Level magician who’d be able to kick his butt.
  2. Like a Master Chef or a Master Carpenter (such as Norm Abrams on the New Yankee Workshop), Master Level sorcerer is a title which must be earned. He probably had to past some GRE-style test to earn the title:
     

     When faced with the minions of the dread Dormammu, your best choice of incantations is:
     A. That is not dead / which may eternal lie / and in strange aeons / even death may die
     B. By the powers that dwell in the darkness / I summon the hosts of Hoggoth
     C. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee
     D. Wake me up before you go go / ’cause I’m not planning on going solo
     E . All your bases are belong to us

  3. Master Level sounds very reminiscent of a role-playing term, like in Dungeons & Dragons or Everquest. Remember in the old AD&D system where each level had its own title? Master Level sorcerer is probably just like a 20th level magic-user. I can imagine Dr. Strange running around shouting, “I just need five more experience points to make Master level! Has anyone seen a Mindless One I can kill?”

• Spider-Man’s comments do seem somewhat out of character (well, not out of character for the Paul Jenkin’s written Spectacular Spider-Man – some of his statements make me cringe), but I think it was more likely Spidey’s comments were taken out of context. We’ve all been in the same situation: talking to someone in a crowd when we make some stupid or inane comment just as there is a lull in conversation. Everyone turns to look at you and you do your best to take your foot out of your mouth as quickly as possible. This is what I think happened to Spider-Man.

• It seems rather condescending of Dr. Strange to dismiss Scarlet Witch as someone who was born with her powers and never earned them. Most super-heroes are born with powers, or gain them through some lucky accident. Very few earn them. Just look at the Avengers: Warbird - lucky accident, Captain America - lucky accident, Hulk -lucky accident, Firestar - born with powers, Justice - born with powers, Wasp - lucky accident (married a smart guy), Thor - born with powers, She-Hulk - lucky accident. It seems that only Hawkeye, Iron Man, and Yellow Jacket have “earned” their powers. I’m probably reading too much into this, but it just struck me as an out of character comment.

• I’m expected to believe that Captain America would hand over his mentally ill and comatose teammate to her estranged a father — a known criminal who just months before tried to destroy New York — without batting an eye? And no one else says anything, not even Nick Fury? This ending seems one of the the most unlikely parts of the entire storyline to me.