-
-
In this comic, Captain America is fighting side by side with his best friend Bucky Barns. Their adversary is Agent Axis. World Wars I and II gave Americans a large fear of Germans and the other Axis powers including Italy and Japan. Although the world wars had ended long before 1978 when this comic was published, people still saw the axis powers as faceless bad guys. This is further demonstrated by the fact that Agent Axis wears a hat and a full-face covering, which completely dehumanizes him. -
Thanos, one of Marvel's greatest villains, is introduced in the 90s. He is in love with Death, who is personified in the comics. Thanos uses the omnipotent power to instantly kill half of the population as a tribute to his beloved. Reason behind the evil in these comics is beginning to emerge, but it is still very clear that Thanos has no good intentions and is doing this only to please himself and his love, Death. On the cover, the image of Death is displayed over Thanos’s shoulder. -
This secondary source article discusses how supervillains have changed from the comic books to the movies and the role they play. They write that MCU's "comic book source materials, are largely based on Manichean conflicts between pure goodness and pure evil where audience appeals are made to negative emotions directed against the supervillain and positive emotions towards the superhero". The article later goes on to discuss how recent villains have become more complex and debatable than before. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzGBRDpf5GU
In this clip, Thanos explains to Dr. Strange his reasoning behind his search for the stones. He believes that be reducing the population of the world, he is actually saving it. The logic may be flawed, but this is one of the first times that the lines between good and evil become blurred. Thanos isn't looking for a throne or world domination. He believes that he is bringing salvation. -
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/utk/reader.action?docID=6379714 This encyclopedia is one on villains. It compares the characters between both the comics and the movies. This source agrees that Thanos is a different type of villain than what people have experienced before. It reads that Thanos "opens up a debate on ego versus altruism and the point at which altruism becomes villainous". Being able to debate villains is an exciting new conversation.