The Surprising Politics of Superhero Movies

TotalFilm.com has compiled a list of 30 superhero films and the politics involved there in, ranging from Superman's "Truth, Justice and The American Way" and the X-Men's civil rights analogies to some of the more out there theories involving Unbreakable and the Spider-Man's movies. The whole list can be read here.

Visual.ly's Infographic Roundup

 

Visual.ly has a round-up of several superhero infographics, a few of which have been featured on this blog before, with a focus on the recent superhero movies. You can check them all out here.

Superheroes and Life Insurance

Business Insider has an interesting article about life insurance and how it would apply to Batman, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Fred Flintstone and Marge Simpson. The full article can be read here.

Happy New Years from Superheroes

It's Just Some Random Guy, the guy behind the popular Marvel vs DC videos, has released a series of New Years Greetings videos featuring various superheroes commenting on the upcoming year, which can be viewed below, and more of his videos can be found here.

Superheroes Visit Children's Hospitals

A children's hospital in Pittsburgh recently had a surprising morning when Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America and Superman appeared and washed the hospital's windows. You can check out the video below for the whole story, or this article for more info and a gallery of the event.
And in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a children's hospital got their windows cleaned by Superman, the Hulk, Flash, Spider-Man and Captain America, which you can read more about in this article or in the video here.

Superhero 411: Aunt May

Today we're featuring one of the superheroes on the American Superhero Team and delve deeper into their history. In this article, we'll be looking at probably the oldest person on this list, Aunt May. Warning! Some Spoilers Ahead!


Aunt May

Real name: May Reilly Parker-Jameson
First Appearance: Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962, Marvel Comics)
Creators: Stan Lee (writer) and Steve Ditko (artist)

Occupation: Housewife/Volunteer
Religion: Protestant

Operates in: New York/Boston

After the death of her brother-in-law and his wife, May and her husband Ben adopt their young son Peter and raise him in their home in Queens, New York, eventually becoming a surrogate mother to the boy after some hesitation. Years later, when Peter was in his teens, Ben was killed by a thief in a home robbery and money became tight. Peter wanted to help out as best he could, and eventually became a freelance photographer specializing in photos of superhero Spider-Man, which in reality was Peter himself, who had gained superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. May did not know that Peter was Spider-Man, and was always trying to be protective of her "frail" nephew while considering Spider-Man a vigilante to be feared thanks to frequent smearing by the Daily Bugle, a newspaper that pays top dollar for Spider-Man pictures and Peter's almost exclusive customer. Peter feared to reveal his identity to Aunt May, believing that she would suffer from a fatal shock, and was constantly torn between superheroing and helping his Aunt. Because of this, Aunt May has frequently been drawn into conflicts between Spider-Man and supervillains, such as when the villain Doctor Otto Octavius attempted to court Aunt May when he thought Peter might be Spider-Man, nearly leading the two to be wed. Eventually Aunt May learns of Peter's secret and the two have a long discussion where they learn each is stronger that they had previously though. Aunt May is glad to learn the true reason behind her nephew's previously mysterious and flighty behavior, and finds a new purpose in defending Spider-Man from his detractors. Spider-Man later joined The Avengers, and when their house was destroyed by a supervillian, Aunt May, Peter and his wife Mary Jane moved into their headquarters, Stark Tower, where she keep even the most abrasive heroes like Wolverine in check and single handedly defeated the Chameleon when he attempted to infiltrate the tower by tricking him into eating Ambien-filled oatmeal-raisin cookies. When Peter revealed his secret identity to the world in support of the Superhuman Registration Act, he later changed his mind after seeing the true impact of the act and has to take Aunt May and Mary Jane into hiding. An assassin is able to locate them and tries to kill Peter, but misses and instead hits Aunt May. Peter does everything he can to save her, but finds nothing that works. The demon Mephisto appears and offers Peter an option, that he would alter reality to save her life and make everyone forget that Peter was Spider-Man, but at the cost of Peter and Mary Jane having never been married. Mary Jane and Peter agree to the deal, which changes reality to one where Aunt May is alive and well while being a frequent volunteer at a homeless shelter, where she meets John Jonah Jameson Sr, father of former Daily Bugle owner and now mayor J. Jonah Jameson, and begins a relationship with him. The two eventually wed and later move to Boston to distance themselves from the dangerous superhero activity in New York.

Because of Aunt May's large presence from the beginning in the Spider-Man mythos, she has become a stalwart of the franchise, being a frequent focus of storylines and has appeared in nearly every adaptation of the Spider-Man series. She has also been the source of frequent parody, especially by Marvel themselves, such as the time she became Golden Oldie and fought the planet-eating Galactus.

Superheroes' Finanaces and Fresh Political Videoes

A few things to mention today.  First up are two things I found in the course of writting yesterday's article.
At left is part of an infographic by H&R Block detailing Batman and Spider-Man's finances. You can see the whole thing here.

And here are two panels from Superman Vol 1 #148 where Superman learns he owes $1 Billion in taxes. It's a really silly story, and Superman eventually gets out of it thanks to a loophole, hence yesterday's comments from Superman.
And below we have some videos. The first is Nick Fury himself, Samuel L Jackson's endorsement video for Barack Obama. It's an interesting video, and you can learn more about it in this article by The Examiner. The next video is cold opening for The Simpson's season premier on Sept 30, where Homer goes to vote. And the last video is an Auto-Tune Remix of Obama and Romney's convention speeches. Enjoy!
~James