A Boy and His God: the Promise of Masculinity in Captain Marvel
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A Boy and His God: The Promise of Masculinity in Captain Marvel Ryan Johnson, University of Texas at Dallas Abstract It would be hard to deny that comics and the superheroes that populate them have Film and popular culture critic Bob been a major cultural force in the eight Chipman has argued that, during the Golden decades since their premiere. For those who Age of comics, one of the primary draws for study such movements in popular culture, many readers was the relationship between one of the primary issues has been why the adult-male hero and his young sidekick. comic books in particular succeeded so well. Many boys, left without present fathers Superman first debuted in Action Comics #1 during the 1930s and ‘40s, found ersatz in 1938, and in less than five years he and masculine role-models in the superheroes of his ilk were starring in radio, film, and the day, particularly those who mentored a enough individual titles to flood the market young sidekick, as with Batman and Robin. and reach millions of readers. What was it While Chipman’s theory accurately explains that allowed the superhero to rise so high one strong appeal of comics characters such and so quickly? Numerous scholars and as Batman, Superman, or Captain America creators such as Brad Wright, Grant to young boys, it does not account for the Morrison, James Gilbert, and many others interest in one of the most dominant figures have pointed to the identification of the of the Golden Age: Captain Marvel. reader with the superhero and/or his (or, The best-selling comics star for a rarely, her) alter-ego. In a similar vein, film number of years in the 1940s, Captain and popular culture critic Bob Chipman has Marvel was a super-strong, flying champion focused on the identification of readers not of justice, who in reality was preteen Billy with the adult hero, but with the young Batson. The relationship between boy and sidekick, who is closer in age and character man was, therefore, markedly different for to the largely juvenile audience. He suggests the Fawcett Comics publication. In this that the boys who bought and read comics analysis, the author examines the precise during the Golden Age (1938-1954) often nature of the relationship between Marvel lacked a paternal figure at home, as their and Billy through the lens of 1940s-1950s dads had left either to find work during hard masculinity in comics and culture, times or to fight abroad. When reading about examining how the Captain alters and adapts Robin’s adventures with Batman (or about the traditional heroic role of the ersatz-father Bucky, Speedy, et cetera) the boys found a to provide an idealized version of self-reliant much-needed father figure in the adult maturity. superheroes, who were both fathers and friends to the audience-insert characters The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 4, No. 1, August 2018 76 (“Sidekicks”). Chipman’s theoretical simply lost faith in the system that framework is valuable not only because it prevented them from proving their refocuses the conversation regarding masculinity in the only way they identification on the young boys who knew.” (Kimmel, 140). formed the target audience, but also because it deals with this immersive aspect in terms And while WWII provided some chance for of masculinity; a concept that was economic, if not personal, security in the undergoing a great deal of flux at the time. form of regularly-paid positions for soldiers, Yet while Chipman’s frame speaks to the the newfound social freedom of women left appeal of numerous figures such as Batman, behind only further complicated things. Superman, Captain America, and so on, it Where the wife was a domestic force to be does not entirely explain the phenomenon of reckoned with before the war, now, she was Captain Marvel, perhaps the most popular also a member of the public sphere at the hero of the Golden Age. The appeal of cost of masculine hegemony. The fear of Captain Marvel and his alter-ego Billy feminine power, and the masculine Batson lies in his naïve interpretation of isolationism necessary to repel it, featured masculinity, in contrast to the patrician prominently in popular works from the model endorsed by Superman, et al. period, including a number of comic books. To read the writings of social One later issue of Captain Marvel featured commentators and contemporary academics, an evil witch who attempted to trick the do- the interwar period in America was not a gooder into marriage, whereupon she would particularly good time to be a man. The control him and be free to run amok. passage of women’s suffrage, changing social roles in the domestic sphere, and the [The witch’s] plan to render Captain invention of the teenager all contributed to Marvel powerless through marriage the impending sense of crisis. And things is cast specifically in the terms of the did not improve once the Great Depression domestic ideology’s masculine norm. began. In other words, the male breadwinner role is inherently emasculating, and Wages plummeted and relief rolls male powerlessness against the swelled. The unemployment level wife’s control is assumed to be a part rose from about 16 percent in 1930 of marriage in this parody… Thus, to just under 25 percent barely three male freedom outside marriage is years later and remained almost as presented as directly counter to high for the rest of the decade. With female freedom and power obtained nearly one in four American men out through marriage, and the latter is of work, the work-place could no evil (Best, 82). longer be considered a reliable arena for the demonstration and proof of Although often comedic, the overarching one’s manhood. And many men characterization of female control as The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 4, No. 1, August 2018 77 inherently opposed to male freedom was comforts of marital stability, [while] Lois indicative of a very real fear among the male had eyes only for his more manly alter ego, population of the pre-WWII period. who could not, and would never be tied In answer to this dread, artists Jerry down into a life of domestic drudgery. What Siegel and Joe Shuster created an invincible Clark craved, Superman avoided” (Kimmel, male. This titan could meet bullets and 154). Though Superman was the first of his bombs with a hearty chuckle, outperform the kind, a slew of similar characters who greatest feats of humanity’s ingenuity, or sought to repeat his success soon followed. change the very shape of nature itself. And The vast majority served comparable needs he hid behind the façade of a regular white for their readership, if not the exact same collar-worker. Scholars such as Michael ones. Heroes were typically super, and Kimmel and Grant Morrison have argued rarely allowed their lives to be disrupted by that, while Superman himself serves as a figures of the female persuasion. form of wish-fulfillment, the true secret to It is worth noting that superhero comics the Kryptonian’s popularity lay in his secret were almost entirely male-oriented. Whether identity: Clark Kent. “The man behind the readership statistics accurately reflected S—a man with a job, a boss, and girl such views or not, audiences were perceived trouble. Clark the nerd, the nebbish, the by publishers and creators alike as almost bespectacled, mild-mannered shadow self of entirely male. Female comics readers were the confident Man of Steel. [Siegel and assumed to prefer romance tales and similar Shuster] had struck a primal mother lode” stories, which publishers were quick to (Morrison, 9). And, through the vehicle of capitalize on, but girls were rarely their four-colored avatar, male readers could considered an important factor in superhero- not only experience an existence of related epics. With that said, subsequent (imaginary) omnipotence, they could also sidekicks and hero-adjacent females were view a world where female power was introduced as the stars of their own series, neutralized. As the mild-mannered, but they remained relegated to the second cowardly Clark, the hero pursued the frigid string throughout the Golden (and Silver-, Lois Lane, an attractive, self-sufficient and some of the Bronze-, Dark-, and female who easily embodied the powerful Modern-) Age. Moreover, these super- woman. Yet this same powerful figure women were often pigeonholed into dashed endlessly after Superman, who domestic, or domestically-oriented, roles. refused to be ensnared by anyone’s While these comics and the men who womanly wiles (as seen in the first pages of created them were products of their age, and Action Comics #1, when the newborn a number of progressive movements can be character brushes off a murderous femme identified in the history of the medium, the fatale without a thought). In a cycle that common dismissal or outright misogyny of would provide regular material for the hero comics has been and remains a primary until their marriage in the 1990s, “Clark concern of scholars. Following the constantly pursued Lois Lane, seeking the publication trends of Fawcett and other The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 4, No. 1, August 2018 78 comics producers in the 1940s, however, the weak towered over that of the wealthy and remainder of this essay deals primarily with powerful” (Wright, 13). Whether the comic males and their understanding of the world, book focused on the hero fighting corruption as those are the issues that concerned the and theft or on the defeat of the Axis creators and what they assumed to be their powers, the universe was one “with a readers at the time.