Critics Oppose Marvel Set’s Inclusion of Fascist Groups Hydra and US Government
Renton, WA – Outside the Wizards of the Coast headquarters today nearly a dozen protesters gathered to announce their objection to the new Marvel Super Heroes set and its inclusion of characters that represent openly fascist organizations like the fictional neo-Nazi terrorist group Hydra and the real life neo-Nazi terrorist group that governs the United States of America. Protestors held hand-written signs reading “USA OUT OF MTG”, “WOTC PUNKS FUCK OFF”, and “UNCRITICALLY EMBRACING JINGOISM WITHOUT ACCOUNTING FOR PAST HARMS LAUNDERS THE REPUTATION OF WAR CRIMINALS” (in very small letters). Spurred to action by a Bluesky post from concerned mother Andrea Gonzalez, the group sees an important distinction between depicting fascists in comics or movies, and the act of placing these same characters into a children’s trading card game.
“When my 9 year old son goes to a movie and sees a character from a genocidal, fascist regime he can understand that this person is meant to be a villain in the story, but when he is playing with cards featuring that same character, suddenly he is acting as them, identifying with them, and that is much more problematic.” said Gonzalez “I was horrified when I found what was in this new Magic set. How am I supposed to explain to the teachers at my child’s school that he thinks defending the actions of the United States Government is morally acceptable?”
“Captain America? What’s next? Captain Guantanamo Bay? Captain Tuskegee Experiment?” Steven ‘Stinky’ Rogers, a local resident saw Gonzalez’s post and felt compelled to speak out. “I came down here to protest because, since I unfortunately share a name with this specific patriotic character, I had to grow up with kids constantly comparing him to me. I started going by ‘Stinky’ in middle school because I couldn’t handle the teasing anymore. People would leave American flags in my front yard and kids would shout the national anthem at me in the hallways. It took me to a really dark place.”
Father Cornelius, of Peace Heaven’s Friendship Lutheran Church sympathizes with the outrage being shared “When you see a fictional depiction of evil, like a werewolf or a frankenstein, that is something which can be used to demonstrate concepts of morality to a child without haphazardly bringing up the darkest chapters in our shared history. But when you put a character into a game who so clearly stands for a real-world hate group that has committed horrible atrocities, like the Nazis or the United States Government, it threatens to undermine the gravity of those acts. I think this company, Hasbro and its subsidiaries, should ban the Marvel cards like they have previously done with other culturally insensitive cards. I also think they should ban The Fantasticar in Legacy, as it is clearly an egregious power level outlier.”
Gonzalez agrees that WOTC should take action, “Just this past week we saw groups of masked men marching in Washington D.C. waving Nazi flags, Confederate flags, and even American flags. This isn’t the time to be emboldening these fringe hate groups and normalizing their behavior. We shouldn’t be glorifying S.H.I.E.L.D. agents while our neighbors are being abducted and killed by I.C.E. agents. We need to be telling those stories and recognizing the heroism of regular individuals who risk their lives standing up to fascism, not imaginary Übermensch who extrajudicially enforce the whims of the state through exaggerated cartoon violence. Is the Hulk not mad about voter suppression? Is the Winter Soldier not worried about global warming? If Captain America is such a hero, why doesn’t he use his shield to protect children from US drone strikes?”
We tried to reach Wizards of the Coast by phone for comment but when they answered all we could hear was loud “CHA-CHING” noises and the faint sound of automated bill counting machines.
