A moment of confusion has struck the geckaphile community as Eric Kripke, showrunner of Prime Video’s smash hit series The Boys, believes the creation of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is “dangerous.”
Isn’t this a little like your parents getting made at you for dropping an eff bomb and in their angst, they shout at you to “stop effing cussing, you piece of sh*t.” Hypocrisy knows no bounds, huh?
Eric Kripke is a guy who is responsible for a runaway freight train series about homicidal superheroes telling the rest of the world Marvel needs to reconsider their responsibility.
Um…the hell?!
Eric Kripke: “Superheroes are Inherently MAGA”
In a weekend exclusive from THR, there is no telling the ripple effect of laughing until it hurts coming from The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios as Eric Kripke went on blast, probably from the nurturing bosom of Homelander’s lair.
THR sat down with Kripke to ask about the success of Season Two of The Boys, its inherent social commentary, current events, and then he goes full gangsta on the MCU:
My issue with them are not the movies themselves, but that there’s too many of them overall. I sort of believe it’s dangerous, not to overstate it or be overdramatic, but it’s a little dangerous to train an entire generation to wait for someone strong to come in and save you
Eric Kripke, THR, Oct 2020
As opposed to believe we will see some dude in Spanx flying overhead who may use his heat vision to fry our brain because we made fun of his mother, right?
Pray tell, where does a loaded opinion like that find a home? Evidently, it’s Trump’s fault:
That’s I think how you end up with people like Trump and populists who say, ‘I’m the only one who can come in, it’s going to be me.’
And I think in the way that pop culture conditions people subtly, I think it’s conditioning them the wrong way — because there’s just too much of it. So I think it’s nice to have a corrective, at least a small one in us, to say, ‘They’re not coming to save you. Hold your family together and save yourselves.’
Eric Kripke, THR, Oct 2020
Eric Kripke is a known name community among geckaphiles with Supernatural, Timeless, and Revolution. But at no time during binging on those acquired tastes was it considered that this guy thought that about Marvel?!
But not all of it was off-base.
Eric Kripke: “I’m actually a fan of Marvel.”
So, when he sits back to watch Joss Whedon, Jon Favreau, or the Russo Brothers, he’s a fan? Wait…what?!
People might be surprised to know this, but I’m actually a fan of the Marvel stuff. The filmmaking is often impeccable. I actually really enjoy the humorous tone that a lot of them are written in. They’re snarky and fast and glib and I like that style.
Eric Kripke, THR, Oct 2020
Oh, another thing: Superheroes are much more than MAGA; they could be akin to white supremacy…
The myth of superheroes themselves — though often created by young Jewish writers in the ’30s and ’40s — doesn’t really apply as cleanly today, because there’s these undeniable fascist underpinnings to it.
They’re there to protect white, patriotic America. That’s what they were designed to do, that’s what they do. They’re protecting the status quo. When the status quo is problematic, suddenly they become adversarial — not your hero. And I think it was written by a lot of people who at that time were trying their level best to fit in and vanish within white, American society.
Eric Kripke, THR, Oct 2020
Sociologically speaking, he’s right. When Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster met in Ohio, they had this idea of a superhero. The vision to save a perilous country would have to be an outsider, an immigrant — only he could do it. That, of course, was Kal-El or Superman.
And Eric Kripke should know. He’s a Jewish nerd from Ohio as well. (Yes, the coincidences run deep in this article.)
Kripke mentions the 1930s and 1940s when hatred was more general and wasn’t as specific as it became in the raging ’60s. That’s when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby developed T’Challa in 1966, followed by John Stewart of DC’s Green Lantern fame in 1971.
Where Kripke is wrong is that Marvel, DC, or even The Boys, are “training an entire generation to wait for someone strong” to come save the day.
Some of us have that role model. They’re called parents. Many, many others aren’t nearly as fortunate, so they need an escape to survive. They look to athletes, musicians, community activists, or even…superheroes and other sci-fi characters. Who can blame them?
Source: Getty Images
It’s not dangerous in their case, Eric; it’s cathartic. They don’t enjoy Marvel and DC movies; they need them. Don’t believe me?
What happened again when Black Panther hit the big screen? It wasn’t only because T’Challa looked like them.
It was because he was them.
MEMO to Eric Kripke: Trump is nowhere near a superhero. Neither is Joe Biden. Or any other jackleg blabbermouth in Congress today. People want to be led because they’re a little scared of where they’re heading. They may not admit it as you did so eloquently and freely, but they are. And you know that because you’re no fool.
You’re also right when you say: “They’re not coming to save you. Hold your family together and save yourselves.” We all know that, but that’s why entertainment is so necessary. It’s called amusement for a reason:
- A — The Latin article meaning away from or not
- Muse — Again, a Latin term “musa” meaning to think
You see, Eric. Life is hard, so don’t mind us if we need to escape into some nerd sh*t to literally not think. Oh man, there I go cussing again. Sorry for the hypocrisy.
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