Reed Richards "should" be against the Superhero registration act.

ShatterComics · 08-12-2006, 05:09 PM

Fantastic four. Issue 336.

This issue deal "directly" with a proposed superhero registration act.

In which, Reed Richards is CLEARY against in this issue.

A page from the book.

Page 4: Panel 1. Reed Richards speaking. "That may be soewhat difficult to do in brief, but I can offer a few observations based on my long experince in the field. We live in a world where so called supervillains are an everyday fact of life. So are being of great power and even some of cosmic significance. And in this world, Super heros do a job nobody else can do.

Panel 2. Reed Richards continues. "They're not paid, they suffer injuries and aren't insured. Most do it out that sense of Altruism Mr. Gyrich referred to ealier.

Panel 3. Reed Speaking. "And out of a sense of holding a society toghter against the forces of chaos that their foes represent. The very nature of these activities often puts them beyond the experince of non superhumans....

Panel 4. Reed speaking. "...and makes it difficult for a non superhuan to exercise a considered judgment regarding their activities. Only a few moments ago, we witnessed a congressman angered because I personally failed to leap to his defense when flying tiger attacked."

panel 5. Does the congressman propose that he be to oversee the fantastic four and tell them what to do and when to do it. ANd yet, I was not the one best equipped ti deak with the tiger. Ms. Marvel was--and she did it , elegantly. These are split second decisions.\\

Panel 6. Reed speaking. "The nature of the emergencies we deal with requires a very quick response. Had apocalypse actually entered the capitol instead of merely flown past, the fantastic four would have formulated plan of action based on years of experince, and instituted it in a manner of seconds. Under those circumstances, could a non-super human who has never had such experince make an informed decision?."

The art of the comic book is really good. Ron Lim is a great artist.

So, do you think Reed Richards changed his mind about the act....or do you think he's not being characterized correctly?

DAV!S · 08-12-2006, 05:11 PM

Reed's a smart man. Me thinks he won't always be on the pro side.

Punchy · 08-12-2006, 05:11 PM

People change their minds.

Reed Richards is 'people'

Ergo, he changed his mind.

The 'Nam · 08-12-2006, 05:14 PM

There is that File 42 thing we don't know about it, which he is closely tied to (seemingly). His thoughts haven't really been portrayed yet - we just see that he is pro-reg. We'll see.

YDLM · 08-12-2006, 05:30 PM

Yeah, I got that issue, and Reed could have easily been portrayed in a different way.

This is a guy who never held a secret identity. He has been a soldier, and worked with the government. He has had a family and been attack many times through them.He also realizes that thousands of undercover policeofficers and government agents do this everyday. He can look at the work of Charles Xavier, and knows how important it is to have superhumans trained and thought how to be a part of this world.

But we can ignore all of that, and just say that "We Be Havin SupaPowers, So We Be Knowin Bedda Than Yu"

Effect · 08-12-2006, 06:01 PM

Hasn't Reeds actions and feelings recently pre-Civil War and just before it been as such that his natural progression would lead him to be Anti-SHRA though?

That's what I've been hearing.

ShatterComics · 08-12-2006, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Effect

Hasn't Reeds actions and feelings recently pre-Civil War and just before it been as such that his natural progression would lead him to be Anti-SHRA though?

That's what I've been hearing.

I've seen no natural progression in the pages of Fantastic four. If there is character growth, it's in the pages of another book.

ShatterComics · 08-12-2006, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YDLM

Yeah, I got that issue, and Reed could have easily been portrayed in a different way.

This is a guy who never held a secret identity. He has been a soldier, and worked with the government. He has had a family and been attack many times through them.He also realizes that thousands of undercover policeofficers and government agents do this everyday. He can look at the work of Charles Xavier, and knows how important it is to have superhumans trained and thought how to be a part of this world.

But we can ignore all of that, and just say that "We Be Havin SupaPowers, So We Be Knowin Bedda Than Yu"

yeah, to be honest. I thought that was pretty stupid as well.

Actually, his whole arguement was pretty dumb. The....we have powers, so we know better than you...doesn't cut it.

I was just pointing out the extremes of the two ideas.

Strict31 · 08-12-2006, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punchy

People change their minds.

Reed Richards is 'people'

Ergo, he changed his mind.

People change their minds about the clothes they're gonna wear tomorrow, or what they will have for lunch. Don't need much of a reason for that beyond, "Eh, I just felt like lasagna tonight."

For a person to change their mind on such a strongly held opinion or belief, there needs to be a greater impetus than, say, a craving for italian.

Now, I'm not gonna jump on the bandwagon with Reed and say, this is an out-of-character thing. What I'd like to know is does he have an impetus to make this change? Or is it just something the writers felt would be interesting? It may yet be revealed.

Strict31 · 08-12-2006, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShatterComics

yeah, to be honest. I thought that was pretty stupid as well.

Actually, his whole arguement was pretty dumb. The....we have powers, so we know better than you...doesn't cut it.

I was just pointing out the extremes of the two ideas.

No, it's actually logical. It's just not politically correct. Which sucks when your on the receiving end, of course.

Let's say you took an accountant and dropped them on the frontlines of a war, with no military experience, with no military training, and expected him to command a squad of soldiers. Just consider that for a second, because it's basically the same deal. In such a situation, who would you expect to be a better judge of a combat situation in a war? The accountant? or the soldier who knows what it's like to have bullets snap past his head and still be able to make logical decisions?

Reed has a point in that example. It's just not a polite point, because no one likes to be reminded that they are "less super" that someone else.

RedRonin · 08-12-2006, 08:18 PM

Civil War seems to be something that is written for the casual fan and a lot of continuity gets thrown out.

carl kolchak · 08-12-2006, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAV!S

Reed's a smart man. Me thinks he won't always be on the pro side.

I wish you were right, but I doubt it.

Willowhugger · 08-12-2006, 09:22 PM

Reed had his brother-in-law's head caved in. In order to restore public trust I'd go a little crazy too.

Terram · 08-12-2006, 09:23 PM

Changed his mind.

Terram · 08-12-2006, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedRonin

Civil War seems to be something that is written for the casual fan and a lot of continuity gets thrown out.

Bevbos · 08-12-2006, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terram

That's pretty freakin' amusing.

Anyhoo - just wanted to weigh in here, as Reed being a prick in this series is literally the only thing that's bothering me about Civil War, but it's bothering me quite a bit... and furthermore, something I don't see talked about... Reed is truly impressed with Tony's intellect, as though Tony's intellect were somehow greater than Reed Richards'.

Now, Tony is obviously a brilliant creator... But Reed Richards is the smartest man in the Marvel Universe! How can Reed be so impressed by Tony's "futurism"? It doesn't read well. It's hard to swallow for anyone who's even a casual fan of these characters.

But I digress. It's a small nit to pick in an otherwise very entertaining event so far.

Willowhugger · 08-12-2006, 10:37 PM

Tony gets a lot of flack but he's smarter than Hank Pym and Bruce Banner. He's the only guy Doctor Doom has ever given a mention intellectually after himself (except for Doctor Strange and thats a different field entirely).

Besides, Einstein was occasionally impressed with other people's work even if he's still smarter. I doubt Reed has sociology as his field anyway.

Bevbos · 08-12-2006, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willowhugger

Besides, Einstein was occasionally impressed with other people's work even if he's still smarter. I doubt Reed has sociology as his field anyway.

Yes, but to so casually accept Tony's argument on the basis of a scientific argument that any casual historian could easily disregard (seen in Frontline #1, I want to say, but I'm not 100% positive) just seems not right to me. That, combined with the utter disregard of Johnny Storm's comatose condition.

JohnLynch · 08-12-2006, 11:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punchy

People change their minds.

Reed Richards is 'people'

Ergo, he changed his mind.

Besides, everyone knows that Reed thinks everyone should obey the law, such as participating in the McCarthy witch-hunts, blacks sitting at the back of buses and being owned as property. The law is the law is the law. Reed has always believed that. [/sarcasm]

He-Bot · 08-13-2006, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Punchy

People change their minds.

Reed Richards is 'people'

Ergo, he changed his mind.

No, Reed Richards is a comic book superhero. And superheroes rarely change thier minds about anything significant. And whether a hero is for or against the act should be based on their deepest principles, their beliefs about freedom vs security and pragmatism vs idealism and so forth. And if there's one thing that a superhero never changes, it's his principles.

Even in other forms of fiction, where the characters aren't so resistant to change, you can't just have someone change their mind about something important without showing the thought process behind the change. In real life when someone changes their stance on an issue you know that of course there's some kind of reasoning behind it (you already know that they're a complex, realistic human being because, y'know, they are). But with fictional characters you generally need to articulate what their reasoning is, or else they and their actions just seem hollow.