Comics have always had a political edge, ever since Captain America socked Hitler on the jaw and Superman declared he stood for "truth, justice, and the American Way." It's a tradition that Marvel Comics, in particular, has always honored. The recently announced Outlawed event could be their most important story in years.
Marvel's upcoming new Outlawed event will see writer Eve Ewing and artist Kim Jacinto begin what's being called "a bold new era for Marvel's most promising heroes." Conceptually, there appear to be similarities between Outlawed and the classic superhero Civil War, with a tragic mistake causing a split among the superheroes. This time around, though, the division is largely by generation. It seems that the Marvel Universe is about to outlaw young vigilantes. Naturally, that means characters like Miles Morales' Ultimate Spider-Man, Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel, and Sam Alexander's Nova are standing in the line of fire.
It's not hard to see what real-world issues Outlawed is exploring. Western politics is increasingly divided according to age, and older generations in both the United States and areas of Europe have been noted for "ephebiphobia," the fear of youth. There's a sense in which intergenerational conflict has always been a part of Western society; in 1693, Cotton Mather wrote of the Salem witch trials: "The children of New England have secretly done many things that have been pleasing to the Devil." But social scientists believe the more modern phenomenon has been strongly influenced by a spike in juvenile crime in the late '80s and early '90s, which coincided with the rise of the 24-hour news cycle. Distrust of teenagers has now become embedded in popular culture.
Step forward Marvel Comics, a publisher who has always been known for teen superheroes. As far back as 1962, Stan Lee noticed that Marvel's readers tended to be teenagers, and decided to give them a superhero just like them; that idea became the basis for Spider-Man. It's easy to forget that the X-Men were originally teenagers at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, while some of the most popular Marvel Comics of the last 20 years have been Young Avengers and Runaways. The last few years have seen a boom in younger, more diverse superheroes such as Kamala Khan, Nadia Pym's Wasp, Ironheart, Viv Vision, and Miles Morales. That makes Marvel the perfect company to explore this theme, although hopefully, they'll take the risk of incorporating younger, fresher voices into their writing teams in order to help present a balance of views and ideas - using Ewing and Jacinto is a great start.
All the signs are that Marvel intends to handle the topic sensibly. While Marvel's politicians are going to try to outlaw young vigilantes, not all the older characters will be behind the initiative. One preview panel, for example, shows Steve Rogers visibly furious at the idea, saying "I wouldn't be here today if someone didn't give me a chance to show what I could do when I was their age."
On the flip-side, for the teenagers, this appears to be the logical direction for the Champions, one of Marvel Comic's most enjoyable books, which kicked off with the young heroes burning their Avengers cards. It looks as though Outlawed will be quite divisive in the Marvel Universe, just as it should be. As such, it could be one of the most important books Marvel's published in a long time as it shines a light on one of the defining issues of our age.