Friday, September 28, 2012

Man Of Some People


Can YOU


Name This Marvel Villain??



Boasting that he's the hero for the common man, this guy's mission began to form when his father, whom he idolized, died--too broke to even pay for his funeral, despite working 20 hard years in a factory.  Yet he died still a firm believer in the American dream.  For his son, Everyman, that mindset became twisted--he came to believe that the "American dream" was a false one, created by millionaires and politicians only to keep people in line.

So Everyman, and his followers, took it upon themselves to use the media to garner attention to their cause.  But he went a step too far when he challenged Captain America to a duel, a hero he saw as a symbol of the false dream.  His rationale was a bit of a stretch, and a deadly one for bystanders:



Writer J.M. De Matteis does a fair job of letting Cap himself refute Everyman's attack on his reason for being, having long ago come to terms with the kind of country he's living in:



In his own way, Cap is as short on specifics as Everyman is.  Yet Cap goes a step further, when he admits coming to terms with the American reality.  It's the kind of reality he's embraced ever since he ceased being Nomad; and De Matteis draws a sharp contrast between the delusions and tunnel vision of Everyman, and a man like Cap who struggles to bridge the chasm between ideology and the reality of the diverse population of the country he lives in.

As the battle between Cap and Everyman progressed, it became clear that Everyman's psychopathic behavior had crossed the line to insanity, still driven by memories of his father--and, in addition, a fierce wish to be remembered and feared.  When he began threatening innocent lives--among which was one of his own followers--he was goaded into outrage and distraction, which led to his defeat.

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