Avengers and Philosophy: Earth's Mightiest Thinkers, The (14 page)

4.
For a brilliant philosophical discussion of excuses, see J. L. Austin, “A Plea for Excuses,” in
Philosophical Papers
(New York: Oxford, 1979), 175–204.

5.
Avengers
, vol. 1, #57 (October 1968), reprinted in Essential Avengers Vol. 3 (2001).

6.
Avengers
, vol. 1, #54–55 (July–August 1968), reprinted in
Essential Avengers Vol. 3
(2001).

7.
Claudia Card,
The Atrocity Paradigm: A Theory of Evil
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), chapter 8. 

8.
X-Men
, vol. 1, #4 (March 1964), reprinted in
Essential Uncanny X-Men Vol
. 1 (2010).

9.
For more on this, see Charles Griswold,
Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).

10.
For Tony’s own issues with forgiveness and atonement, see Christopher Robichaud, “Can Iron Man Atone for Tony Stark’s Wrongs?” in
Iron Man and Philosophy
, ed. Mark D. White (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), 53–63.

11.
For that matter, could
anyone
forgive a mime?

12.
What, no mime joke? Can’t think outside the box? Ha-ha . . .

13.
For instance, in
Avengers
, vol. 1, #401 (August 1996).

14.
Jacques Derrida,
On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness
, trans. Mark Dooley and Michael Hughes (New York: Routledge, 2001), 32–33.

15.
Leo Zaibert, “The Paradox of Forgiveness,”
Journal of Moral Philosophy 6
(2009): 365–393.

16.
For more on the distinction between justice (or
retribution
) and revenge, see Robert Nozick,
Philosophical Explanations
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 366–370.

17.
Iron Man
, vol. 1, #229 (April 1988), reprinted in
Iron Man: Armor Wars
(2007).

18.
Avengers
, vol. 1, #213 (November 1981).

Chapter 8

GODS, BEASTS, AND POLITICAL ANIMALS: WHY THE AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

Tony Spanakos

The world needs what it always needs. Heroes. Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents . . . Not H.A.M.M.E.R. Agents. Avengers. Now, maybe more than ever.

—Steve Rogers
¹

When the
Avengers
title was relaunched in 2010, we were told that “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes united against a common threat! On that day the Avengers were born—to fight the foes that no single hero could withstand!”
²
This was no surprise, since Stan Lee told true-believing fans essentially the same thing in the original
Avengers
#1 in 1963. But the claim is misleading, if not inaccurate. The Avengers may believe that they “assemble” in order to fight great foes, but there is more to it than this.

When not Avengers, they perform great world-saving deeds on their own, but they long for fellowship and they languish emotionally. (Even their solo superheroics are often done in tandem with fellow Avengers in the great tradition of the “Marvel team-up.”) So what is the real reason why the Avengers assemble? Aristotle (384–322 BCE) would say that in working together as a community the Avengers act excellently (
arête
) and develop fellowship (
philia
).
³
Ultimately, through their common action, they flourish (
eudaimonia
). And that is why they assemble.

Assembling for Necessity or Perfection?

We can easily dismiss the claim that the Avengers came together out of necessity, to defeat a supervillain whom they could not defeat alone. The evidence for this is that the Avengers originally assemble to fight Loki, who confuses them into fighting the Hulk.
⁴
But even casual readers of Marvel Comics know that Thor fought Loki on his own throughout his long comics career. Loki is therefore not a foe whose defeat could only be secured by the concerted action of the Avengers. The same could be said of Kang, Modok, the Submariner, and many other Avenger villains who have also fought solo Avengers. Necessity hardly sustains the Avengers; there must be something else that makes them keep assembling.

Let’s look at Aristotle’s explanation of the creation of the city-state (
polis
) for suggestions. Man, not sufficient in himself to live in isolation, needs the
polis
to ensure reproduction, stability, security, and the possibility of exchange.
⁵
But while necessity might lead to forming a
polis
, it is maintained for reasons that go far beyond that. The
polis
, or city-state, is the political community that responded to something more fundamental in the lives of the Greeks. Put bluntly, “One cannot be a human being except in the context of a
polis
,”
⁶
and the man outside of the
polis
is either a god or beast.
⁷
A god does not need the
polis
, and a beast has neither use nor appreciation of it. For the mortal man in between, the
polis
is the place where fellowship (
philia
) is found, excellence (
arête
) is enacted, and human thriving (
eudaimonia
) is developed and perfected.

Aristotle’s argument is based on his belief that man is a “political animal” (
zoon politikon
). But many of the Avengers are not ordinary humans. They are gods, mutants, and machines—one is even a Beast. It doesn’t matter. One may join the Avengers for the same reason one joins Aristotle’s
polis
, necessity. But one also remains in the Avengers for the same reason one remains in the
polis
, for the sake of the good life.

Elementary Greek Lessons (Approved by the Comics Code)

With all due respect to our good friend Ares, further elaboration on a few ancient Greek terms might help. The
polis
was different from other communities based on its size and the role of citizens in its social and political life.
⁸
Also, Aristotle’s use of the word “political” is far broader than its use today. Having its roots in the life of the
polis
, politics for Aristotle encompasses the social, economic, and (what we call) political aspects of living in common with others. This distinction is important because, aside from a few examples such as Tony Stark’s time as secretary of defense and head of S.H.I.E.L.D., most Avengers eschew “politics,” even though they may be very political. Captain America, for example, is the living embodiment and symbol of the American spirit, but he refuses to run for president, only begrudgingly serving as head of U.S. security following Norman Osborn’s “Dark Reign.” In fact, he often avoids formal politics to engage in more meaningful and direct “political” action (saving the lives of citizens, defending the country from foreign/alien invasion, or simply being a role model to generations of Americans).

The Avengers do not form their own
polis
in the sense of an independent political unit (like Genosha or the various dwelling places of the Inhumans), but they do engage in political community. The reason that they do this—and the reason they keep returning to the Avengers—is that avenging allows them a path to attaining
eudaimonia
that is more perfect than they can achieve in their solo careers. Commonly translated as happiness or fulfillment,
eudaimonia
“consists . . . in satisfying the desires that are
necessary
for man to have in order to live a full, rich life.”
⁹
But reading
eudaimonia
as “happiness” in the twenty-first-century sense may distort its meaning in a couple of ways: first, happiness might be read in a hedonistic way, and second, it might be seen as an internal condition. Aristotle would disavow both. The first can be discarded because a full life is one based on reason and not pleasure, and the second can be discarded because happiness is not a feeling but a way of being. Specifically, Aristotle’s understanding of happiness (
eudaimonia
) involves virtue or excellence (
arête
), action that is practiced and developed over time.
Arête
is excellence in
doing
something, not simply an internal characteristic of the soul.
¹⁰
While it is often used in a moral sense,
arête
can also be used to characterize the excellence that a carpenter has in terms of building a house. In other words, it is excellence relative to the craft or function of the craftsman, and it reaches its acme in the field of ethics and political life because this is the function of
all
humans.
¹¹

If
arête
is found in action within the community, it supplements and is supplemented by the development of fellowship or friendship,
philia
(last Greek word, I promise), between citizens. In the
Nicomachean Ethics
, Aristotle argues that “the happy man [
eudaimoni
] must have society. . . . And it is obviously preferable to associate with friends [
philon
] and with good men than with strangers and chance companions. Therefore the happy man requires friends.”
¹²
Philia
can develop for different reasons: advantage (I am friends with you because you can get me a job); pleasure (
Jersey Shore
’s Snooki enjoys hanging out with the Sitch and JWoww because they are mad funny); or virtue (you are friends with me because you want what is good for me for my sake).
¹³
This last form of
philia
, “wanting for someone what one thinks good, for his own sake and not for one’s own, and being inclined, so far as one can, to do such things for him,” is the highest level of friendship.
¹⁴
In this version of friendship, the person sees his or her fellow as “another self” and finds in him or her someone also committed to
arête
: “Hence it is necessary for anyone who is going to be happy [
eudaimonisonti
] to have excellent friends [
philon
].”
¹⁵

Superheroes, obviously, perform superheroic acts of excellence regularly, whether they are members of the Avengers or not. But even though they may stop crime and superpowered villains in their solo careers, their lives and acts are necessarily incomplete. Inevitably, the desire for
eudaimonia
leads them to return to the Avengers, or at least to regular interaction and team-ups.

Ms.-Sing Her Friends

Jessica Jones: Remember the time you kept the . . . sun from exploding?!

Ms. Marvel: You know what I did next? I went home and sat on my butt for six months, eating Ben & Jerry’s and watching old movies.
¹⁶

Following the “House of M” story arc, Carol Danvers “realized that she was not living up to her full potential as Ms. Marvel” and decided to emphasize her solo adventuring.
¹⁷
But, six months later, when she defeats Stilt-Man in battle, he does not recognize her, and her recently hired publicist gets her a spot on the TV show
Super Powers
called “Where Are They Now?”
¹⁸
She complains about this to Jessica Jones, another ex-Avenger, telling her that she left the Avengers because as an Avenger she waited for people to save, whereas, on her own, she goes out “on patrol” and “find[s] out you’re needed before you’re needed.”
¹⁹
And yet when she sees some green aliens on the next two pages, her first instinct is to call Captain America. In fact, the entire first issue of her new comic book series is shaped not by her solo adventures, nor by forging her own identity, but by her inability to escape from being an Avenger.

Another important Avenger in Carol’s life is Iron Man (Tony Stark), who is not just a fellow crimefighter but also a recovering alcoholic (like Carol) and Carol’s sponsor for Alcoholics Anonymous.
²⁰
So when he asks her to join and lead his Avengers team after the Marvel Universe “Civil War,” this is coming from more than someone who
also
fights crime.
²¹
It is coming from a fellow on several levels, someone who understands her as few others can. After all, they not only act excellently together (in fighting crime), but they also find happiness in each other’s excellence (staying sober, for instance).

In the first year of her solo run, Carol tries to find herself and realize her potential. Aristotle says the human function is to attain
eudaimonia
, and accordingly Ms. Marvel identifies her function, saying that “heroes need to . . . I need to make a difference.”
²²
Ironically, she only comes to this understanding once she decides to return to (and lead) the Avengers. Before she makes this decision, supervillains do not recognize her, TV producers consider her a has-been, and she has nothing resembling a “normal life.”
²³
Perhaps she cannot lead a normal life—not because she is a superhero, but specifically because she is an ex-Avenger.

Carol tries to explain herself to her publicist, who ultimately does not understand her and cannot form a bond of
philia
with her. By contrast, Jessica Jones really
gets
her on a personal level, and Carol also has deep, meaningful conversations with Captain America and Tony Stark. When she engages in the
arête
of a superhero, Carol usually does so with other former or actual Avengers (Doctor Strange, Tigra, Valkyrie). Thus although she continues to act as a solo hero, she is not able to flourish the way she had hoped. When she finally understands what her purpose is, she fulfills it as an Avenger. On the cover of
Mighty Avengers
#1 and the opening splash page, Ms. Marvel glides down into battle, completely confident leading the Mighty Avengers, including veterans such as the Wasp, Wonder Man, the Black Widow, and Iron Man, all of whom are seasoned heroes. She finds
eudaimonia
among those with whom she shares
philia
, the Avengers.