Karen: Marvel has been calling the current time in comics "The Heroic Age," apparently due to the return of Thor and Steve Rogers and the end of all the hostilities left over from the Civil War. In an article in USA Today (Jan. 27, 2010), Joe Quesada said, "Heroes will be heroes again. They've gone through hell and they're back to being good guys — a throwback to the early days of the Marvel Universe, with more of a swashbuckling feel."
But I'm finding little about it to be 'heroic'. Latest example: Avengers #12. No, I didn't buy this book -I can't handle the 'one-voice' characterization of Bendis -but I read through it at the shop (since it only takes 5 minutes to read one of these books), and was appalled by the ending.
For those of you wise enough not to be following current titles, here's what happened: The Avengers, all 564 of them, defeated a two-bit crook called the Hood who had obtained the Infinity Gems. Iron Man made a big show of destroying the gems in front of all assembled. But in the last pages of the book, we see that he lied to everyone and has kept all the gems. He redistributes them to his Illuminati pals, who now include Steve Rogers in their rank. Yes. Mr. Conscience of the Marvel Universe is apparently OK with lying to all his fellow heroes. I expect that from Stark now, after the complete degradation of his character over the last few years, but Rogers?
Then again, this is the same Steve Rogers who recently threatened Dr. Faustus if he didn't testify in Bucky's behalf.
And you know, going back to the Civil War, where's the fall-out from that? The Avengers Prime series was supposed to show Thor, Stark, and Rogers dealing with that, but was absolutely worthless (even the always magnificent Alan Davis couldn't save this one). Where was Thor's anger over the clone Stark made? Stark's guilt? Cap's regrets? Instead, we get jokes about who slept with Hellcat. Stark seems unapologetic for anything he did -which was a lot - and yet the superhero community accepts him. I feel like Marvel just swept everything under the rug.
There doesn't seem to be a lot about these characters any more that feels heroic -they just have power. I don't see much difference between them and the villains -they all seem pretty self-serving. My definition of a hero is someone who puts the greater good ahead of their own needs. Someone who makes sacrifices. Someone who follows a moral code.
So here's my question to you: what makes someone a hero?