Last Saturday's entry, a little further down here, was actually written around July 4, after I had read a ton of Captain America. But, until the Fortress Keeper (of the superlative Fortress of Fortitude, of course) pointed it out in the comments, the staggering weirdness of two of Marvel's biggest villains, stripping down to their underwear to fight it out, didn't really occur to me. Huh. And traditionally in Marvel Comics, this would be the sort of occasion where a villain would break out their new Evil Armor or whatever. Not strip down to their...well, giant-ass boxers in the Kingpin's case.
I was more hung up on Red Skull's scabby head, but I may also have been distracted by the henchmen above. Frankly, there can't be a lot of perks working for the Kingpin: no dental for Daredevil-related injuries; the very real possibility Kingpin, Bullseye, Typhoid Mary, etc. will kill you as an example of their might; the vague hope of turning state's evidence someday. But, sometimes you get to watch the boss beat up a Nazi or actors dressed up like Spider-Man and the Black Cat; or Daredevil will tell a funny story about breaking Turk's limbs. That's pretty much it.
To be fair, working for the Red Skull would be much, much worse: Cap can bust you up much more than Daredevil; even better chances of being more horribly killed by the Skull, Crossbones, Mother Night, etc; and the possibility of being left on the hook for war crimes. So, the Skull probably lost because of the lack of pep on his side, I guess.
There's probably more jokes to be made about the Kingpin and Red Skull in their underwear, but it's weird how not-weird that seems to me...like I could bike to work, see that, and not even bother to stop...
In other news, Ian Myles Slater pointed out some interesting links discussing the Super Soldier Serum. I'm pretty sure Cap needed some follow-up treatment after the SSS: the Vita-ray treatment, or somesuch; which I don't think most of the other recipents received. Of course, something that could theoretically turn you into the Man-Thing probably isn't going to be fast-tracked for FDA approval, either. Good discussion at the links, so check 'em out!
By the way: Man-Thing may very well be my least-favorite Marvel character. But, we'll save that discussion for another time, since I'm even more off track than usual today. And that's saying something, I think.
And, today's panel was from Captain America #378, "Grand Stand Play!" Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Danny Bulanadi. And remember:
1 comment:
I'd say the weirdest thing was the fact that Red Skull agreed to fight the huge-ass Kingpin in the first place. I seem to remember Kingpin delivering a beatdown to Daredevil on several occasions. The most impressive thing I've ever seen the Skull do is get buried alive by Magneto.
You should do a running series of "super-villain fight club" posts.
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