http://screenrant.com/best-comic-book-villains-real-life-inspiration/#utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_180465
Found this article online - pretty interesting. So weird that Harley Quinn was inspired by a dream sequence on "Days of Our Lives."
Hold the phone! Kraven actually killed Spider-man once it says. Worded like as if he could have done it more than once or as if he came back and wasn’t able to kill him again. Can someone please explain this story line to me!
Kraven’s Last Hunt (from Wikipedia)
Kraven hunts down Spider-Man, defeats him, and seemingly shoots him dead. Kraven then buries him, and donning a copy of Spider-Man’s costume, seeks to prove himself superior at his adversary’s former activities.
He roams New York, brutally attacking criminals. The culmination of these activities is Kraven’s successful unarmed capture of Vermin, whom Spider-Man needed the help of Captain America to defeat. After two weeks, Spider-Man revives from the effects of the tranquilizer dart Kraven shot him with, and digs his way out of the grave. When Spider-Man confronts Kraven, the hunter does not fight back, considering himself the victor and his final point made.
Kraven then releases Vermin, who attacks Spider-Man, thinking him to be the one who so brutally beat him before. Vermin is able to defeat Spider-Man, but Kraven intervenes before Vermin can kill him. He allows Vermin to go free, and tells Spider-Man he can pursue him if he desires, but that Kraven’s hunting days have ended. While Spider-Man goes after Vermin, Kraven retires to his home, reminiscing about his past and the peace he now feels, and commits suicide with a rifle. He leaves a confession of his burying and impersonating Spider-Man for the police to find, complete with photographic proof. Spider-Man catches up with Vermin and lures him above ground, where sensory overload renders him helpless. He turns Vermin over to the police and goes home to his wife.
That’s kinda cool. But I don’t buy the MLK/MX though. Stan in earlier books said mutants represent teenagers, and mags was the arch-type bully. While pro x was the arch-type hero, for teenagers who accept the changes of puberty.
The whole civil rights angle didn’t start till the 80’s. Early books mutants were not feared or hated. That was a lot later. I know stan says that now, but I think senility is kicking in. This is the information age, you can find those old interviews.
That’s crazy, Kraven killed himself?! I always liked his character.
Uhmm, hillbily? Sorry, I was reading the original X-Men stories back in the days when Jean and Scott would go to the coffee shop to listen to Beatnik poetry, and Stan was saying that Mutants were the comic book version of the civil rights movement back then! NEVER heard him compare mutant angst to teen angst, though, yeah, there’s been plenty of both in X-Men…
Please, Professor X uses violent methods to get what he wants and to police his people. Magneto uses violent methods to oppress another species and is an actual terrorist. King was a pacifist who refused to use violence. 70s and ’80s Chris Claremont-penned era of X-Men comics was about mutant oppression. In the 60’s, mastermold and Trask were associated and compared to Nazis. Humanity hating mutants came later in the early to mid 70’s.
For the first years it was about Kids with changes they didn’t understand. Now we can compare, but to say the initial inspiration is these men, is just wrong. Just go back and read some of the editorials by stan. He is pretty plain about it. Plus isn’t comparing world murderer to Malcolm X racist.
Martin & Malcolm wanted America to deliver on its promise. Professor X and Magneto are the hero and villain of an adventure comic. Any connection between the two sets of people is based on inaccurate data. Any comparison between the two has no leg to stand on.
I did NOT say that Stan got every last detail right! He was *influenced* by their stories, not following them slavishly! And, I read those stories way back when… YES, there was teen angst! But, there was also Hank McCoy saying he was tired of defending humanity, since they seemed to hate him, and all mutants, so much! Now, when Stan did it, it was an occasional throwaway tag line, while Claremont and company, it was much more frequent, and in your face.
As to charges of racism, please watch yourself! I am not comparing Malcolm X to Magneto, nor Professor X to Martin Luther King. An inspiration is just that… it’s one idea sparking another idea, that may turn out quite different.