Look, it's as simple as this:
If you supported the Superhuman Registration Act and the Initiative when Tony Stark was running things, you should be supporting Norman Osborn without hesitation. In point of fact, you should be CHEERING HIM ON.
Why, you may ask?
Well, has the Registration Act itself changed? No.
Has the need for superhumans to be registered and overseen by the law changed? No.
So, for those of you who supported the Registration, well, nothing's changed. Except the guy on top.
Well, let's compare, shall we?
"Norman Osborn is brining unrepentant criminals into the Initiative! He's going to be in charge of an army of supervillains!"
As opposed to Tony Stark, who was the one who actually brought unrepentant criminals such as Bullseye, Taskmaster, Venom, and Norman Osborn into the mix to begin with. Please try again.
Norman Osborn made a secret pact with a group of powerful criminals!
Right. And Tony and his group of super-secret friends who killed a bunch of Skrulls and kidnapped and shot the Hulk into space are not at all the same kind of thing. Except it is.
Norman Osborn has an agenda and bends and distorts the rules for his own ends!
And so did Tony every time he didn't go after the New Avengers. Or Spider-Man. Or Daredevil. If Tony can make exceptions, so can Norman.
The Initiative is corrupt and will fail because of Norman Osborn!
OK, well, fine, you say. But it doesn't change the fact that Tony is a decent man, and Norman a corrupt one. Well, as far as that is concerned, I'll let Nighthawk speak for me.
Do you understand now? If all it took was one man to turn the Initiative from a "good idea" to a "bad idea", then IT WAS ALWAYS A BAD IDEA. This was the reason commonly brought against Doom and Magneto: sure they could make Earth a paradise; as long as they were alive. After them, it would all fall apart. So making the Initiative and the SHRA dependent on any one man, no matter how noble, meant that it was fatally flawed from its very inception.
4 comments:
I'm sorry, but I disagree. Every single point you've raised would be just as good reasons for disassembling the CIA, the FBI, hell, the whole of the United States government. These are all agencies that we entrust to run things, that we give extraordinary powers to, with the one proviso: don't fuck us over. We trust them with the ability to do things that it would be illegal for a private citizen to do, and with overarching powers because, essentially, they are necessary things. However, that doesn't mean that we agree to let them run willy nilly. I can support the idea of the presidency without supporting the corruption of Nixon or the overreaching power grabs of Bush 43. I can support the idea of having a CIA without supporting the people in charge of it running drugs and arms shipments in clear violation of the law. I can support the idea of the FBI without supporting harassment of civil rights leaders and liberal groups. And I can support the SHRA without supporting its usage as a private army for someone who, in the first month of his tenure, has already masterminded an attack on the President of the US and colluded with organized crime and international terrorists. Did Tony Stark bend rules when he let former Avengers go? Arguably, yes. However, I would argue that it's not particularly different than letting a small criminal go if it gives you a bigger win. That's not even in the same league as the stuff Osborn has done so far, much less what he has planned.
The fact that one man, and I repeat ONE MAN was entrusted with this much power meant the SHRA was fatally flawed. The CIA, FBI, et. al, have some quantifiable means of oversight, whether it is exorcised or not. The SHRA and Initiative do not. So, no, Osborn's actions are more deplorable than Tony's, but the fact that he was given the means is Tony's fault, because he thought he could trust HIMSELF with that power.
"in the first month of his tenure, has already masterminded an attack on the President of the US and colluded with organized crime and international terrorists."
Tony Stark worked with the Kingpin, Norman Osborn, Namor, and Black Bolt at a time when the Inhumans had all but declared war on the US.
I wholly agree with Mr. Cynical on both points; the head of the SHRA has far too much power and it was arrogant of Stark to think that a decent person would always be in that position.
And Stark made too many compromises to the point that the SHRA became a joke. He let his friends run free, gave the new Captain America unofficial support, for example. And he was an unrepentant bastard in sleeping with She-Hulk after what he had done to her cousin.
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