10 Perplexing Comic Book Questions Solved By The Internet

7. What Conspiracy Theories Are There In The Marvel Universe?

Whilst the DC superheroes such as Batman, Superman and Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man all occupy cities which are rough analogues of actual US landmarks - Metropolis is pretty much New York, Gotham is Chicago, etc - the Marvel Universe is almost identical to our own. We mean, besides all the superheroes. The large majority of their characters live in New York, or else some other real-world location, which is part of what made the company so successful in the early days; alongside some down-to-earth characterisation, it made the high-flying adventures easier to relate to. The Marvel Universe has all the same pop culture, locations and people as our own - they're almost exactly the same.

Which means that somewhere, in this world of Fantastic Foursomes and Sinister Sixes, there's the Marvel equivalent of the tinfoil hat brigade. In a world full of superheroes and sci-fi technology, though, what sort of conspiracy theories would be formed? Redditors seemed to agree that the shape-shifting alien Skrulls would be central to most, occupying the space that the Illuminati or disguised, child-eating lizard people are said to in our reality: the secret rulers of the world. Then there's the idea that Captain America is a clone, rather than a thawed-out World War II hero, or that the reason Wolverine appears in so many comic is because of Rogue accidentally creating loads of doppelgangers by absorbing his powers, Mystique's shape shifting, and Multiple Man's...multiples.