8 Terrible Comic Book Events Marvel And DC Wish You'd Forget
5. Secret Empire
Marvel Comics
While at least critically well received upon its release, Nick Spencer's Secret Empire is an event that was poorly handled right from the get go.
Taking Steve Rogers, a character created by Jewish writers Joe Simon and Jack Kirby during World War II - and an anti-fascist symbol to boot - and turning him into the leader of Hydra (an organisation heavily tied to the Nazi regime), was a shocking move on Spencer's behalf. Controversy was further ignited when a variant cover featuring Erik Lensher (Magneto) - a holocaust survivor both onscreen and off - depicted the mutant as a member of Hydra.
Responses from the team behind the book could be considered tone-deaf at best and flat-out condescending at worst, and while the series was critically and commercially successful, it's obvious that Marvel are keen to leave this bit of Cap's history in the past where it belongs.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
