Marvel has always endeavored to resemble the world outside of readers' windows. Heroes had problems that were like the ones the readers had, and real-world issues were brought into the narratives. This led Marvel to become a leader in the comic industry, living up to its sobriquet as the House of Ideas. It's also led to controversy many times over the years, with heroes becoming bones of contention in the world outside of comics.
Marvel has changed a lot over the years, and things that weren't controversial before have become objects of controversy. Many heroes have been a part of this, with fans debating whether they deserve the negative recognition that comes with past actions.
10 Silver Age Reed Richards' Treatment Of His Wife Sue Storm Is Awful
The Fantastic Four is a unique team in Marvel history. They were always a family; Mister Fantastic as the father, Invisible Woman as the mother, and Thing and Human Torch as the rowdy brothers. The Silver Age was a much different time, and Reed Richards was the quintessential man of the 1960s. This makes going back and reading how he treated Sue a terrible experience.
The treatment of Sue Storm is just short of physical abuse and has made Reed a problematic character to many readers, despite changes to him and his relationship with Sue. While he treats his wife better now, Reed's character has still been a problem in modern times, as he was prone to keep secrets and commit genocide as a member of the Illuminati.
9 Marvel Has Made Spider-Man Controversial To Many Fans
Spider-Man is Marvel's most popular hero and The Amazing Spider-Man is always at the top of the sales charts, but that doesn't mean that the character isn't controversial. Since 2007's One More Day, when Marvel editorial, led by then-Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, destroyed the marriage between Spider-Man and Mary Jane because they thought it "aged" the character, Spider-Man fans have been up in arms.
Over the years, Marvel fans have harassed writers, writers have harassed fans, and Marvel has continually trolled the people who loved the Mary Jane/Peter Parker marriage. At the very least, sales haven't suffered too much.
8 The Inhumans Push Completely Destroyed A Great Corner Of The Marvel Universe
The genesis of Marvel's Inhumans' push was 2013's crossover event Infinity when Black Bolt released the Terrigen Mists into Earth's atmosphere. Starting in 2015, Marvel began to launch multiple Inhumans books, with the Mists awakening Inhumans all over the Earth. This was fine, but then Marvel added a twist: the Mists were poisonous to mutants. This led to an X-Men versus Inhumans narrative.
It was made worse when the reason behind the move was revealed: Marvel was pushing the Inhumans to replace mutants because they didn't own the film rights to the X-Men. This completely backfired on them. The Inhumans lost badly in the court of public opinion and haven't been seen in years.
7 Hank Pym's Spousal Abuse Has Dogged Him For Years
Hank Pym has been through many identities over the years, but his most controversial will always be Yellowjacket. Hank Pym has been portrayed as having dissociative identity disorder, depression, and anxiety, and one of his identities was a more macho version of himself he called Yellowjacket. This "alpha male" version of Hank went so far as to hit his wife, the Wasp.
This moment has colored Hank Pym forever in the eyes of fans and led to the Ultimate Comics version of Hank Pym, who was much more abusive towards the Wasp. The entire plot line has aged terribly, both because of its negative portrayal of mental health conditions and how it led to worse moments down the road.
6 Captain Marvel's Entire Existence Has Angered The Worst Elements Of The Fandom
Carol Danvers has changed a lot since her debut. She began her career as Ms. Marvel, joined the Avengers, lost her powers, became Binary, hung around with the X-Men, and made her way back to the Avengers, sometimes going by Warbird before going back to Ms. Marvel. In 2015, the longtime Avenger would be given the mantle of Captain Marvel and a segment of the fandom lost their minds.
Most Marvel fans were happy Carol was getting a chance at the big time. However, the worst elements of Marvel's fans rebelled loudly because she was a woman, not even knowing she was the second woman to be Captain Marvel. 2016's Civil War II didn't do her any favors, making her the villain of an event book that colored how many have looked at her since.
5 Scarlet Witch Has Been Treated Terribly By Creators For Years
Scarlet Witch has often seemed irredeemable, committing a multitude of terrible acts over the years. However, the majority of these stories have played into negative stereotypes about women. For example, many of the earliest stories were all about Scarlet Witch losing control of her emotions and powers, a common trope for superheroines at the time.
While this type of storytelling in comics has subsided, it continues to be present in Scarlet Witch stories, showcased in the MCU with WandaVision and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. It's become such a part of the character that it's transcended the comics.
4 Iron Man Has Been Used To Criticize Capitalism And Conservatism
Iron Man has gotten a raw deal since Civil War, but the character has always been a deep and controversial hero. In the '60s, Tony Stark was a critique of the Cold War stereotype of the inventive American, one who would see firsthand what his business could lead to. The character was often used to criticize libertarian and conservative ideology, showing Stark in a negative light.
Civil War and its aftermath would see the character taken to a new controversial level. He may have been the winner in Marvel's event series, but his security at any cost mantra made him into a hated character by fans, something his association with Illuminati didn't help. To this day, his popularity among comic fans has never recovered.
3 Professor X Is A Problematic Leader
Professor X is often considered the Martin Luther King Jr. of the mutant race, but that overlooks years of wrongdoing on his part. It all started back when Professor X admitted that he was in love with Jean Grey, who was a teenager at the time. This actually happened in the '60s X-Men comic written by Stan Lee but would be forgotten until the '90s.
Beyond that, there are Xavier lied to his students numerous times, manipulated their minds, and endangered mutants with his actions. For a character who is supposed to be a civil rights leader stand-in, Xavier is basically as bad as any of the more violent mutant villains the X-Men fought.
2 Starfox Is The Creepiest Eternal
Starfox isn't much of a fighter, but he's definitely a lover. The brother of Thanos was supposed to be the evil Titan's exact opposite, so he was given the power of manipulation, able to use his voice to get people to do what he wanted. This was never really looked at as a problem until an issue of She-Hulk by Dan Slott and Will Conrad saw the character brought up on sexual assault charges and revealed that he used his powers for sexual conquest regularly.
This changed the way everyone looked at Starfox, and he's had few appearances since then. Everyone was very surprised when he showed up in the MCU and A.X.E. Judgment Day in the comics, seeing as his powers are basically villainous and creepy.
1 The Punisher Is Worshiped By People He Would Hate
Among Marvel heroes with a high body count, Punisher is in a class of his own. His entire mission is to stop crime by any means necessary, which has often meant shooting everyone in his way. In the real world, the character has struck a chord with law enforcement and many of them have taken to emblazoning their vehicles with his symbols.
The irony is that the Punisher would hate the people who idolize him. The Punisher is just as liable to go after a police officer who breaks the law as anyone else and has little respect for even the best cops. It's an example of poor media literacy on the part of the boys in blue.