On March 4, Marvel released variant covers from their Secret Empire comic series at Emerald City Con in Seattle, themed as “Villains of HYDRA.” The series bears a Suicide Squad-esque plot, with a team of villains assembled to fight our Avenger favorites.
However, one variant cover in this series featured Erik Lensherr — better known as Magneto — as part of HYDRA.
Magneto is perhaps Marvel’s most prominent Jewish character, and part of his backstory is being an Auschwitz survivor. HYDRA, however, is an organization that allied with Hitler and the Nazis during World War II. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that placing Marvel’s most prominent Jewish character alongside this organization is an extremely gauche and insensitive move, as well as anti-semitic to boot.
Writer Nick Spencer is penning the series, and has also come under fire for last year’s series that turned Captain America, the personification of American ideals, into an undercover HYDRA agent.
However, fans may just be jumping the gun here. Variant covers sometimes have nothing to do with the story contents; some regard this as false advertising, while others simply enjoy them as collectibles. From a business standpoint, it’s also a way to generate hype around a new issue and to get people to spend more money on the same content.
It may also be worth noting that while HYDRA is made of fascists, they are not necessarily Nazis. HYDRA was used as a device by Marvel to allude to Nazism in older comics without having to include actual Nazism, which would have exponentially complicated things for a kids’ comic. Magneto himself is a fascist, evident in his claims of mutant superiority to humans and has made quite a few attempts at wiping out every non-mutant on the planet.
Despite the insensitivity of the cover art, Marvel — especially in recent years — has been known for its inclusivity when it comes to its superheroes. Cindy Moon, Kamala Khan, and Miles Morales are just a few names when it comes to the next generation of heroes. Not only has Marvel increased its POC count, but its religious diversity as well — Kamala Khan, better known as Captain Marvel, is the first Muslim-American character to have her own comic series.
