Is Marvel Trying to Recruit You for the Military?

In a 2019 interview with Empire Magazine, Martin Scorsese expressed that he felt Marvel films were not cinema. He then explained his viewpoint in a letter to the editor for the New York Times, stating that Marvel stories feel repurposed, adhering to models deemed successful by the executives. “That’s the nature of modern film franchises,” he says, “market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption” (Martin Scorsese, “I Said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain” 2019). These aren’t stories anymore, they’re fruits of major corporations who value their financial gain over cinematic integrity. While Marvel and Disney have hosted an array of talented directors, actors, and technicians, it oftentimes means sacrificing one’s artistry in order to have that opportunity to be featured on the silver screen. This is evidenced by the recent slew of criticisms of the Disney Corporation from major stars like Scarlett Johnasson and John Boyega, revealing Disney's tendency to prioritize the income of the company over the comfort of its workers. The rise of corporate media, of course, leads to a much larger question on the implications of said media. After all, when companies as large as Disney turn their films into products and see their viewers as consumers, the question then becomes who is the client behind those innocuous mouse ears?

For the past decade, it has been impossible to escape the media behemoth of Marvel Studios and its puppet master, Disney Studios. The success of Marvel films has prompted various studios to follow suit in crafting their own cinematic universes, from the critically and commercially failed DC Extended Universe to, Marvel’s blood relative, the Star Wars Extended Universe and even the M. Night Shyamalan Extended Universe. With five studios dominating 90% of releases (Ben Bagdikian, “The New Media Monopoly,” 2004), it feels impossible to escape the grasp of corporate media. While it may be easy to excuse these unabashed cash grabs from major studios as low culture and harmless cinema, these media monopolies have tremendous cultural and political ramifications, especially when looking at the collusion between major studios and the US military. Without realizing it, the global population is absorbing pro-US military propaganda. The military media industrial complex is a nuanced topic serving as the intersection between a military, media, and corporate hegemony. In this article I will focus solely on the rapid success of Marvel Studios and its relationship and depiction of the US military. 

In her excellent five-part series on the military media industrial complex, student journalist Helen Johnson identifies and explains the role of the media in military recruitment. As she states, “the massive concentration of media power from hundreds of media firms to the big five today means that just a handful of people have the power to influence the messaging that affects millions of people throughout the nation” (Helen Johnson, “Why You Should Care About the Military-Industrial-Media Complex, 2021). While relations between studios and the military have existed as far back as the 1920s, this power has become exacerbated due to the horizontal expansion and monopolization of the media industry. Especially as film endeavors grow more ambitious, as in the case of these major blockbusters, this support must often be outsourced to major studios or, even more powerful, the world’s largest military force. There is a mutual benefit to this arrangement, studios get the necessary support while the Department of Defense gets the press they need. As the DoD explain themselves on their website, their intentions while working with studios are twofold. First, “to accurately depict military stories” and, secondly, to “make sure sensitive information isn’t disclosed.” While not bad in theory, the problem emerges when viewers assume that what they are watching isn’t military propaganda, when oftentimes, it most certainly is. 

From its inception, Marvel Studios has been involved in an entanglement with the Pentagon. While not directly receiving funding, the first Iron Man film involved cooperation with the US Department of Defense. The deal was that Marvel Studios could film on US Air Force Bases and use the DoD’s assets such as machinery, transportations, and even military personnel as long as they adhered to DoD safety procedure and protected the interests of the Pentagon. The third paragraph on page two of the Marvel and DoD licensing agreement, a document provided by journalist Tom Secker, reads: “The DoD has approved military assistance as in the best interest of the DoD… The DoD acknowledges and agrees that, provided that the Picture substantially conforms to the DoD-Approved Screenplay with respect to the portrayal of the military.” The clause goes on to state that Marvel Studios must obtain approval, in advance, if modifications are made to the military depictions presented in any aspects of production and that the DoD can elect to terminate future DoD assistance to Marvel Studios in the event of disagreement. The production of Iron Man itself played out with little conflict, aside from an argument over a specific line, according to DoD official Phil Shrub. From here on out, the relationship between Marvel and the US Military was firmly established. 

Since then, the US Military has dabbled with Marvel Productions, sometimes signing official agreements, as in the case of Iron Man 2, the Captain America series, and Captain Marvel, other times refusing to provide official support due to creative disagreements while still lending some of their arsenal, as in the case for the Avengers. The most recent incident involves the fictional intelligence agency S.W.O.R.D. in the hit TV series WandaVision. According to WandaVision head writer Jac Schaeffer in an article published in the LA Times, the three intelligence officer characters were not originally written in the script but were suggested by Marvel executives. Seeing as the Pentagon was thanked in the show’s end credits, it seems that the addition of the three quirky comedic-relief intelligence agents were to benefit the public’s view of the FBI. While certain character and plot elements may seem insignificant, they have massive ramifications when considering the impact this media has on the public’s opinion of government agencies. For instance, the 1986 summer blockbuster Top Gun cleverly set up Navy recruitment stands in theaters and saw enlistments increase by 5x the year of its release. Similarly, the US Military has coined what they call the “Captain Marvel Effect,” to describe the increasing proportion of female enlistments since the release of Captain Marvel in 2019. For centuries, popular media has been one of the military’s most powerful tools. We innocently absorb this propaganda whenever we go to the movie theater or stream on Disney+. 

 I think one of the failures of the American education system is that it has taught us that propaganda is inherently evil and recognizable. That the franchises and films we love belong only to us, and no one else. If your first reaction when reading this article was to rush to Marvel’s defense, question why that is? Do these stories actually belong to you? I say all of this as an avid comic book nerd and former fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actors, the characters, and even the stories can be held dearest to our heart, but we must ultimately remember that, in the eyes of Disney executives, these are only products. We are no more than customers who fill their pockets. In the eyes of the Department of Defense, these films are nothing more than recruitment videos. The sad reality is that most of the media, if not all, that we consume has a political agenda. It is propaganda… from daytime television to teen pop idols (see Olivia Rodrigo’s recent visit to the white house) to summer blockbusters, to this very article you are reading. The unfortunate truth is that all of it is crafted to sway us toward a political or social ideology. That doesn't mean you cannot love or breathe art, rather simply you must practice awareness and consciousness even for the more unassuming of media. Especially for the most unassuming of media. ◆

Further Reading

activism, filmSunstroke MagazineMai Ly Hagan, essayComment