Thread by @EveKeneinan

I DARE YOU to read this and not accept Rogue as a hero.

THIS is the moment she wins Wolverine’s trust, which is NOT easy to do for a former enemy.

https://twitter.com/EveKeneinan/status/1049179054161780738

This may be a good time to talk about the idea of VALIDATION in STORIES.

It’s a small but important piece of story craft.

I’ve been meaning to mention two good examples of it for a while.

Here’s the basic concept: a writer can get the audience to lean strongly one way, but you need to have a TRUSTED CHARACTER in the comics to “make the first move”, to tell the audience that what they want to feel already (if the writer has done his job) is OKAY.

It’s a follower effect. Most people probably know about the awful experiment of Milgram where he got MOST people to give shocks to an innocent person because a guy in a lab coat told them to!

But if you do that experiment a bit differently, and you have TWO “shock givers”—one being a actor-plant of course, who REFUSES—just about everyone will ALSO REFUSE TO GIVE MORE SHOCKS.

SOMEONE HAS TO STAND UP FIRST.

This is true in stories too. So let me give two examples. The involve animated superheroes. I had them both queued up when I wanted to write this, but put it off, and now I have to find them again.

Be right back. 😀

Okay, Justice League Animated, end of Season 2. Hawkgirl is caught in a TRAGIC CONFLICT between her PEOPLE (who invade earth) and her status as a member of the Justice League (who defend earth).

She sides with the League, of course. But she HAS been lying to them. And WAS torn.

WE have been following her story; WE the audience WANT to forgive her. But in story, there are hard-asses like Batman and Wonder Woman who may not.

MAY we forgive her? We want to.

WHO has the MORAL AUTHORITY to VALIDATE OUR WISH?

ALFRED does:

Go watch that. I’ll wait.

Or more accurately, I’ll go find my OTHER example. 😀

Next example: Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. One of the major story arcs of the first season is the Hulk’s status as a hero, when the world (much of it) thinks he is a monster.

WE, the audience, KNOW the Hulk is a hero—but again, we need someone to GIVE US PERMISSION TO FULLY ACCEPT THIS. And it has to be SOMEONE WITH MORAL AUTHORITY (like Alfred).

Who has more moral authority than Captain America?

No one, fam.

Go watch that.

It’s no. 5 in a good list of Captain America’s best moments from Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The whole thing is worth watching, so do, but no. 5 is the one that shows the VALIDATION effect I’m talking about.

1 Cap gets Tony into a boxing ring. This doesn’t go well for Tony. Hawkeye and Hulk have a blast watching Tony get his ass handed to him.

3 Cap vs Baron Zemo. The Black Panther—not yet an Avenger, in fact he’s broken into Avengers Mansion to hack their computer—also shows his true colors as a hero by tossing Cap his shield at the critical moment. Good scene all around.

6 Cap vs … all the Avengers. They don’t do as well as you might think. This is what makes Captain America, Captain America.

He has no powers … in the way Batman has no powers …

4 The VALIDATION EFFECT again, although this time confined to one episode when Iron Man was being controlled by the Purple Man.

3 Cap leaps to the rescue of Viper, an arch-enemy of his. But he won’t leave her to the Skrulls.

Gyrich: “What is he DOING?”
Mockingbird: “He’s BEING CAPTAIN AMERICA.”

Damn right.

2 A plan that involves LETTING CAPTAIN AMERICA LOOSE (in order to trick him) is a bad plan.

And 1: Captain America vs Skrull Fake Captain America.

He has all the same powers and skills. So they’re evenly matched, right?

Wrong. Captain America’s MAIN POWER is—being CAPTAIN AMERICA.