AVENGERS Vol. 3 #64: Falcon punches Gyrich

[starwolf_oakley]

From Geoff Johns' AVENGERS run: the Falcon punches Henry Peter Gyrich!



Henry Peter Gyrich has usually been an example of "the government is bad" in Marvel Comics. Sometimes he's just there to give the heroes a hard time. Sometimes it seems his "thing" is that he's worried superheroes might subjugate those they protect, and he's too much of a jerk to be subtle about it.



Yes, we all remember that "Wasp and Yellowjacket in Vegas" story, and not for good reasons. It also turned the villain Whirlwind into a "dressing up prostitutes like the Wasp and killing them" serial killer.



I'm going to say "Sheesh" regarding both Gyrich and Sam. Gyrich calling Sam "boy" isn't cool. Sam punching Gyrich for saying it also isn't cool.

Also, Sam REALLY didn't like joining the Avengers because of a racial quota. Neither did Hawkeye, but no one cares what Hawkeye thinks.



Punching someone in the face for making a smart-ass pseudo-racist remark isn't really Sam's style. I once posted how Sam *didn't* punch a guy for calling him an Uncle Tom.

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/5301293.html





This ties into Gyrich working with Dell Rusk, who is actually the Red Skull, but Gyrich didn't know that.



No mention of "Snap Wilson" here, although Sam did get his powers from the Red Skull and the Cosmic Cube. Nothing about "Snap was a pimp because that's how he dressed."

Comments

[matrix_dragon]

Yeah. Johns really didn't understand the characters he was working with in his short time at Marvel, did he?

[shingi70]

Nah Sam punching Gyrich is cool. Gyrich using boy is just disrespectful and is just him dog whistling instead of saying Nigger.

I can see how it doesn't fit with Sam's character but I'm cool with it.

[coldfury]

Especially given the context of the conversation, Gyrich was doing it intentionally.

[mesmiranda]

I'm not even American, and the instant Gyrich called Falcon--a fully grown black man--"boy", I sucked in a reeeally big breath through my teeth. That is 100% Gyrich being racist without Marvel actually using the n-word.

[pyrrhocorax]

Yeah, it wasn’t "pseudo-racist", it was just racist. I’d have punched him and I’m white.

[cainofdreaming]

Who wouldn't punch Gyrich given the chance?

[starwolf_oakley]

Cable punched Gyrich once, in X-FORCE. After the team saved Gyrich from the new Mutant Liberation Front.

[zachbeacon]

Honestly i think a correctly written Gyrich is someone with valid points....

... who is such a jerk about it that he needs to be punched in the face.

You know, like Walter Peck from Ghostbusters

[zylly]

Agreed. Though some writers have written him as a straight-up villain, Gyrich is ultimately supposed to be someone with a very clear sense of right and wrong, who's viewpoints simply happen to be at odds with the super-heroes. He's often made out to be a strawman, but in the real world, he'd often be correct.

[rainspirit]

Gyrich deserved that punch. You can be an insufferable ass without being a racist cracker. Jesus.

[commodus]

"Cracker"?

[rainspirit]

Not nearly as offensive as the n word, but I get your point.

[sisterofbloomerjunior]

Nice job keeping your shit secret by yapping about it in the middle of a public park.

[michaelsaint]

I realize this is comics books but I seriously doubt Falcon can float 2ft off the ground with the mechanics of those wings.....

[matrix_dragon]

That's a part of my comment above about the writer (and artist) not getting the characters. Falcon tends to be comic book style gliding, not full floating flight, even in the modern versions that build a jet pack into the suit. Johns is mostly DC, which tends to use the later powerset more than the former.

[bruinsfan]

You'd think at least familiarity with winged heroes like Hawkman and Hawkgirl might cause one to stop and think about the need to use the wings when flying. (Though I guess they actually can hover in place what with Nth metal and use the wings for propulsion...)

[mrwalker]

I wonder if im the only one who sometimes refers to Martin Freeman's MCU character as "discount Gyrich?" I just remember Gyrich from the X-Men cartoon as a kid, vs never having heard of the character he's actually playing.

[starwolf_oakley]

Martin Freeman's character, Everett K. Ross, in CIVIL WAR certainly has elements of Gyrich. "You want a lawyer? That's funny." It's less "Superheroes are bad and should feel bad" and more "Superheroes are interfering with our investigation."

Everett K. Ross is a character from BLACK PANTHER. Wikipedia says: Everett Ross debuted in Ka-Zar Vol. 3, #17, and was created by Christopher Priest and Kenny Martinez. Afterward, Ross went on to be a major character in Black Panther Vol. 3..