The Cancer Plot: Terminal Immortality in Marvel's Moral Universe

by Reginald Wiebe, Dorothy Woodman

Overview

In The Cancer Plot, Reginald Wiebe and Dorothy Woodman examine the striking presence of cancer in Marvel comics. Engaging comics studies, medical humanities, and graphic medicine, they explore this disease in four case studies: Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Thor, and Deadpool. Cancer, the authors argue, troubles the binaries of good and evil because it is the ultimate nemesis within a genre replete with magic, mutants, and multiverses. They draw from gender theory, disability studies, and cultural theory to demonstrate how cancer in comics enables an examination of power and responsibility, key terms in Marvel’s superhero universe. As the only full-length study on cancer in the Marvel universe, The Cancer Plot is an appealing and original work that will be of interest to scholars across the humanities, particularly those working in the health humanities, cultural theory, and literature, as well as avid comics readers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772127164
Publisher:	University of Alberta Press
Publication date:	04/05/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Reginald Wiebe is Associate Professor of English at Concordia University of Edmonton and gratefully lives on Treaty 6 territory.
Dorothy Woodman is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and gratefully lives on Treaty 6 territory.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: But I Don’t Want to Cure Cancer
• I Bodies, Cancer, and Death
• Editor’s Note
• 1 | Death and Cancer: Immortality and the Problem of Limits
• 2 | Living with Cancer: Medical Narratives and Superheroes
• II Cancer, Power, and Responsibility: Exploring Four Superhero Stories
• Editor’s Note / The Death of Captain Marvel
• 3 | This Whole Business of Death: Cancer and Captain Marvel
• Editor’s Note / Ultimate Spider-Man
• 4 | Cure as Poison: Cancer and Spider-Man’s Moral Battle
• Editor’s Note / The Mighty Thor
• 5 | Cancer as Fatal Opportunity: Thor and the Question of Worthiness
• Editor’s Note / The Despicable Deadpool
• 6 | “Welcome to the Freak Show!”: Deadpool and Perpetual Remission
• Conclusion: The End That Is Not the End
• Appendix 1
• Marvel Characters
• 1.1 Marvel characters who have had cancer but did not die of it
• 1.2 Marvel characters who have had cancer and died of it
• 1.3 Marvel characters who have had cancer and died attempting to cure it or destroy their enemies before succumbing to it
• 1.4 Marvel cancer deaths by decade
• Appendix 2
• DC Characters
• 2.1 DC characters who have had cancer
• 2.2 DC characters with an unnamed terminal condition
• 2.3 DC cancer and terminal condition by decade
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index

Editorial Reviews

"Wiebe and Woodman take on a fascinating subject: the representation and significance of cancer in Marvel comics. They explore the paradox of cancer: how in a fantasy setting of extraordinary diversity and ‘miraculous’ feats, it alone remains immune from all cures — a sort of zero-degree realism which vouchsafes the genre’s connection to the real world." José Alaniz, University of Washington, author of Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond
"The Cancer Plot gives an incisive and engaging analysis of the prevalence of cancer in Marvel comics with specific attention to how the representation of disease in these works enables an examination of power as it relates to citizenship and civic duty. This is a timely study that will enrich readers' understanding of the complexities of storytelling in this genre." Kelly McGuire, Trent University
"Through those case studies and others—as well as their broader observations about the Marvel universe and the superhero genre—Wiebe and Woodman give readers much to contemplate.... They explore the social meaning of health and sickness both in the stories themselves and the world at large, revealing that behind the masks and alter egos, many of Marvel’s characters can tell us a lot about ourselves. The result should convince more than a few readers that we should leave plenty of room for superhumans in the medical humanities." Matt Peters, Graphic Medicine, November 16, 2023 [Full article at https://www.graphicmedicine.org/comic-reviews/the-cancer-plot-terminal-immortality-in-marvels-moral-universe]

From the Publisher