The Secretary of Defense announced the newest weapon in the war on terror in an appearance with Spiderman and Captain America in the Pentagon basement yesterday. Marvel Comics is producing a special “support our troops” comic book that will be distributed to U.S. troops overseas.

“Pure escapism,” says Robert Sabouni, a Marvel executive. “A touch of home,” said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense. The story opens with some soldiers who stumble on a UFO-looking ship and call for help. Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic, the two scientist-superheroes, show up. They pry open the ship to find hostile aliens inside, and then KOOM! THWIP! etc.

A man dressed in a Spider-Man costume gamely squatted and did that web-squirt thing with his hands dozens of times to pose for photographs, while the Captain America look-alike flexed his muscles and kept his expression deadly earnest. At some point Rumsfeld too did a little muscle flex for the cameras, only he couldn’t keep a straight face.
Are they saying these guys weren’t the real deal? I guess I did expect spiderman’s suit to be made out of something that offers a little more protection from evil villans than polyester.

Are they saying that these guys aren’t the real deal? I guess I did expect Spiderman’s suit to be made out of something that offers a little more protection against evil supervillans than polyester.

Original WashingtonPost.com Article