Those invested in comics have almost certainly heard about what comic fans have dubbed “Remendergate” over issue #22 of Rick Remender’s Captain America run. To put it into the simplest of terms, some people are pissed over the presumed statutory rape of Jet Black by The Falcon. A series of panels within the issue depicts Jet Black happily pouring The Falcon some wine, moving into a kiss, and then cutting to the morning after in which they discuss the evening’s events.
Now, the source of the problem stems from Jet Black’s age. While issue #22 has her clearly stating a past 23rd birthday, making her at least 23, fans have come out to say that there’s no way she could possibly be that old as previous issues pegged her at/around 14. Add in the fact that alcohol came into play and we have the potential for a statutory rape situation.
And here’s where the comic book shenanigans comes in.
Remender’s Captain America run has cemented Dimension Z as canon, in which time does not run normally as it does in the “real” world (putting “real” in quotations because this is comic land and let’s be honest, there’s like a million”real” worlds at this point). It’s extremely hard to fully explain the way the time works as well as how different worlds/dimensions run but a tumblr user has created an excellent post with panels to help explain the childhood/teen/adult timeline that has been affecting character growth. To put it simply, in the timeline of Remender’s Captain America, we have to accept that Jet Black is at least 23 and is definitely of age.
Now we could definitely speak of other issues regarding this scene. The Falcon being black out drunk immediately jumped to me as an issue worth discussing. Considering the recent push of education regarding sex, consent, and alcohol; Jet Black’s creepy push to get The Falcon drunk is a much larger issue in my mind. Remember, she pushes him to drink more, he wakes up with a wild hangover, and she is the one who has to tell him about what happened. Personally speaking, this is the issue we should be discussing if we want to discuss it being problematic. If it had been The Falcon waking up and telling Jet Black he liked what he saw we would’ve had a much larger outburst and I certainly hope that Remender comes back to this, even if its in the form of a failed romance between the two. In fact, I’m a little saddened at the fact that despite Jet Black stating she’s over the age of 23, we’re still arguing over whether or not she can really be that old instead of why she coerced a man into drinking after he already said no. This is an issue worth getting mad about, not whether or not a fictional dimension can actually age people faster.
Which is really the problem here. Fans seem so eager to drop all disbelief of fictional factors when it comes to issues that can push buttons. Dimension Z, albeit confusing, is really no different that the seemingly ridiculous amount of timelines, universes, events, reboots, and so on that comic books have had for years. Why could we so easily accept that someone could gain powers from a spider bite but not that Doc Ock and Peter Parker could switch brains/bodies? Or, taking into account the whole Miles Morales fiasco, why did we find it so easy to accept things like Spider-Man 2099 and Spider-Man: Noir but a young Afro-Latino male was just too much to believe? We need to remember that this is the same medium in which we had the Flashpoint Paradox and we imagined Superman as the Red Son.
I am all for recognizing problematic behavior, writing, images, and so on that are certainly found within comics (we all remember how Fridging came to be, right?) but having to suspend belief in fictional mechanics to make them become problematic is, well, a problem in and of itself. If you can’t believe that Dimension Z exists the way it does, then maybe reading about a universe in which someone can take a super serum and use a shield made out of a fictional material from a fictional land to fight a super-evil Nazi who keeps coming back to life isn’t how you should be spending your time.
