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Duane Freeman's Headache

I can picture it now. A smoky room, striped with shadow from the horizontal blinds. Half a dozen top brass sit around a polished table. "No good'll come of it, I'm telling you," grumbles the old general from behind his cigar. "You can't trust the Hulk, you mark my words. And what do we know about the others, hmm?"

Senator Byrd has little time for the bombastic soldier. "Relax, Ross. Thor n' Iron Man have shown more than willing to help us out with the Commies so far."

"An we sure need someone th' next time some Joe like Magneto takes over a missile base," the director of the FBI comments, adding his own stogie smoke to the fug and glaring with his single good eye. "We can hardly rely on a group of punk kids like those X-Men to be on call when we need 'em." "So it's agreed?" the man in the sharp business suit at the end of the table asks. "We recognise the charter of the Avengers and give them the clearances they need to do the job?"

The other men in the room reluctantly assent one by one. "But we'll be watching them very closely, Stark," Senator Byrd warns the millionaire arms manufacturer. "One step out of line, and I'll take them down and you with them!"

It's easy to see why the government is very wary of super-heroes. Apart from the regular property damage in the Marvel Universe, damage so great that firms like Damage Control can make a very good living off it, super-powered characters have changed the political destiny of countries. Some super-types are clear and present dangers, like Apocalypse, the Red Skull, or Ultron, more likely to bring about the end of humanity than the threat of nuclear war.

Yet this is exactly why the heroes are necessary. In a dangerous world where Atlantis might attack, the Skrulls might invade, or Zodiac might attempt to murder one person in twelve in New York City there has to be a response force capable of preventing the worst. Hence the Avengers, and to a lesser extent other teams that occasionally help out, and agencies like the Commission, are given status and authority - to a degree.

But look at the risks. Within just a few weeks of the Avengers formation the Hulk was once again rampaging beside the enemy of humankind the Sub-Mariner. Shortly thereafter Thor was attacking New York under the control of the Enchantress. Then they apparently attack mankind as part of Count Nefaria's plan. Then the Avengers induct a previously wanted supervillain and two mutant terrorists just as their respected founding members leave. No wonder in just a few months the Mayor of New York orders the Avengers to disband.

The Avengers have also caused their share of trouble in their later history. Hank Pym's experimental computer becomes the archvillain Ultron. The team harbour alien fugitive Captain Marvel and even fight SHIELD mandroids sent to retrieve him during the Kree/Skrull war. Moondragon's manipulations never became public, but the world's powers certainly knew about the Vision's takeover of the world's computer systems. No wonder rogue member Quicksilver found it easy to convince the Commission that the Avengers had themselves turned rogue.

But if the governments of the world have some reasons to be suspicious of the heroes who have saved them so many times as to be hard to count, the Avengers themselves have far more reason to resent their treatment at the hands of those governments. From being outlawed in #13, through the Gyrich problems, unlawful imprisonment in the Vault, the deconstruction of the Vision, the imposition of USAgent on the team, right up to the bitter scenes at the United Nations during the recent Genosha crisis, the Avengers have been treated more like Dobermans on leashes than valued heroes.

So to Duane Freeman. As the man between the government and the assemblers he has the task of balancing the suspicions of both sides, or protecting each from the paranoias and excesses of the other. When the Vision and Wonder Man crack and start to beat each other up in downtown Manhattan he has to soothe the governor and reassure the President. When the honourable member for wherever demands that the Avengers go and take out Saddam Hussain he has to explain the unique role of the team and why such an action would be inappropriate. And only because this balance exists can the Avengers get on with the things for which they associated.

So what are other people's takes on the Avengers and Government? How often does Cap have to ring the President to get some point across? How willing would the Senate be to back the team without the Maria Stark Foundation subsidising the budget? Can the Avengers really be cut loose in SALT II type disarmament talks? How senior is Duane Jerome Freeman anyway?

The Avengers vs the Men in Black?