Hero worship?

The recent film adaptation of Marvel comics’ superhero smorgasbord—The Avengers—has broken numerous box office records and is now the third highest grossing movie of all time. It was also fairly well received critically. All of which is impressive, given the number of big name characters (not to mention big name actors) vying for screen time in a single film.

For me, as an international law academic, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble (as it was irritatingly monikered in the UK thanks to Steed and Peel), was of particular interest from a legal perspective. The Avengers, and especially their relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D—the organisation that “assembles” and directs them— have always set my international law spidey senses a’tingling, and their recent big screen incarnation is no different.

Superheroes & the law

In general terms, the relationship between comic book heroes and “the law” is an uneasy one. Batman is the best known