Psychology in Action

[AnaKhouri]

We saw Green Lantern last night. It sucked. And it sparked my husband on one of his favorite subjects: the unfair portrayal of scientists in comic books.

Husband: In comic books, the scientist always turns evil! It's not fair. All the scientists I know want to help people.

Me: The Hulk is a good scientist.

Husband: But he's the only one! Dr. Morbius, Kurt Connors, Doc Ock...they're all bad guys! They just expect scientists to be evil.

Me: That's true...but you're not evil. You wouldn't turn evil if you got powers.

Husband: You know what? Fuck those guys! If I get powers, I'm going to turn evil too.

I think I learned about this is high school psychology class...

[Kara]

Peter Parker is a scientist (whenever they aren't rebooting the damn series and putting him back in high school). And Hank McCoy (Beast). Hank Pym from the Avengers, (Ant Man, Giant Man, Goliath, and currently Yellowjacket).

Eh, hubby is right. Evil has more fun.

[AnaKhouri]

I'll have to tell him about Beast. He's not a huge X-Men fan so probably doesn't know about him.

I mentioned Ant-man and Husband said he doesn't count because he doesn't like him.

I thought Peter Parker was a photographer? I remember him doing science stuff but he seemed more like a lab tech. I don't know much about Spider-man. I prefer the Punisher, but his job is pretty much just killing people.

[Kara]

Well, he tries to be a scientist, when he's not getting fired for excessive lateness due to fighting crime and all. Photography pays the bills on the side. He has worked for several labs, and in back in the M2 future universe comic about his daughter, Spider Girl, he was a forensic scientist for the police.

[Kogarashi]

Husband: You know what? Fuck those guys! If I get powers, I'm going to turn evil too.

Normally, here's where I'd say that your husband and mine could be arch nemeses when my hubby (also scientist) gets superpowers. Except for the part where my husband is already evil, so I'm not sure how well that'd work.

I do know that if my husband became a villain scientist, though, it'd involve the undead somehow.

[Dilorenzo]

Swamp Thing was kind of a scientist until Alan Moore came along, and made one of the most interesting changes to a character that stuck... only I'm not quite sure if he was ever a hero, exactly?

Though, yeah, turning evil would be more fun. Otherwise you're Reed Richards, wet blanket PhD.

[CaroPhoenix]

Thank goodness my husband is a financial manager. Never heard of a financial manager turning evil in comics.

[BlaqueKatt]

professor x is a geneticist

[AnaKhouri]

We had another conversation about this.

"Professor X," I said. "Beast. Swamp Thing. Reed Richards."

"Dr. Light," he said. "Dr. Doom. Mr. Sinister. Every single Hulk villain."

"Tony Stark?"

"He's really an engineer, not a scientist. I do love Reed Richards for being a scientist though."

"What's wrong with Ant-man?"

"He beats his wife."

"Oooooh."

[Sapphire Silk]

I thought Peter Parker was a photographer? I remember him doing science stuff but he seemed more like a lab tech. I don't know much about Spider-man. I prefer the Punisher, but his job is pretty much just killing people.

Parker was a chemistry major in college. He did photography to pay the bills. He eventually became a scientist and a teacher, but they keep retconning the character.

Other superhero scientists:

Barry Allen: The Flash. Forensic scientist.

Ray Palmer: the Atom. Physicist.

Ted Kord: Blue Beetle. Engineer and inventor.

John Henry Irons: Steel. Engineer

Rip Hunter: Time master. Physicist.

Dr. Will Magnus. Inventor of the Metal Men

Dr. Mid-nite: Physician

Donald Blake: Thor. Physician.

There are many more examples.

[Geek King]

From Antartic Press: Gold Digger: Gina Diggers and Penny Pincher: Archeology/Physics

Maybe not so good though. Plenty of evil scientists/archeologists there too.

[Imogene]

Doctor Manhattan: Physicist both before and after 'the accident', though he is morally ambiguous... so, debatable?