Cold War Caped Crusaders and the Women Who Loved Them: The Birth and Maturation of Silver Age Superheroes

Fiction often emulates reality. Even the more fantastic of genres take inspiration from actual events. The twentieth century saw the advent of new media, of new forms of expression, such as radio, film, television, the Internet and videogames -- all of which offered fresh means of storytelling and new ways of representing reality. Apart from these, there was one other medium that is often disregarded as immature: the comic book, which achieved popularity through the advent of a new genre that was entirely its own, a genre which according to Lois Gresh and Robert Weinberg is an “uniquely American invention” (xi): the superhero genre. Although superheroes have branched out to radio, movies, television and more traditional literature, they have remained a primary staple of comics and in that role they have provided a flamboyant allegory to American life in the twentieth century. Also, like much of their audience, comic books have in fact matured primarily during the long expanse of the Cold War.

Like most media, comics have had a Golden Age, a period when the basic conventions are defined. Of greater historical interest, though, is the so-called Silver Age of comics, a period covering much of the Cold War era. During this time, the superhero genre was reshaped to include more science fiction tropes, which manifested in references to several key events of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. 

Historically, science fiction has often been based upon contemporary scientific concerns, which is only logical, as writers will naturally write about things that are relevant to their audience. For comic book writers, this was no different and their attempts to explain the powers of their characters played off of public perceptions of new advances in scientific research at the time. The most notable example of this is how the origins of many superheroes were tied in some way to radiation poisoning. This was of course a significant consideration for Americans during the Cold War. With the advent of the atomic bomb and the nuclear missile in previous decades and the arms race with the Soviet Union in full swing, there was the constant fear of a nuclear attack lodged firmly in the American mindset. People built bomb shelters and the infamous duck-and-cover videos were constantly aired on television and warned that people had to be “ready everyday, all the time.". Yet the truly interesting part about this is not so much that the duck-and-cover ads aired, it was what they said. These videos advised people to take shelter under anything they could find because “even a thin cloth helps protect them." This is obviously not true, but it seems to be what people believed, indicating not only a constant fear of a nuclear attack, but also a limited understanding of what such an attack would entail.

What is demonstrated here then is the notion of a scientific myth, that is to say a scientific phenomenon of which the public is aware but about which they understand very little. This is a common occurrence and often the easy prey of soft science-fiction, science-fiction with only loose ties to actual science. Essentially, soft science-fiction is the simplistic variety of the genre and is also the variety found in comic books “because comics were considered by their publishers to be stories for children” (Gresh and Weinberg, xvii). In this vein, the fear of a nuclear attack and the myths of radiation poisoning -- i.e. it makes one glow in the dark -- were translated into the mutations of the comic book superheroes. This roster of radioactive crime fighters was hardly insubstantial and spanned much of the early sixties. In 1961, the Fantastic Four were bombarded by cosmic radiation (Gresh and Weinberg, 21); in 1962, the Hulk was hit with gamma rays (Gresh and Weinberg, 23); in 1963, Spider-Man was bitten by a radioactive spider (Gresh and Weinberg, 66); and in 1964, Daredevil was blinded by a radioactive particle (Lee, Daredevil #1). While “atomic bombs had served as major threats in comic books since the end of World War II” (Gresh and Weinberg, 23), these were the first cases of radioactive superheroes. Prior to this, superpowers were explained through extraterrestrial origins, such as Superman, or through means of magic, such as the Golden Age Green Lantern. In the Cold War mindset of the Silver Age of comics though, superheroes were radioactive, the human face of the nuclear threat.

This is where this comparison really becomes interesting, however, because it was usually only the superheroes, not their villains, who were created through radioactive encounters. Radioactive supervillains were a rarity. Spider-man’s and Daredevil’s villains were often created by “freak laboratory accidents” or “experimenting with a secret formula” (Barnardo), the Fantastic Four usually fought aliens like Psycho Man (Lee, Fantastic Four #77) or technological enemies like Doctor Doom (Lee, Fantastic Four #7). There were exceptions to this, though. Hulk, for instance, was one such case, as most of his enemies were Gamma powered, as well. Thor also has an enemy named Radioactive Man, whose ties to radioactivity are hardly ambiguous, and Spider-Man’s nemesis the Scorpion has a nearly identical origin to his heroic adversary. Yet the majority of villains were produced through accidental, chemical, alien or supernatural causes and rarely through radioactivity. This poses a simple question: why? If Americans were afraid of potential nuclear attack, why would fictional characters exposed to radiation be presented as better for it? There are two possible answers to this question, depending on how one chooses to look at it.

 The first of these is that the radioactive superheroes are not actually without their flaws. In fact, this was a trademark of Marvel Comics’ (who introduced most of their main roster during the Silver Age) storytelling methods. The Hulk, for example, is often portrayed as a simple-minded and violent Mr. Hyde figure to Bruce Banner’s Dr. Jekyll. As Banner himself says: “The Hulk was… is… many things… but none of them is innocent” (Loeb). Because of this, the Hulk is often an antihero, something Banner transforms into against his will. Though the Hulk is the protagonist and selling point of his comic line, he is also Bruce Banner’s punishment for dealing with a radioactive bomb. 

The Fantastic Four have the Thing, a character similar to the Hulk in that his exposure to radiation mutated him into something monstrous. Because of this, he is sometimes viewed as a tragic figure, one who opted once to remain alone on an alien world because it affects his transformation back into his human state (Shooter, Secret Wars #12). Lastly, Daredevil’s mutation resulted in his blindness (Lee, Daredevil #1). Spider-Man is something of an exception to this trend, as his powers come with no direct drawback. It could be argued, though, that the travails of his superhero lifestyle, such as the famous deaths of his uncle (Lee, Marvel Tales #137) and girlfriend (Conway) could stand in for that, as they are results of the life he felt compelled to assume because of his exposure to radiation.

The second possible explanation for why the protagonists of comics are the ones powered by radiation could be that, as mentioned earlier, comics were written for children. It would be naïve to assume children were exempt from the fear of a nuclear strike; they were as exposed to it as their parents. This is why the duck-and-cover videos featured a cartoon turtle: it related the event to children on their own terms. It toned down the fear and the drama and told the children what they needed to hear so they could sleep at night. It is probable that comic book superheroes served a similar purpose. Children heard the myths of radiation exposure, how it mutates people and makes them glow in the dark and then they would go and read a Spider-Man comic and have their fears allayed to an extent. It lessened the impact because children saw one of their favorite characters bouncing around and cracking wise and it made radiation less scary. It related all the same myths of the mutagenic qualities of radiation in a child-friendly way, much in the same way the cartoon turtle told kids to duck and cover without scaring them half to death.

Public dread of radiation and anxiety over a nuclear attack were prominent aspects of the Cold War period, but they were not the only aspects. The conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union took on many real forms and has been represented in equally as many comic book manifestations. Some of these ways have been quite blatant, such as Iron Man venturing into East Germany to combat spies (Michelinie, Iron Man #152) or through Captain America’s many battles with the Red Skull. The Cold War ties in both these cases are hardly subtle and relate to the general overtones of the conflict, the basic “us versus them” mentality. However, comics were also influenced by the specific battles engendered by this mindset, most notably the Vietnam War. This too was represented directly in the origins of at least one character: Iron Man created his armor while held captive by the Vietcong (Michelinie, Iron Man #144).

In reality, though, the Vietnam War was not exclusively a violent struggle, but also a social and a political one. War protesters flooded streets and universities and the public became discontented with the government in light of its inability to end the war and in the wake of the Watergate scandal. As Howard Brick says, people began to see “in the administration of public affairs not the promise of reform but the practice of domination” (Brick, 131). The government became a wicked and violent thing to many Americans and this is epitomized in the character of Wolverine.

Wolverine made his first appearance in Incredible Hulk # 180 in 1974  and he quickly established himself as a symbol of government manipulation and interference. It is revealed that he is a former CIA agent forcibly subjected to a series of “brutal tests” (Sanderson, 136) to make him into a feral killing machine. The message here is of course obvious. It exhibited the burgeoning suspicion of the government, the distrust and cynicism that people, especially the young teenage comic book audience, had developed. Wolverine was no Captain America, nor was he a Red Skull. He was just a simple soldier in service to his country, who is used, abused and discarded by the government he fought to uphold.

Add to that that Wolverine was a mutant, Marvel comics’ very own minority class, and one has a greater example of oppression and marginalization. Mutants, in the Marvel Universe, are the amalgamation of nearly every minority group. They are black, they are women and they are gay. Even though most mutants tend to be straight white males, they are supposed to represent the plight of any and all underclasses. One could debate the merits and the deficits of this allegory ad infinitum, but all that is currently relevant is that mutants are intended to be the minority of the comic book world. With this in mind, then, Wolverine also becomes a symbol of marginalization, a point that is emphasized by his emergence in the era of the Civil Rights movements that championed the cause of oppressed minorities. The X-Men are widely held as the civil rights group of the comic book world and Wolverine is then the symbol of the impact of the various racist policies that the American government has embraced over the centuries -- from slavery to internment camps to segregation -- a symbol that becomes especially profound in a time when the public is opening its eyes to the reality of inequality.

Another important facet of the Soviet conflict was the space race of the sixties. While this did not result in a direct translation to the comic book universe, an impact could still be detected in the prevalence of space, aliens and foreign worlds in comics and even other media. A focus on space and space travel could be seen in other forms of fiction during the space race period and in subsequent decades. The sixties saw the birth of Star Trek and the seventies saw the creation of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, both of which continued on into the eighties when a new Star Trek series began. In fact, nothing sets the tone of the era better than Star Trek's memorable opening:

The comic book relationship with space travel was very similar to these franchises in that it did not specifically discuss the space race or mankind’s attempts to escape Earth’s atmosphere, but rather skipped ahead to a point where space travel is automatically possible and it and alien worlds are just a common part of the everyday superhero lifestyle, even with certain comic lines where the presence of aliens did not make a lot of sense.

The most notable of the galaxy hopping superheroes was the Fantastic Four. They also had the closest direct tie to the space race, as their origin actually involved them piloting a ship out of the atmosphere and, as stated earlier, being mutated by cosmic rays. Beyond their origins, though, the Fantastic Four have traveled the galaxy battling Galactus, the Silver Surfer, the Kree, the Skrull and any number of other alien races. So, their connection with extraterrestrial stories was well-established, yet they were not the only alien-centric superheroes. Another notable alien-based comic line was the Green Lantern, himself powered by alien technology, and more significantly the spin-off series Tales of the Green Lantern Corp, which was published under the normal Green Lantern title, though it did not include the usual human protagonist. Rather, it focused on alien Green Lanterns elsewhere in the galaxy. These stories often discussed very peculiar forms of alien life that do not fit into a standard humanoid concept. These include “a super intelligent smallpox virus… an abstract mathematical progression” and even a sentient planet (Moore, Green Lantern #188).

Where the influence of the era becomes most noticeable, though, is in the comic lines where aliens are squeezed into places they do not belong. Take, for example, Iron Man. His arch-nemesis, the Mandarin used as his primary weapons a series of rings he devised from pilfered alien technology (O’Neil, Iron Man #181). Iron Man even had a special interstellar armor (Michelinie, Iron Man #142) that permitted space travel without a rocket.

Better examples of this out-of-place alien invasion rest with Spider-Man and the X-Men. In the mid-eighties, while the space race was over but the interest in space travel was still present, Spider-Man accidentally bonded with a parasitic alien symbiote (Shooter, Secret Wars #8) that would eventually lead to the creation of several alien-based enemies, including Venom and Carnage (DeFalco, 108, 120, 126). While these events may have occurred a bit late to be considered part of a space race representation, they can be seen as part of a cultural trend that gained momentum during that period.

However, this is not Spider-Man’s only alien connection. His frequent enemy Mysterio, who first appears in 1964, enjoyed playing the role of an alien invader (Bernardo). He even took credit for what was perceived as an early alien attack on Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #2 (DeFalco, 52).

The best example of unnecessary alien presence, though, is with the X-Men. The X-Men are uncommon for superheroes in that their villains require no explanation for how they obtain their powers. They are simply mutants. This is an element that one imagines would remove a great deal of the burden from the writers because villains no longer need an origin story. The reason Magneto can manipulate metal is the same reason Mystique can assume different forms. It is nice and easy. The X-Men live in a world where any random person on the street can be the next big supervillain. In spite of this, the X-Men often come into direct conflict with alien races including the Phalanx, the Brood and Mojo. In fact, many of these encounters have laid the groundwork for some of the most seminal events in X-Men history. One of the earliest examples was in a flashback that explained how Xavier was crippled by an alien named Lucifer (Sanderson, 17).

The most significant of these events, however, occurs in the seventies with the introduction of the Shi’ar, humanoid aliens descended from birds, and the Phoenix. In this story, the X-Men are enlisted to save the galaxy from an evil emperor and enlist the aid of the primal alien Phoenix, which possesses and ultimately corrupts Jean Grey, one of the original team (Sanderson, 73, 88). This story was far and away from anything previously featured in X-Men comics. Prior to this, the brief skirmishes the X-Men have had with aliens occurred on Earth, not out in a distant part of the galaxy. It further emphasizes this point of misplaced alien encounters. The X-Men have no business fighting aliens; with a world full of mutant supervillains, they have no need for it. Yet still, they flew out into space -- which is again remarkably easy for comic book characters -- and fought intergalactic evil. These jarring steps away from a comic’s premise emphasize this cultural fascination with the mysteries of space at a time when space travel was not just scientifically interesting, but patriotically necessary because the space race made it part of the Cold War.

In the eighties, though this space fascination continued, the Cold War was dwindling down and the end of the decade would see its symbolic resolution with the fall of the Berlin Wall. This decade also witnessed the transition of comic books into darker, grittier, edgier stories that often focused more on realistic crime fighting, rather than the flamboyant spectacles for which comics are renowned. Comics of this period and in following years told moralistic tales of gun violence (McGreggor), drug abuse (Lee, Amazing Spider-Man 96-8), alcoholism (O’Neil, Iron Man #182), mental health (Moench, Moon Knight #10) and incest, rape and pedophilia (Moore, Vigilante #17,18). However, as the world was moving on and many comics were re-shifting their focus, there were two in particular that opted to take a retrospective look at the Cold War through the lens of this grittier, realistic mindset. These stories were Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

These two graphic novels are uniquely interesting because they are about almost exactly the same thing, but were written independently of each other and both published in 1986. In fact, the most significant difference between them is that Moore uses a selection of heroes of his own devising -- though they are based on oft forgotten Golden Age characters -- and Miller uses DC Comics’ classic retinue of heroes. This is a singular coincidence that lends credence to the perspective each story espouses. Each one of these stories relates an altered Cold War, a more cynical one where the bombs fly and the superheroes are powerless to stop them. Each one deconstructs the notion of the superhero that has been built up over the previous decades. Both stories paint a bleak picture of what could have happened and what could still happen if figures of authority are left unquestioned.

Beginning with The Dark Knight Returns, Batman is one of the few superheroes who had remained relatively unchanged over the years. Since his introduction in 1939 (Kane, Detective Comic #27), Batman’s origins, methods and intentions have varied little in respect to the massive cultural shifts his line has endured. In fact, one of the only major alterations in Batman comics occurred early on in 1940 with the introduction of Robin (Kane, Detective Comics #38) and the comic line’s official transition into a child-friendly series. Forty-five years later, Frank Miller has turned Batman into a manic sociopath spurred back into action after several years of retirement by visions of a giant bat at his window. Batman’s depiction in the story is hardly the important aspect though. In fact, the interesting thing about The Dark Knight Returns is that it can hardly be considered a Batman story at all, but rather the story of the fall of the Superhero Age of which Batman is a part. 

Much of the tension of the story is tied to the political differences of Batman and Superman and how the United States government forced all superheroes into retirement, due in large part to the violence of Batman’s crusade, as he is the one “who played it rough” (Miller). Batman, however, views Superman as naïve, as ignorant of the events in which he is involved, as only Batman “keeps track of these things” (Miller). What is presented here then is a divide between two types of authority figure. There is Batman, who is knowledgeable of global events, but acts only on the small scale. He knows of the new form of nuclear missile called the coldbringer but does nothing about it, preferring to focus on the street crime of Gotham City and only Gotham City. Meanwhile, there is Superman who does whatever he can to protect the world on a global scale, but does not understand the true severity of his situation. In the end, neither is terribly successful. Superman’s blundering through battlefields instigates the Russians into launching a coldbringer and he cannot stop it. He does successfully divert it from a direct impact, but a shockwave is sent that bathes much of the United States, including Gotham, in flames. Batman then manages to organize the city’s rescue and recovery efforts, but again this occurs only in Gotham. In the end, neither leader, neither political philosophy is correct. With Batman’s knowledge and Superman’s power, the incident could have been avoided altogether. This can be seen as, amongst other things, a condemnation of the divisive nature of the American political system. Two parties always battling against each other when they could be cooperating for the improvement of the country’s welfare is reduced to Batman versus Superman. In the end, there are no villains, just unsurpassable differences of opinion.

Watchmen has many similar story elements, including a governmental act to ban superheroes and a violent climax to the Cold War that came about due to the presence of superheroes. Unlike The Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen does not take place during a specific locus in history, but rather jumps around to World War II, Vietnam and most other points in the twentieth century, though the history has changed somewhat. For example, Nixon is re-elected several times and the American war effort during the Cold War rests entirely in the hands of a superhero named Dr. Manhattan -- an obvious reference to the Manhattan Project. When Dr. Manhattan flees public persecution, the Americans are left defenseless and the Russians go on the march, leading ever closer to nuclear annihilation. Unlike Miller’s story, though, the nuclear attack never occurs because of the superhero Ozymandius. In his own megalomaniacal way, he managed to save the world and end the Cold War by destroying a sizable section of New York City. By staging a fake alien attack, he managed to unite the Americans and Soviets against a common foe.

Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns portray a different kind of superhero: the ineffectual kind. In Miller’s book, Batman and Superman are too caught up in their personal “holy [crusades]”(Miller) to perceive the real threat. The word “real” here is emphasized because that is what it represents: the inability of the fictive heroes to have any impact on the real world. Batman fights and defeats Two-Face, the Mutant Leader and the Joker and Superman fights Batman, but neither of them can stop that missile because in the real world, in the real Cold War, there is no Joker, only that missile and there is no Superman to catch it.

In Watchmen, the American government places all its faith in Dr. Manhattan, but his own insecurities ultimately make him unreliable. Ozymandius saves the world through an implausible scenario involving aliens, which as mentioned earlier have become a comic book staple even in places where they do not belong. This shows the comic book world stepping in to save the real world, but proving ill equipped for the task.

These stories are unique in that the superheroes deal directly with the Cold War, whereas previous comic book incarnations of the conflict have been merely implications. Spider-Man never went toe-to-toe with Stalin; he was simply created by the radiation from Cold War scientific research. Because of this, the Silver Age heroes could always appear heroic; they fought fictional threats against which they could prevail. Miller and Moore proffered a sort of thought experiment: what if the old superheroes did face the real world threats? The results are resoundingly negative. What is the point of this interpretation then? Why ask a question about something that could never occur? The answer could lie in the answer to an earlier question.

Consider the second possibility for the radioactive superheroes: that they exist as a means of relating the radiation myths to juvenile audiences. The superheroes are radioactive so that children could learn of the mutagenic properties of radiation without being overly scared. They then get childhood symbols of supermen who can do anything and defeat any threat to carry with them, parables to turn to for comfort and support in grim times. Then, twenty years later, they have grown up and Alan Moore and Frank Miller tell them new stories of those grim times, realistic stories depicting their heroes with previously unnoticed flaws. As children, comics told people that everything would be okay, that someone would always be there to make things right. As adults, comics say that that is not how the world works. The comics of the sixties told children to be children. The comics of the eighties told them it is time to grow up.

The Cold War lasted for a significant portion of the twentieth century and has fundamentally influenced the development of comic books. In a way, the two grew up together. Superheroes fought their supervillains all while America fought the Soviet Union. While scientists made radiological bombs, writers made radiological heroes. The research that threatened to destroy the real world gave hope and salvation to the fantasy; and it is just that: a fantasy. The comic book Silver Age is one of science-fiction, but it is still very much a fantasy, a daydream. This is the captivating power of any fiction: that it enthralls us and binds us into a world of imagination that becomes whatever we wish it to be. The comic book world is a world where men can fly, where the nuclear holocaust that haunted people everyday is transformed into the means to raise normal men to the level of supermen, where oppressive governments can be rebelled against, where space travel is not a struggle but a simple part of daily life and where good and evil really are simple dichotomies and evil can always be vanquished by the proper application of kicks to the head. This is the Silver Age of comics, the fantasy that Moore and Miller expose. Miller’s Superman could not simply defeat the Soviet Union by beating up their forces. Moore’s all-powerful Dr. Manhattan could not simply will the war to end and brilliant Ozymandius could only conceive of mass murder. Theirs is a world where might does not make right, where radiation is a weapon not the means to ascension, where the government cannot be resisted, where space travel and the potential of alien life are just political tools and where superheroes do not belong. Theirs is the real world in comic book form, a world where supermen are lowered to the level of normal men. Theirs is a grown-up fiction, the world of the mature comic book.

http://www.anders-fischer.net/essays/cold-war-caped-crusaders/

Barnardo, Mark and Peter Sanderson and Bob Budiansky. Spider-Man Unmasked. New York: Marvel Comics, 1996.

Brick, Howard. Age of Contradiction. Ithaca, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1998.

Conway, Gerry. The Amazing Spider-Man 121-2: The Night Gwen Stacy Died Parts 1 and 2. New York: Marvel Comics, June-July 1973.

DeFalco, Tom. Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide. Ed. Jon Richards. New York: DK Publishing, 2001.

“Duck and Cover.” “Duck and Cover”. April 13, 2006. November 19, 2007.
 < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4s7TETtJA>

Gresh, Lois and Robert Weinberg. The Science of Superheroes. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2002.

Kane, Bob. “Detective Comics #27: The Case of the Chemical Syndicate”. Batman Archives Volume 1. New York: DC Comics, 1990.

Kane, Bob. “Detective Comics #38”. Batman Archives Volume 1. New York: DC Comics, 1990.

Lee, Stan. The Amazing Spider-Man #96-8. New York: Marvel Comics, 1971.

Lee, Stan. Daredevil #1. New York: Marvel Comics, April 1964.

Lee, Stan. Fantastic Four #7: The Final Victory of Dr. Doom. New York: Marvel Comics, November 1961.

Lee, Stan. Fantastic Four #77: Shall Earth Endure?. New York: Marvel Comics, August 1968.

Lee, Stan and Steve Ditko. Marvel Tales Featuring Spider-Man #137: Amazing Fantasy #15 Reprint. New York: Marvel Comics, March 1982.

Loeb, Jeph. Hulk Grey. New York: Marvel Comics, 2005.

McGreggor, Don. Spider-Man #27: Something About a Gun…. New York: Marvel Comics, October 1992.

Michelinie, David. Iron Man #142: Sky Die. New York: Marvel Comics, January 1981.

Michelinie, David. Iron Man #144: Apocalypse Then. New York: Marvel Comics, March 1981.

Michelinie, David. Iron Man #152: Escape From Heaven’s Hand. New York: Marvel Comics, November 1981.

Miller, Frank. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York: DC Comics, 1986.

Moench, Doug. “Moon Knight #10: Too Many Midnights”. Essential Moon Knight Volume 1. Ed. Mark D. Beazley. New York: Marvel Comics, 2006.

Moore, Alan. “Green Lantern #188: Mogo Doesn’t Socialize”. DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. Ed. Dan DiDio. New York: DC Comics, 2006.

Moore, Alan. “Vigilante #17-8: Father’s Day Parts One and Two”. DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore. Ed. Dan DiDio. New York: DC Comics, 2006.

Moore, Alan. Watchmen. New York: DC Comics, 1986.

O’Neil, Denny. Iron Man #181: Though My Life Be Forfeit…. New York: Marvel 
Comics, April 1984.

O’Neil, Denny. Iron Man #182: Deliverance. New York: Marvel Comics, May 1984.

Sanderson, Peter. Ultimate X-Men. Ed. Jon Richards. New York: DK Publishing, 2000.

Shooter, Jim. Secret Wars #8: Invasion. New York: Marvel Comics, December 1984.

Shooter, Jim. Secret Wars #12: Nothing to Fear. New York: Marvel Comics, April 1985.

Pictures: 

"Captain America vs. the Red Skull"
Marvel Masterpieces Trading Card Collection. Cards: 73-4. 1996.

“Spider-Man’s Origin”
Amazing Fantasy #15. Art by Steve Ditko. 1962.

“Hulk: Man or Monster?”
The Incredible Hulk #1. Art by Steve Ditko and Paul Reinman. 1962.

“Gwen Stacy’s Death”
Cover of the Death of Gwen Stacy trade paperback compilation of Amazing Spider-Man #121-2.

“Iron Man vs. the Mandarin”
Cover of Tales of Suspense #50. 1964.

“Superman.”
Cover of Action Comics #1. 1938.

“Spider-Man’s Alien Costume.”
Cover of Secret Wars #8. 1984.

“The Phoenix”
Back cover to Classic X-Men #8. Art by John Bolton. 1987.

(Everything else came from either The Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen. See above list for details.)

http://www.anders-fischer.net/essays/cold-war-caped-crusaders/