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Posted On: September 2nd 2007
Posted By: Adam Coozer
Source: New Scientist |
Um.. these scientists know that the Marvel universe is fictional, right?
Why superheroes always win
PITY the villains of the Marvel comics - they never had a chance against superheroes like Spider-Man. An analysis of the social webs within the fictional Marvel universe reveals that villains were banished to the periphery of society, while the superheroes were well connected.
Physicist Pablo Gleiser of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research in Buenos Aires, Argentina, studied the social web within the fictional universe of Marvel comics, comprising 6486 characters in 12,942 issues. Taking two characters to be linked if they appeared in the same issue, he found a superficially realistic social network. A small fraction of characters - notably the superheroes themselves - had far more links than most others, acting as key social hubs. "The Marvel universe looks almost like a real social network," says Gleiser.
However, even prominent arch-villains always played marginal social roles at the periphery of the network, says Gleiser. He suggests that this may reflect the restrictions on comic writers laid down by the rules of the Comics Magazine Association of America. One reads: "Criminals shall not be presented so as to be rendered glamorous or to occupy a position which creates the desire for emulation."
No wonder the superheroes always win.
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