The Bush Administration's plan for fighting terrorism: Superheros

The Secretary of Defense announced the newest weapon in the war on terror in an appearance with Spiderman and Captain America in the Pentagon basement yesterday. Marvel Comics is producing a special "support our troops" comic book that will be distributed to U.S. troops overseas.

"Pure escapism," says Robert Sabouni, a Marvel executive. "A touch of home," said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense. The story opens with some soldiers who stumble on a UFO-looking ship and call for help. Iron Man and Mr. Fantastic, the two scientist-superheroes, show up. They pry open the ship to find hostile aliens inside, and then KOOM! THWIP! etc.

A man dressed in a Spider-Man costume gamely squatted and did that web-squirt thing with his hands dozens of times to pose for photographs, while the Captain America look-alike flexed his muscles and kept his expression deadly earnest. At some point Rumsfeld too did a little muscle flex for the cameras, only he couldn't keep a straight face.
Are they saying these guys weren't the real deal? I guess I did expect spiderman's suit to be made out of something that offers a little more protection from evil villans than polyester.

Are they saying that these guys aren't the real deal? I guess I did expect Spiderman's suit to be made out of something that offers a little more protection against evil supervillans than polyester.

Original WashingtonPost.com Article