Criminal Organizations of the Marvel Universe: The Maggia

The Marvel Universe is filled with criminals. It needs to be in order to keep the hundreds of existing Marvel heroes busy. Ranging from the petty purse snatcher, to the criminal mastermind, to the frothing madman, criminals abound in the Marvel comics universe.

There are so many that sometimes criminals decide to join together forming syndicates, gangs, and even worldwide terrorist organizations. I'd like to focus on some of these organizations and examine their structure and use of resources.

Let's start with the Maggia. The Maggia are the super-powered mafia of the of the Marvel Universe. Imagine Tony Soprano with an electric whip that spins really fast. Split into loosely connected criminal families, the Maggia controls lots of illicit activity in the Marvel universe including drug trafficking, robbery, and gambling. Most of the time, they keep a low profile and compete with the Kingpin to control illicit dealings in America. Most of the time.

On occasion, the leadership of the Maggia can cause the organization to hit a snag. Count Nefaria (Michael Corleone flying around wearing a cape acting like Al Pacino in "The Devil's Advocate") led his Maggia family to great fame and utter destruction by launching into bold (and ill-conceived) plans to hold the United States hostage.

His decidely hokey approach to organized crime (I don't believe I ever saw sentient animals in tights in the film Goodfellas) has resulted in continuous trouncings by Iron Man, the Avengers and the X-Men at the cost of great financial losses. His investments in radio controlled Ani-Men, super-powered henchmen, and weapons of mass destruction rarely returned the same financial windfalls achieved by other Maggia family leaders Silvermane and Hammerhead who used much more traditional means of gathering revenue. Never once did his grand schemes have their intended outcome. Instead he was blown-up, depowered, blown-up, incarcerated, and finally blown-up.

When his daughter Whitney Frost followed in his foot-steps as Madame Masque, she didn't have much better luck. She managed to maintain her Maggia family's stability slightly better than her father but still managed to get deposed, replaced as Madame Masque, incarcerated, shot a bunch of times, and apparently drowned. Currently, she is serving as super-human gang leader The Hood's fairly creepy consort/assassin. She started as a mafia leader and became a booty call for a man who constantly wears sneakers and wraps a blanket around his head.

Luckily, the Maggia is sub-divided into families, so the economic excesses of one branch do not necessarily affect the other. However, it's likely that the absurd behaviors of more public Maggia leaders will affect the popular perception of the rest of the organization. This makes the Maggia seem less threatening as a whole and may affect their ability to protect and maintain their criminal enterprises. After all, who wants to pay protection money to a man connected with a guy who uses a rotating whip?

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Superhero Decadence: Vanity

The world of the superhero is awash in eccentricity and excess. I suppose it's only natural to indulge in a little theatricality if your chosen profession is fighting evil in close-fitting costumes composed of spandex and leather. In spite of this it seems that, on occasion, a superhero can take things a wee bit too far.

This is especially true in the case of superhero vanity. It seems like the moment a superhero decides they will use their unique abilities and resources for the good of mankind, they then select a name and a symbol for themselves. And shortly afterwards, the superhero goes around plastering this name and symbol over everything they own. In some cases, it seems like the superheroes concerned are building a brand and increasing their own marketability by the manner in which they promote their heroic image.

Professor Xavier has "x"s all over his home and his students. Granted, these "x"s also refer to the "x-factor" in the genes of mutants, but I'm sure Xavier gets a certain degree of pleasure when he realizes that his last initial is emblazoned across Emma Frost's chest. Not to mention belts, guns, costumes, communicators, and an entire series of supersonic jets. The Fantastic Four use their special digit to stamp their flying car and (sometimes) even the building they live in.

The worst offender by far is Batman. Bruce Wayne created symbol of a dark knight defender whose mere presence would strike fear into the hearts of criminals. And then he integrated that symbol into every element of his crime-fighting arsenal. The bat-suit with its flowing cape and chest insignia letting you know just who you're dealing with. There's the batarang which can be thrown from long distances and left behind at a crime scene. The batmobile can be seen streaking through the night. Everything he uses is shaped like a bat. He even gave Commissioner Gordon a spot light marked with his symbol to shine in the night sky. The implicit purpose of all of this is to build the Batman mythos and give criminals the impression that he is everywhere. And though I still believe it to be incredibly arrogant to make everything you use shaped like bats, it's possible that doing so will deter criminals from engaging in illegal behavior by leaving behind these calling cards to show the consequences of committing crimes in Gotham City.

But then there's the Bat-plane.

Who even sees this vain aerodynamic monstrosity? Have you tried looking for a plane going Mach 3 while looking in between tall buildings? It's certainly not the most salient object in the night sky. And who exactly is deterred by a bat shaped airplane at 20,000 feet? Villainous 747 pilots and ill-tempered pigeons? No, the Bat-Plane is a sheer exercise in vanity. Any other shaped aircraft work just as well (or better) and would not require the needless expense of matching the design of a 6-million dollar vehicle to the little symbol you drew on your bat-chest. True, as a rich playboy, he's already the picture of excess, but why not buy a more maneuverable Apache helicopter from army surplus and use the leftover money to install more motion detectors and reinforced doors in Arkham Asylum?

So, regarding the Bat-plane, its utility is questionable but its ability to satisfy Bruce Wayne's personal bat fetish is undeniable.

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