The Avengers and Philosophy: Earths Mightiest Thinkers by William Irwin

The Avengers and Philosophy: Earths Mightiest Thinkers Reviews

• 
  Cappy

  Like most essay collections, this one can be uneven, but it’s also a low bar of entry to both philosophy and the Avengers. And it can be quite fun to mix the high and low brow in this way.
• 
  Hina Ansari

  Pop culture and philosophy books are some of my favorite. As the editions have expanded, the quality has suffered. This was another causality. The book makes some valid attempts to pull ideas in and meld them with the various concepts of philosophy. At times, I checked out mentally while reading because the argument didn’t make sense or I’d already heard it many times before, in the same book. I often wonder if the book is ever edited. The more of these books I read, the more grammatical errors I come across. It completely throws the pacing of the essay off if I’m stopping at a sentence to try to figure out what isn’t right.
  
  Considering the number of Avengers that have been featured throughout the years, it was disappointing to see so many essays highlight Hawkeye so much and so little was said about so many other characters. There could have been a chapter for each super hero and that would have filled more pages with more variety. Another issue with the book was that it didn’t seem like the editor really spent time deciding what would fit well together. If a person had edited the book, solicited essays that fit into certain groupings, there might have been something new to be read in each chapter. I won’t say I didn’t learn anything, but I really only learned about Hawkeye.
  
  When I picked up the book, I expected to hear the contrast between the comics and the movies, but there was hardly a reference to the movies at all. The movies have made normally unknown characters mainstream, like Guardians of the Galaxy or even Ant-man. There are so many choices and yet the writers used the same examples over again. It was as if no one had read the book from cover to cover in one sitting, realizing that things were repetitive. In many ways this made it worse than the Terminator book. At least the Terminator book had less source material. There have to be thousands of comics published, TV shows, perhaps, and movies to choose from, yet the reader only learns about Hawkeye. If you’re a fan of the comics, you might like this. If you’re a casual Avengers fan, someone who only likes the movies/TV shows, don’t bother reading this book.
• 
  Ricardo Lane

  I always enjoyed the college classes where the professor was easy going and cool enough to entertain side discussions about how his field could be applied to more mundane interests. Not only did those discussions break up the monotony of daily lectures, they often helped build a more solid understanding of the subject because you could see how the theories really worked. This book reminds me a lot of those types of off-topic, yet fascinating, talks.
  
  The book is a collection of essays applying philosophy 101 to the various heroes of the Avengers. It should be noted that the Avengers in question are the comic book versions, not the movie ones, and I was duly impressed by how much detail and depth of story the essayists went into. These folks know their Avengers lore, and they aren't afraid to let their nerd flag fly as they discuss things like the three philosophical stances represented by Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America, whether Hank Pym can be held accountable for the destruction caused by his creation Ultron, or the if the Avengers had the moral right to participate in the Kree/Skrull War. More, I was also surprised at how current the information from the comics is. They reference storylines and events that aren't more than a few months to a year or so old. Discussions include information about the Dark Avengers, the Skrull Invasion, and the Avengers Academy, and all comics are scrupulously referenced in the footnotes at the end of each chapter.
  
  I know my comics, and I know the rudiments of philosophy. I was worried going in that this would be a simple glossing over of both. While I wouldn't say that they go in depth into the seven or eight schools of thought they cover, they apply them effectively to the subject in a way that makes the essays very entertaining. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay this work is that when I finished it, I was left pondering the validity of the ideas discussed. That's something I couldn't say about all my college classes.
• 
  Gav451

  I bought a new kindle and finally finished it. I find all of the '......... and Philosophy' books fun and interesting to read. There are always new ideas being discussed and I like the way they tie them in to popular franchises of film, TV and comics.
  
  I enjoyed the facts that the essays in this volume were based on the comics as there is a deeper and more varied range of material from them to choose from and I liked the fact we had a series of essays which made the book move more quickly.
  
  The was a pause in the reading of this is the dog we rescued from Romania decided to eat my last kindle when he arrived. I have now bought another but I am keeping it out of reach as much as I can.
  
  These books are good, well written and interesting and a door into many new philosophies. I like that.
• 
  Tracey

  I love this series of philosophy books and since I have spent countless hours in the past months discussing WandaVision and other Avenger-adjacent characters, I thought this would be interesting. It was. My favorite essays came out of the sections titled "What Would An Avenger Do?", "Do the Avengers Ever Go Too Far?", and "What Kind of World Do the Avengers Live In?" This would be a great way to teach younger people about meta ethics and older people about why comics and superhero movies/television are about a lot more than explosions and fighting "bad guys." This made me want to do a deep dive into more Marvel comics.
• 
  Jacob Thornburg

  This is my first completed book in the “...And Philosophy” series, and I quite liked it. It might have leaned a little hard on the 2006-2012 era of Avengers comics (my favorite stuff is Silver Age), but it’s still good. I’m no philosopher, but nothing felt too heavy for me. I would recommend to niche demographic of the casual philosophy reading comic book nerd.
• 
  Melvin Patterson

  As always, the content of this book, like others in the series, is entertaining. However, the narrator had an annoying penchant for mispronouncing names, concepts and other words he obviously didn't understand. It was a little distracting. But the content was good.
• 
  The_J

  Enjoyable with decent grasp of Avenger's lore, but perhaps just a bit fixated on Hawkeye
• 
  Brittany

  This collection of essays show a great deal of research both into the Avengers comics and philosophical ideas through history. It looks at the nature of forgiveness and reconciliation, how and why there was a dichotomy in civil war, how the types of love and belonging cause the Avengers to work together, even facing foes they can handle individually, and more. Some of the essays seem to be mostly recounting comics (such as the chapter on meta-comics), but overall I found it to have a nice balance of providing background information while adding new ideas and new perspectives on the content.
• 
  Courtney Malpass

  Mark D. White pulls together an impressive lineup of essayists to take on the Avengers and their philosophies. Consistency is demonstrated by referencing the same characters and themes from essay to essay. The authors also make use of both the original comics and the film franchise in order to ensure the reader, no matter the depth of their knowledge with Marvel, feels comfortable and engaged whilst reading this book. Accessible language, definitions of philosophical terminology, and extensive endnotes allow for scholarly academics and casual readers to meet on common ground. Yes, White did not include essays about all the characters that are part of the Avengers team, but what is included in this book sets up the potential for additional editions in the series.
  
  Despite the excellent work in assembling a collection of essays about the Avengers, there are a few things that might be a turn off for some readers. First, the characters of Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and Hank Pym are not necessarily the first that come to mind for most readers now when they think of the Avengers. Yes, these characters hold very important positions and influences in the comics themselves, but with the release of The Avengers (2012), the same year this book was published, there is a high chance the reader is more likely to want to read about Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.
  
  Second, the repetitive themes in each essay can be exhausting to continue reading after the first three essays. While repetition can provide consistency and a common thread, it can also cause the reader to lose interest as he/she has already read that idea/concept in the previous pages. Finally, as this book is part of an ongoing series, the other collections of essays that are published later — Iron Man and Philosophy and The Virtues of Captain America for example — can be more attractive to readers who are looking for a more singular focus and familiar character. No, it is not necessary to read these books in order, but if one were to read the books about superheroes, that information would simply repeat itself with the same characters and themes, with little chance of offering new perspectives and interpretations.
  
  Overall, I'm giving this book a 3-star rating. I liked it, but I wasn't entirely impressed by it. It may be because I already knew these characters well before picking up this book, or it could be the repetitive nature of some of these essays. If you're brand new to the superhero genre, and like having in-depth conversations about Marvel's characters, I would recommend reading this book.
• 
  Sarospice

  I like the Avengers and I like philosophy and I like most of this interesting read, but some themes were redundantly examined and every contributor had a big boner for Hawkeye. THERE ARE OTHER CHARACTERS! At least they stopped before Brian Michael Penis. Everyone is NOT an Avenger, and this book examines some themes why not.
• 
  Pedro

  Esta colección de ensayos filosóficos exploran distintos temas de manera muy reflexiva, pero en mi opinión con una endeble estructura que hace que el libro se sienta como poco cohesionado. Por ejemplo, en mi opinión, hay demasiados ensayos explorando las distintas implicaciones éticas de Hawkeye como miembro de los Avengers, dado que antes de serlo fue un criminal; o sobre Norman Osbourne como director de SHIELD y jefe de los Dark Avengers. Sien embargo, hay varios ensayos rescatables, como el que explorar la relación entre Vision y Scarlet Witch, la validez del superheroísmo proactivo, y mi favorito, la ética militar en la guerra Kree vs Skrull. En todo caso el libro no es muy largo así que se puede leer fácilmente, y sirva para identificar grandes eventos en la línea temporal de los Avengers y crossover comics. Me hubiese gustado un ensayo que discutiera a fondo la perspectiva ética de la invasión a Latveria en Secret Wars.
• 
  Joseph Santiago

  This book was great! Not only did it compare many areas of philosophy to events that characters did it illustrated the consequences of those events through the stories. This made a somewhat dry topic to be so much more approachable and fun. I read this for fun and enjoyed the selection chosen for philosophers as well as the matching done to create an extension of the Marvel universe through learning about these concepts. I love comics and this made the book a easy choice for me but I highly recommend it for a class or interest reading in the topical area of philosophy.
  
  Mr. Joe
• 
  Mike Vardy

  I didn't "not" enjoy this book, but it felt like a lot of empty calories.
  
  Sure, I learned some new things and found some connections between superhero mythos and philosophy but it wasn't something that I thought was groundbreaking in any way. I think I was just looking for more out of this book that I got.
  
  If you enjoy superheroes and you are a student of philosophy then I still encourage you to give this a read. It wasn't bad but it didn't resonate with me as much as I thought it would.
• 
  Ellie Dynek

  I've just started my junior year of college, and with all the super-hero movies coming out, I found that this was a really interesting book to check out. The various themes about Captain America, Hawkeye and Ant Man definitely provided some enlightenment about some of the biggest names in the Marvel universe. I would definitely recommend this book to any and all superhero fans :)
• 
  Barry Simiana

  Sorry, this one was a DNF. Look if spending a lot of time reading reasons why Marvel superheroes are the philosophers of our age, then this is the book for you. I read mostly for entertainment and relaxation, so a little deep and taxing for me. It's well thought out and written as essays and articles, but not my bag. Maybe when I have more time I'll come back to it.
• 
  Alejo

  Take the action out of an action oriented work and what do you get? Chapters 10 to 12 are worth a reading though, and the She Hulk chapter has to be read parallel to the Deadpool one in the X-men book
• 
  Sherrie

  This book was foisted upon me by Mr. Larry Phares...and he was totally right. It's a fascinating read. Each chapter deals with a different aspect of philosophy (and the Avengers) and some are better than others, but over all it was a fun read. Excuse me while I go read 50 comic books now.
• 
  Carina

  This was a really interesting read. I love that it taught me quite a bit about the Avengers universe, all the while educating me about the philosophy behind the characters. Awesome.
• 
  Ellen

  This is an excellent way to explore philosophy
• 
  Sherif Fahmy

  I really liked this book. I read it after reading "superheros and philosophy" and it was very enjoyable. As a fan of both Marvel Comics and philosophy, this book scored a home run with me.
• 
  Starfire

  A fun "good to while away a plane journey" read that got me thinking (which is ideal for a philosophy book)
• 
  Tim

  Great read. I wasn't careful enough though and ended up learning a lot.
• 
  Indah Threez Lestari

  79 - 2015