What is it about?
Following Eric Hayot’s argument that modernity is a theory of the world as the “universal,” I show how superhero comics activate the “world concept” through the global dissemination of the infinitely stretchable Marvel Universe. Operating in terms of a universe with moldable diegetic rules, the popular culture of MC and MCU does not merely reflect the current state of the world concept, but also affects its evolution and its spread. What Marvel Comics has done in recent decades, especially through the interplay with the film industry, is to show how the expansion of the world concept entails that however large we imagine the world to be, it is always already too small.
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Why is it important?
It offers a unique view on the importance of popular culture and in particular comics in world literature studies.
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This page is a summary of: “Marvel vs. World”, Journal of World Literature, July 2021, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/24056480-20210007.
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