Who appointed Norman Osborn?

[TotalWorldDomination]

This argument has been circulating a while now, due to the ending of Secret Invasion and the upcoming arc in Thunderbolts- Who appointed Norman Osborn the head of SHIELD? Was it George Bush or Barack Obama? SI clearly shows the president having a black male hand and yet Diggle has indicated that the incoming president is concerned about the power given to Osborn by his precessor (though that could mean with the thunderbolts, not with SHIELD or HAMMER).

So, final word, who was it?

[Ex_]

Who cares? Honestly.

[dademan]

Pretty much. It doesn't really matter, story-wise.

[Shellhead]

Bendis appointed Osborn.

[Nefarius]

Bendis appointed Osborn.

It's true.It's damn true.

[Shyft]

i think a scan of the offending "mis-coloured" hand is required so people can judge properly.

I chose Bush, because i remember reading it and thinking the hand didnt look very brown at all. I know Obama is quite light-skinned, but that hand still didnt look even close to his skin tone.

[Pugfugly]

Stephen Colbert. He was very tan from a recent trip to his villa in the Cayman Islands.

[Sijo]

Which President did it is moot because it will be topical in a few years anyway.

Better questions are:

Since when does the US President have the authority to appoint the leader of an INTERNATIONAL Agency? Wasn't SHIELD under the United Nations control?

And even more important: If Osborn is known to have been the Green Goblin- if he was under the control of Stark's nanites- if he was FRAMED OF TERRORISM (by Stark himself, apparently) HOW THE HELL DOES HE GET TO BE PUT IN CONTROL OF ANYTHING? :confused:

[XPac]

Which President did it is moot because it will be topical in a few years anyway.

Better questions are:

Since when does the US President have the authority to appoint the leader of an INTERNATIONAL Agency? Wasn't SHIELD under the United Nations control?

And even more important: If Osborn is known to have been the Green Goblin- if he was under the control of Stark's nanites- if he was FRAMED OF TERRORISM (by Stark himself, apparently) HOW THE HELL DOES HE GET TO BE PUT IN CONTROL OF ANYTHING? :confused:

SHIELD is international... but that said, if the US simply decided to stop funding SHIELD, SHIELD would be done with. No other nation on earth can afford to fund SHIELD, especially now that it's entire infastructure likely fell apart due to Stark Tech failing.

But your second point is certainly true... justifying Norman getting the position he has now probably requires a good deal of suspension of belief.

[mosdef]

i think a scan of the offending "mis-coloured" hand is required so people can judge properly.

I chose Bush, because i remember reading it and thinking the hand didnt look very brown at all. I know Obama is quite light-skinned, but that hand still didnt look even close to his skin tone.

Here's the hand.

http://i39.tinypic.com/ljjvs.jpg

[artiepants]

The hand was pretty obviously meant to be Barry O (or a color error), but without a face you really can't say, and the stories coming up make it pretty definitively Georgey...

[XPac]

The hand was pretty obviously meant to be Barry O (or a color error), but without a face you really can't say, and the stories coming up make it pretty definitively Georgey...

I think the fact that they just showed a hand means they meant to have whoever won the election be the guy giving the position to Osborn.

It it were meant to be Bush, they'd simply show Bush. But they likely had to write and draw this long before they knew who would win... so they probably just drew a hand and allowed coloring to make the call at the last minute after the election results.

So I'm assuming it's suppossed to be Obama... though if future writers want to tewak that, there's room.

[mdg1]

Here's another question...

If it wasn't Obama, and he doesn't like Osborn in the role, why can't he just replace him? All month I've been hearing about the new president's appointments to various Cabinet-level/leadership positions. Why would the head of HAMMER be sacrosanct?

[americocaine]

It was John Stewart channeling Avery Brooks as the Green Lantern himself!

[JdRavnos]

Here's another question...

If it wasn't Obama, and he doesn't like Osborn in the role, why can't he just replace him? All month I've been hearing about the new president's appointments to various Cabinet-level/leadership positions. Why would the head of HAMMER be sacrosanct?

Marvel's building up Norman to be America's #1 hero after his role in SI. His team was one of the few not compromised by Skrulls, his equipment wasn't effected by the Skrull virus, and he got the kill shot on the queen. Firing him without a good reason could be a disasterous political move for Barack (that sounds so weird when we're talking about Barack Obama firing the Green Goblin, yeesh).

[psm]

I think the fact that they just showed a hand means they meant to have whoever won the election be the guy giving the position to Osborn.

It it were meant to be Bush, they'd simply show Bush. But they likely had to write and draw this long before they knew who would win... so they probably just drew a hand and allowed coloring to make the call at the last minute after the election results.

So I'm assuming it's supposed to be Obama... though if future writers want to tewak that, there's room.

Which is kinda weird. Regardless of who was going to win the election, they still wouldn't have taken office until after Secret Invasion was released. Maybe Marvel wasn't as confident on the shipping dates as they wanted to be which I really can't fault them for.

[Sandy Hausler]

Here's the hand.

http://i39.tinypic.com/ljjvs.jpg

Well, another piece of evidence that SHIELD is not run by the UN. The Fifty State Initiative and Thunderbolots (and I think the Avengers, but that might have changed) are US things. And America is not putting its super heroes under UN control.

I don't know why anyone (XPac, for one) still thinks SHIELD is under the UN. I assume there are stories going both ways, but logic suggests that it's an American intel organization.

Sandy Hausler

[How 'Bout This Heat]

This is just part Obama's 'team of rivals'


Word has it Apocalypse will head the department of education.

[Joe Acro]

Either. Both. Some future President. Remember, Marvel has a sliding timescale. So, ten years from now, whomever was in office at the time of Secret Invasion will have changed and, potentially, be neither of the options currently presented.

[Scavenger]

Andy Diggle:
AD: At the end of Secret Invasion, the outgoing President gave Norman control of both the Thunderbolts and Avengers franchises.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/120817-Diggle-ThunderboltsB.htm

As far as the guy writing the Normon Osborne book goes, it was Bush.