Marvel Comics is getting an unsolicited — and likely unwanted — tie-in to current events featuring the fictional terrorist group Hydra.
Superhero fans reading Marvel’s “Captain America” are familiar with an industry event called “Secret Empire.” The tale features an altered reality where Captain America has always been a member of Hydra, a terror group with historical ties to Nazis during World War II. Readers searching the internet for the villainous group may now find themselves at the official White House website, thanks to the unidentified person who owns the domain name “hail-hydra.com.”
“It’s unknown who set up the redirect, but the URL was originally registered back in 2014 by someone in the Australian town of Nobby Beach, Queensland,” the entertainment website The Hollywood Reporter said Thursday. “The redirect would appear to have been set up in the middle of last month, with the last update to the site showing as April 16 — far in advance of recent political upheaval that only underscores the popular conspiracy theory that President Trump is attempting to obstruct investigations into potential ties to Russia by firing FBI Director James Comey.”
The news is likely to rankle conservative comic book fans who have accused writer Nick Spencer of inserting partisan politics into his books.
The scribe has used his social media account to regularly criticize Mr. Trump and the Republican Party.
“Stop believing in the myth of the good Republican,” he told one fan on May 22, 2016.
While Marvel is not affiliated with hail-hydra.com, it is planning its own “Hydra Takeover” of websites beginning in June.
“This [promotional campaign] includes many popular websites, some Marvel apps & sites, and even brick and mortar retail locations, as well as online retailers and sales outlets,” Marvel Comics’ Senior Vice President of Print, Sales and Marketing David Gabriel, told Newsarama on March 24.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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