To make sense of their moral expectations, ancient Greek society created a rich conduct canon of mythology. To make sense of our own, we turn to another complex, fictional cosmos: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Within each genre lies hypermasculine heroes and hypersexualized heroines, lecherous villains and supreme leaders, violent brutality and just retribution. Reaching beyond blatant expressions of “good” and “evil”, Greek Mythology often portrays its divinity as morally ambiguous anti-heroes. While remaining in this vein of inconsistencies in virtue, the Marvel Cinematic Universe separates itself from classical mythology with its rigidly divided characters that may display immoral behaviors, yet ultimately are clearly classified as heroes, …show more content…
Harris and Gloria Platzner, the ancient Greeks viewed their mythology as “socially useful” in its reflection of the “community’s values and worldview” (14), as it functioned as a set of moral guidelines for our ancient brethren. By studying the conduct tales found in works such as Hesiod’s Theogony—a text illuminating the genealogy and origin stories of the Greek divine catalogue—members of Greek society could learn from the sublime achievements and terrible errors of their Gods. And to our great intrigue, it appears that even almighty Zeus, the “king of the gods” (3), “the god of gods, who rules according to law” (118), is capable of committing nefarious acts such as brutal torture, deception, violence, rape, and infidelity against his fellow Olympians. His immoral actions are often done in response to other deity’s attempts to defy his will or usurp his power, as seen in Zeus’ harshly unbridled retribution towards Prometheus—the Titan who stole the sacred flame from Olympus for humanity, and as punishment, was chained to a mountain peak and mutilated (95-96). While Theogony presents Zeus’ response as just, a tension arises from the Prometheus myth, as we cannot help but view the rebellious Titan as our “savior figure” (121), who rescued humanity from eternal darkness and the wrath of Zeus. Prometheus’ crime does not warrant the agony Zeus forces upon him, which casts the wise ruler of the cosmos in an unethical and rather ungodly