The Cancer Plot

The Cancer Plot examines the prevalence of cancer in Marvel comics. Reginald Wiebe and Dorothy Woodman engage literature in comics studies, the medical humanities, and graphic medicine to explore representations of this disease in Marvel, focusing on four character case studies: Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, Thor, and Deadpool. Cancer, the authors argue, thematically destabilizes moral binaries and symbolizes that which cannot be overcome within a genre replete with magic, mutants, and multiverses. Further, Wiebe and Woodman draw from gender theory, disability studies, and cultural theory to demonstrate how representations of cancer in comics enables an examination of power and responsibility, key terms in Marvel's superhero universe. As the only full-length study on cancer in the Marvel universe, The Cancer Plot is an appealing and original work that will be of interest to scholars across the humanities, particularly those working in the health humanities, cultural theory, and literature, as well as avid comics readers.