brevoortformspring:

You don’t have to post this publicly. This is meant just for you.

Do you want to know, what disappoints me, Tom? The fact that you choose to ignore questions from a certain group of fans. A big group of fans.

I’ll use the question if Thor can lift the Earth as an example. That is a question you didn’t bother answering properly. You instead gave a snarky answer. And you have all the rights in the world to do that. Everyone should be thankful, that you answer fan questions at all. Very often you also provide good answers.
It still stings a little bit, since when someone asks you such a question and sees it again in your Tumblr feed, that person is probably excited about the answer and then… there is the harsh reality of Tom Brevoort mocking that person.

Sometimes it feels like you don’t really understand, what you are to some of us. To some of us you’re not Tom Brevoort. You’re Marvel. To us it feels like you’re one of the highest authorities in Marvel and when a Marvel spokesman like you, says that Thor can probably lift the Earth, then that becomes a definite answer. That gives us the proof, that Marvel views Thor as capable of lifting the Earth, if the story demands it. I know that a lot can happen, if the story demands it, but no one would ever ask you if Spider-Man can lift the Earth. We just ask questions, we can’t quite figure out the answers to.

Let me describe you the thoughts I sometimes have, when I read your Tumblr feed:
Oh nice, Tom has answered new questions! Let’s see… There is someone complaining about muslims, I guess? No to black Johnny Storm, aha… Tom handled it quite nicely. Ha, Spider-Gwen seems to be doing well, that’s nice. Oh, someone wants to know if Blue Marvel could destroy the Earth, if he went rogue. That’s interesting. Oh no, nevermind, Tom mocked the inquirer and moved on. A pity.

I would prefer if you didn’t answer such questions at all, if you’re not willing to share your vast character / story knowledge and your own, personal opinions and deep insight with us.

Sometimes your Tumblr feed is a real downer. You rather school people, who complain that Ms. Marvel is muslim for the sake of it, than answer a passionate fan’s questions, who would like to know if Ms. Marvel could shapeshift into a building, if she had to. You rather call people about for complaining that Iceman is homosexual, than answer a passionate fan’s questions, who would like to know if Iceman could freeze the Human Torch, if he had to.
The majority of us read comics, because they feature worlds and beings we want to know more of. And you choose to ignore the majority of these questions. It a pity.

First off, I’m sorry that you feel that way. That said, I can tell you of a certainty that absolutely nobody’s mind would be changed by me saying yes or no to whether Thor can lift the Earth. What would happen is that a few people would come out to emphatically argue their belief if it differed from mine. I’m sorry, but I cannot be all things to all people. There are over 17,000 questions queued up right now, and that’s atop however many questions I’ve already answered here. So sure, not every question is going to be answered. I answer the questions that interest me, the ones I have an actual answer for, and the ones that amuse me. I suspect that if people approached this forum with a little bit less seriousness, they might enjoy it more. I’m not looking to mock anyone (except maybe the bigots, or those folks who are abusively self-entitled) but I’m also not running a sober and scholarly page here. This to me us closer to a convention panel. And I’ll almost always go for a cheap joke. I think I talk to you a lot, more than any other two editors you could name. But I’m gonna say what I’m gonna say, sorry.

I think that a lot of people assume that questions about what specific characters are capable of or could do have specific defined answers. Like there’s a book somewhere in the Marvel offices that defines every hypothetical interaction between character powers and the specific limits of all of them, and that Tom either has that book memorized or easily at hand. Could Ms. Marvel shapeshift into a building? It’s undefined. That question literally has no answer. Until the comics specify whether she can turn into a building or not, it’s an open question. I’m sure there’s bibles and stuff that define the general limits of things, but for the most part, the precise limits of powers are story-determined. If it’s never happened in a book, there is no answer to “can Iceman freeze the Human Torch?” You’re asking Tom to basically make up an answer, and an answer that barely really matters, since if the question of Iceman freezing the Human Torch ever came up in comics, it’s not like they’d hold a blog response as meaningful precedent.

Tom didn’t answer the “Can Thor lift the Earth?” question “properly” because it’s not a meaningful question. Stories aren’t written by throwing Thor into a situation where he needs to lift the Earth, then checking the internal Thor records to see if he or she can do it or not. If Thor really needs to lift the Earth for the sake of a story, Thor can maybe lift the Earth. If Thor needs to not be able to lift the Earth for the sake of a story, Thor cannot lift the Earth. There’s general boundaries, of course. You don’t write a story where Pyro has to lift the Earth because we know that Pyro cannot lift the Earth. But anything that’s ambiguous enough that you’d ask about it is probably something that doesn’t actually have a specific, definitive answer. Thor is extraordinarily strong. Thor can do things that require extraordinary strength. Thor is not infinitely strong. There are some things that are beyond even Thor’s strength. As long as Thor is portrayed as being extremely strong, that’s consistent with who Thor is. It’s not important that there be a precise weight limit that Thor can lift. (Which isn’t how strength works anyway.)

And heck, because of the way that comics work, it’s perfectly reasonable for Iceman to freeze the Human Torch one week and be unable to do so the next week. Maybe one or the other just cares more in different instances, or is tired or something. It’s like how Spider-Man can’t casually lift the greatest amount of weight he’s ever lifted.

People who read Tom’s blog will note that in places where there is significant textual support for answers to “can X do Y?” questions, he frequently gives the answer. But a lot of battleboard-y questions don’t get good answers because they don’t have good answers.