In 1996, DC Comics launched a cross-over storyline called Contagion that ran through the entire Batman Family series. The storyline is strangely prescient: a deadly strain of Ebola, called the “Apocalypse Virus,” enters Gotham City. The inept mayor, Armand Krol, makes a series of bad decisions which lead to the rapid spread of the virus in Gotham City. Despite Batman’s many warnings, the city does not take the virus seriously until it is too late. Batman and his friends then have to find an antidote to rescue the city. After many twists and turns, the city gets saved but Mayor Krol gets infected and dies.
Gotham is a city characterised by inequality and crime. Located at an undefined location on the Eastern Seaboard, Gotham is always shown to be in the grip of organised crime. The city’s administration is so corrupt that extremists like Ras-al-Ghul want to wipe it out with neurotoxins.
Life imitates art.
The Contagion storyline has very straightforward parallels in the present reality. The “Apocalypse Virus” is clearly akin to SARS-Cov-19, which originated in bats, and Trump is clearly akin to the inept mayor. Inequality in America is also a very well documented parallel to Gotham. A perfunctory glance at the headlines will also demonstrate that the US is being led by a corrupt administration, much like Gotham.
For example, Trump and Fox News kept promoting Hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19. It was later revealed that he had a financial interest in a firm that made this drug. This is but one example of Trump’s corrupt administration. A much broader argument about America’s corruption is made in this excellent article from Vox.
-30-
Copyright©Madras Courier, All Rights Reserved. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from madrascourier.com and redistribute by email, post to the web, mobile phone or social media.Please send in your feed back and comments to editor@madrascourier.com
