Avenge This! Five Dastardly Supervillain Plots to Wreak Havoc on the Environment
The Avengers is now playing at a theater ... well ... everywhere, featuring the most impressive array of superheroes on one screen that anyone's ever seen (sorry X-Men). And it got us thinking: superheroes seem to spend a lot of time fighting off environmental catastrophe brought on by the schemes of their archnemeses. We thought the bad guys wanted to rule the world, not just pollute it. (Anyone know if the Heartland Insitute is funded by Doctor Doom? Because it might explain this.) We looked back at some of the biggest comic book movies of recent years to find out which super villains have been plotting environmental disaster. And we probably don't need to say this, but... SPOILER ALERT.
Supervillain: Scarecrow, Batman Begins
Evil plot: With the backing of the shadowy Ra's Al Ghul, this twisted psychiatrist/psychopath wants to dilute Gotham's water supply with a toxin from a rare blue flower that will cause mass hallucinations, panic, and the ultimate destruction of the city.
Did the superhero thwart it?: Yes. He's Batman.
Could it happen?: Toxins in the water? Of course! Take California, where unsound practices have led to groundwater pollution from nitrates and other substances. And of course there's the ongoing risk that fracking for natural gas or building tar sands pipelines will contaminate rivers and streams that provide drinking water for millions.
Preventive measures: Reduce fertilizer and pesticide use in agriculture (and on our lawns), provide stronger oversight of oil and gas drilling and transportation, ban imports of rare blue hallucinogenic flower.