A writer who has worked on Marvel comic books realised he could use his job as a tool when he learned his young son was being bullied at pre-school.
Many comic book fans are probably very grateful for the fact Christopher Cantwell has been involved in their creation, with the writer having worked on titles for Star Wars' Obi-Wan and Marvel's Iron Man, Doctor Doom and The United States of Captain America throughout his career.
However, with great power comes great responsibility, so not only has Cantwell been tasked with making sure the heroes get up to enough action to keep fans entertained, he's also been in charge of making sure they can go on to fight another day. Unless someone tempts him to do otherwise, that is.
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In a post on Twitter, Cantwell explained that a child at his son's pre-school had 'bragged about reading Marvel Comics', suggesting he's likely a fan of the characters Cantwell has written stories for.
However, this same child is also said to have been responsible for pushing Cantwell's son 'off the top of the slide', according to the writer, so Cantwell claimed to have encouraged his son to use his job as leverage.
He explained: "I told my son to tell him that if that happens again, I’m going to kill Iron Man in the next issue and have him say as he’s dying 'This is because of Ryan'."
In reality it's highly unlikely that Cantwell would actually get away with killing off such a high-profile character while blaming someone who is entirely unknown to the vast majority of readers, but a three- or four-year-old child probably wouldn't know that, suggesting the warning could actually work.
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With that in mind, the tweet has been praised by hundreds of Twitter users, with many branding it 'good parenting' while one person described Cantwell's plan as 'a level of pettiness we should all aspire to'.
Another Twitter user commented: "I wish I had this much power."
In spite of the support Cantwell has received for his idea, he quickly admitted it wasn't one he was going to follow through on, writing: "I obviously have power to do this and no message will be relayed, as much I’m tempted to engage in racketeering with children’s imaginations."
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Iron Man might live to see another day, but hopefully Ryan's bullying will not – that's definitely not something Marvel's superheroes would approve of, after all.
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Emily Brown