Brazilian Mayor Tries to Ban Marvel’s Avengers: Children’s Crusade Over Gay Kiss

Brazil is very different culture than that in America, which is why certain progressive views in America may not carry over to its southern counterpart. Case in point: One of Marvel’s Avengers storylines has sparked a major censorship controversy in the Brazilian city of Rio De Janeiro.

According to reports from various Brazilian outlets (GLOBO Culture), Rio’s mayor Marcelo Crivella) has taken it upon himself to try and remove the sale of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade graphic novel from the 19th International Book Biennial currently taking place in the city. Crivella reportedly cited The Children’s Crusade’s for having “sexual content for minors” in the form of a scene where two male characters (Wiccan and Hulkling) kiss. That scene pushed the mayor to protect the youth of Rio (at least in his mind), by orderings booksellers at the Biennial to pull all copies of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade from the festival.

Booksellers at the Biennial reportedly refused to acquiesce to the order from Crivella – and in fact, copies of The Children’s Crusade began selling out of stock at the festival. That rebuking of the Mayor’s authority has subsequently pushed Crivella to take a more drastic step: sending law enforcement officials into the Biennial to either forcibly censor or confiscate material deemed “inappropriate” or “pornographic.”

As GLOBO reports (via translation):

“RIO – In the early afternoon of Friday, ten employees of the Municipal Secretariat of Public Order (SEOP) arrived at the Book Biennial, which is being held at Riocentro, to identify and seal books considered “improper”.”

As a countermeasure to the mayor’s aggressive pursuit of censorship, the book Biennial has filed, “a request for a preventive injunction with the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice (…) to ensure the full functioning of the event and the right of exhibitors to commercialize literary works on the most diverse subjects – as foreseen by the Brazilian legislation.”

A statement was issued by SEOP’s chief, Wolney Dias, who seems to back Mayor Crivella’s stance by splitting hairs over the semantics of censorship:

“City hall has police power for that. If the material is not following the recommendations, it will be collected. We are following the guidance of the city prosecutor’s office. I do not understand that there is censorship. If it is pornographic material, offered without the standards, it will be collected.”

Ironically enough, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade is a story nearly a decade old, as the miniseries was released by Marvel between 2010 – 2012. It helped establish the Young Avengers as a team geared toward the millennial generation, and wasn’t afraid to tackle subjects its predecessors rarely touched upon, like sexuality. So not only is Mayor Crivella trying to impose censorship on Brazil’s literary material, he’s trying to do so over a moment that is far less controversial by today’s standards.

If nothing else, this incident in Brazil simply reflects the larger cultural wars that are taking place all over the globe, these days, with no signs of resolution anytime soon.

Avengers: The Children’s Crusade has been available as a graphic novel for years now. You can purchase it HERE.