“One of the reasons why I had to write Tommy out is that I didn’t want to use Tommy as part of the core team. Tommy’s role is to be abrasive and he was kind of a sociopath in the original Young Avengers team.”
“Speed is not as hard-edged as Miss America, Loki, or even Marvel Boy can be. Marvel Boy, it’s almost like he doesn’t care. He’s just enjoying himself”
Since when is Tommy Shepherd not hard-edged? And since when is he not as ‘hard-edged’ as Loki or Noh-Varr. Sure, Miss America is badass, but Loki spends half his time talking about 'smooching’ or making jokes about breakfast (yes, I know the events of JiM, but the Loki that’s being portrayed is still acting like a little kid), and Noh-Varr’s personality is so absent and inconsistent that you can literally put him in any situation and he’s fine. You can’t tell me that the YA Noh-Varr is the same as Marvel Boy Noh, or Civil War Noh. (The same guy who burned “Fuck you” into the city is not the same one that dances and worries if Kate noticed how badass he was. Alternate universe, whatever, that’s not the same character.)
1. Tommy Shepherd is not a sociopath. He’s nowhere close. The use of the word Sociopath instead of Psychopath indicates that his emotional problems come from his environment instead of internal factors. But! Sociopath/psychopath are just pop-psych words for something called Anti-Social Personality Disorder, Mr. Gillen, and I’m gonna list the symptoms for you, with personal commentary in bold:
A) There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three or more of the following:
1. failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest; (No. Unless you count accidentally blowing up his school, which was an accident, like every other mutant ever who accidentally hurt someone when they found out about their powers. Mutant powers aren’t harmless, and we have proof that he didn’t hurt anyone. Because if he had, I guarantee you the Vision would have mentioned it. Even if you have limited space, that is something that gets mentioned right off the bat. Accidental use of powers is not the same as intentionally disregarding rules and rights of others.)
2. deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure; (I’ve never seen this. I’ve seen him be a bit of a jerk, I’ve seen him be a total sweetheart, but I’ve never seen a pattern of lying. The only alias he has is Speed.)
3. impulsivity or failure to plan ahead; (Nope. He plans ahead just fine. Works for a few minutes to build up enough money to travel for a while? That sounds like a pretty well thought out plan to me.)
4. irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults; (Superhero. Fights come with the territory. And he hardly ever picks fights. He makes smartass comments, but even times he could pick a fight, he doesn’t. (he could have argued with Billy when he called him a sociopath in CC, but he didn’t. There’s a lot of times he could have picked a fight, and the very fact that he hasn’t is incredibly telling. HE WAS TRAINED TO BE A LIVING WEAPON, AND HE HAS NOT BECOME ONE. That, more than anything else, should tell you about Tommy Shepherd’s character. He took on the 'don’t kill’ rule with little argument, and he hasn’t ever looked back.)
5. reckless disregard for safety of self or others; (I read him as reckless because of what he went through, but not for the safety of others. He spent the entirety of Siege making sure that everyone got out safely, and nearly broke down when he couldn’t help everyone. Those aren’t the actions of someone who doesn’t care.)
6. consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations; (Again, no. He maintains his work perfectly well. He gets his own money and travels, and then comes back. He does it consistently. He also always shows up when he’s needed, and never, ever backs down from doing what needs to be done, even when he’s injured.)
7. lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another; (The only time we ever see anything similar is when he first gets out, and attacks the doctors/scientists. But he had been experimented on for god knows how long, and then immediatelybacks down when the YA tell him to stop. And as far as we know, he’s never hurt or mistreat anyone, or stolen. He plays with Molly for gods sake, the only delinquent thing we see him do is take Kate out for drinks. And try and give me a scene where Tommy isn’t remorseful, even if he hadn’t done anything wrong. He even stands up to the X-Men to defend Wanda in CC, even though he had never met the woman before. Those are not the actions of someone who is ok with people being mistreated or hurt.)
B) The individual is at least age 18 years. (I’ll give you this one.)
C) There is evidence of conduct disorder with onset before age 15 years. (there is no evidence presented in the comics, beyond the fact that he accidentally blew up his school. See earlier rant about accidentally stumbling upon powers. (Hell, even Billy hurt someone when he first found out about his powers, and Teddy impersonated everyone under the sun, and Eli lied about his powers and used drugs, and Cassie goes behind her parents backs and even stole dangerous chemicals from her father when she was young, and Nate goes time hopping even though it fucks with the continuum to the point where it nearly destroys the world. Please explain to me how Tommy is the least remorseful or honest of the group?)
D) The occurrence of antisocial behavior is not exclusively during the course of schizophrenia or a manic episode. (Unless you count him going really fast as a manic episode, which I don’t, then no, but then again THERE IS NO OCCURRENCE OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR.)
Now, those parameters are directly out of the most recent edition of the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Which I have right here, as I am a student of both psychology and criminology.)
With that, I just want to say that Tommy has absolutely none of the characteristics of a sociopath.
NOW! I do understand the idea that some people can hide their more anti-social traits, which is how a lot of CEO’s get to the positions they’re in, but that is not the case here. A sociopath simply would not become a hero, or be part of a superhero team. They wouldn’t abide by a 'no killing’ rule, and there would be some kind of indication that they are not capable of the same emotional range as 'normal’ people. Tommy has a wide and varied range of emotions, and I will provide photographic evidence if needed.
As far as Tommy not having a place in the YA, I honestly can’t believe that. Tommy was the only character that didn’t give up immediately after CC, and yes, Kate also went back to hero-ing in the Hawkeye comics, and Teddy eventually did as well, but Tommy was the only one who never thought they would actually stop being heroes. I’m not saying that he’s the most hopeful person, but he does serve a function as a character. Aside from his powerset, which is incredibly helpful in disarming, surveillance, and blowing things up (and according to Heinburg, he’s as powerful as Billy. He can control atoms. How is that not a useful power? With a little bit of creativity, he can do just about anything, if he was trained a little bit. One reality warper chaos magic user is fine, but atomic control is not a useful powerset? Especially when combined with superspeed that has been shown to outstrip Pietro’s.)
Aside from his abilities, if his character was developed just a little bit, he would have a wonderful perspective on heroes and what they do. He had been stuck in an experimentation facility, and the only people who ever bothered to check out what was happening was a group of kids who were willing to take a chance on him. Plus the fact that he learned a few things in the facility/juvie, and he would have a very different idea of crime and criminals than Billy, who grew up comfortably middle to upper middle class, or any of the other characters, who are shown to be well off. The only exception might be Eli, but at the same time, he has a strong family structure, which makes it much less likely for him to have rubbed shoulders with criminals, as stronger familial ties lead to less street crime. Tommy didn’t have this, and has spent time in juvie, which does give him experience with this criminal element.
A perspective on heroes from a kid who was never saved by them, and a view of criminals from a hero who understands them? That sounds amazing, and I would love to see more of that.
Tommy has been consistently underappreciated, and shoved into the background, and I know every single fan of Tommy Shepherd would love to see that changed. He’s not a sociopath, and he’s not a useless member of the team, he’s just been underrated. I don’t think that deserves getting kicked off the team; I think it’s a great chance to write some interesting character and character development. Even if he does leave for this run, disregarding him permanently is a terrible idea.
Tl;dr: Tommy Shepherd has none of the characteristics of a sociopath, and does not deserve to get written out of YA.
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