Gov.sg takes down circuit breaker comic superhero team after receiving 'quite a lot of feedback'

Gov.sg apologised to anyone who was offended by the Virus Vanguard.

Zhangxin Zheng | April 21, 2020, 12:49 AM

A new comic superhero team, Virus Vanguard, was recently created by the Singapore government to help Singaporeans win the fight against Covid-19 during the circuit breaker period.

The Virus Vanguard consists of five characters with unique and handy abilities to help people through this trying period.

MAWA man draws flak from Liverpool fans

One of the superheroes, MAWA (Must Always Walk Alone) man, has the ability to enforce safe distancing and push people away from one another.

As the name suggests, MAWA man has been described as a Manchester United fan who despises everything Liverpool, including their "You'll Never Walk Alone" motto.

As a result, the character even made it to ESPN, and attracted Liverpool supporters to start a petition on Change.org to ask for the character to be removed.

The petition has garnered over 400 signatures so far.

Screenshot via Change.org.

Gov.sg apologises and reviews Virus Vanguard

In response to the public reactions, the description of these five characters has been taken down on April 20 night from Gov.sg website.

Gov.sg explained in a Facebook post that the superhero team is "undergoing a review" after receiving "quite a lot of feedback"

Gov.sg also apologised to those who have been upset by the Virus Vanguard characters.

The post revealed that this is the team's first attempt to create a comic series to convey different aspects of circuit breaker measures and the team welcomes suggestions as they rework on the characters.

Trying to access the Gov.sg page only pulls up an empty site showing the contents missing.

The illustrations were only publicised a few hours earlier as a newfangled thing before they were promptly removed.

Top photo via Change.org and Gov.sg/Facebook