Morality question: Are superheroes mass-murderers?
You know the drill:
Villain hurts innocents...superheroes comes in to save the day...they fight...both give longwinded speeches throughout their fight...villain loses and is sent to some prison where he is undoutdely able to escape and wreak havoc another day
superheroes (exceptions exist such as Frank Castle) generally have misgivings about killing, so in effect, they 'allow' villains to commit further crimes.
So, my question is, should they be held responsible for much of the killing committed by villains who otherwise could've been terminated previously?
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That's kinda that Batman/Joker thing Batman ponders in every second issue. I'd say no though. Now, the government for not executing psychotic mass murderers, that's another question.
Morality is relative to the observer and the situation. Without getting too philosophical, I don't believe that absolute yes/no answers to these questions exist.
That said, most of us would cross the line and kill when many heroes don't. I don't know if I'm among them, but I'm also glad I don't know. But I'd defy anyone, for example, to read "Maximum Carnage" and not second-guess Spidey in the series. Yet I don't condemn his logic either, since I think killing or simply trying to capture him would both be "moral" in my standing.
I was exactly thinking of maximum carnage when I wrote this question
I remember Spiderman's argument against Venom, it seemed pretty idiotic to me. He seemed to be willing to potentially allow hundreds of innocents to be killed as long as he could stand on his high moral soap box preaching against killing.
I actually applaud such logic because it speaks to the ideal, which is (again, ideally) what a hero represents....the most desirable action in a situation.
Yet if forced into a similar situation, my guess is that I'd be more than ok with killing.
So it's a double-edged sword. I see it as moral while simultaneously not agreeing with his decision. That requires a more comprehensive spectrum approach to morality, not a black and white yes/no answer. There are varying grades of morality. Spidey was moral, imo, but not as moral as he could have been.
Regardless of the subjective nature of something like 'morality,' you cannot hold the superheroes any more responsible than the judge for not issuing capital punishment.
KMC Community Forums
Apr 30th, 2008 11:24 PM
