Inspired by the recent Comicon, a re-watching of a handful of hero movies, and the announcement of an upcoming Superman/Batman live-action movie, and even the Zimmerman vigilante verdict, I started wondering how to the world would react to full on superheroes roaming the streets. I’m not talking about Superman–it is clear that a man with super human powers–or an alien–would be immediately treated as a threat to everyone’s national security. How about a Batman or an Iron Man?
The key component in this is the acceptance that an individual can, of their own free will, go out and fight crime in a way that employs either extreme fear or use of non-lethal technologies and not be subject to legal action by the victims of such attacks. In the film The Incredibles, the entire hero structure was brought down because a hero saved a man from a suicide attempt and was sued by the person trying to commit suicide. That opened the door to a wealth of suits and complaints centered around the idea of responsibility. In the Batman cartoon criminals and victim advocacy groups were going after the Bat because they believed his vigilante justice infringed on their rights as individuals–even if they were in the act of a crime. They criminalized the avenger while ignoring the criminals based on the fact there was no trial or utter proof of guilt.
We are not in that time. Instead we live in an age where the burden of proof gives way to media opinion. We crucified Zimmerman and Hernandez and even the suspected Boston Bomber without proof. Do we know they are guilty? It sure feels like we do. Zimmerman, by the letter of the law of the crime he was charged with was not guilty. Hernandez sure looks guilty, but would we be okay with a Batman-esque super hero swooping down out of the night, beating him senseless, and dropping him off for the cops? I think I’d be okay with that.
The ACLU would have a cow. I don’t know if we would react to Supers the way they did in Kick Ass, but I surely hope I can see it unfold in my lifetime. I already have my Super name picked out. No, I can’t tell you. That’s the point of a secret identity.
Some Thoughts:
- I dreamed of death last night. I woke up in the afterlife on a near empty train with a few children who met their end too soon. We pulled into a station where I saw another packed train headed in the opposite direction. I can’t say if I just knew or some unseen force informed me that the other train was headed to oblivion, where the souls would be wiped of all memory and get a fresh start. I opted to stay on my train and headed off to a strange sort of afterlife. I woke soon after.