This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Doug S. Machina: "In the critically acclaimed series Watchmen, such a law was actually passed after the supers getting involved in Vietnam led to a police strike and rioting in the streets."
I thought the police strike was because they didn't like a bunch of costumed vigilantes on their turf. Am I wrong?
Morgan Wick: Joe Mc Carthy was a Senator, HUAC was, well, out of the House. The two were unrelated and in fact worked at different times, but because they did essentially the same thing, they're conflated in the popular perception.
Personally, I'd like to do a story where the reason the JSA stops operating is because of Frederic Wertham. :)
Ununnilium: Huh. I'm pretty sure it was HUAC, then. (Unless they were conflated in the story. Lemme research...)
Morgan Wick: I've read that some stories say HUAC, some say Mc Carthy, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that some conflate the two. It's a fairly major lynchpin in Post Crisis DCU history.
Ununnilium: My most trusted reference sites say HUAC, so that's probably the original.
((RH Junior)): I have always hated this trope. It's a complete inversion of the very concept of the superhero— rugged individualism and personable accountability; the belief that you shouldn't have to ask permission to do the right thing. I wish they'd do a series where the government tries this crap and the metahumans simply go on strike... they fly to their fortresses of solitude and orbital space stations or just move to another country, and leave the United States Government to stew in it. Five minutes of being overrun by supervillains, monsters, mad scientists, natural disasters and mundane criminals and every Congressweasel who valued his reelection chances would be willing to concede.
Cody Fett: Yes, well that would be the logical and sane thing to do, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, the (comicbook) mainstream media thinks that explosions, death, angst, and completely illogical actions and stories sell, and that characters acting like rational human beings doesn't. (Even to the point of having Sabra, an Israeli citizen and a member of the Mossaad, fighting in a Civil War over an American law that doesn't effect her in the slightest.) After all, "The death of Captain America" is catchy advertising, "The X Men point out the catastrophic legal fallacies in their opponent's arguments" or "Superman holds a non-violet protest against increased restrictions on crime-fighting and life-saving" isn't catchy advertising.
Cody Fett: All right, so we got a few examples of a SRA down on the main page, and most of them are from Marvel Comics, so I thought we Tropers could put together our own examples of possible Super Registration Acts. Hopefully, most of the examples we be more logical then what's already listed. Something like this . . .
- Make it so that all superheroes fall under the same category as Hired Guns, and all superhero teams become Private Military Contractors. If a super wants to patrol his City of Adventure then he has to set up a contract (pay optional) with the city to do so, with the same kind of contract negotiating having to go on for larger Save the World jobs as well. This avoids the Fantastic Racism and Mutant Draft Board Pandora's boxes altogether, and maybe will finally get some of the poorer heroes some cash (that is, unless they decide to work pro-bonno, but that's another trope for another time).
cntrational: The main page of the article is a bit Anvilicious sounding.
