History WhatMeasureIsANonHuman / ComicBooks

* In the ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers Assemble Annual]]'', TheVision calls out [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[AntMan Hank Pym]] for leaving his disassembled body in a warehouse after he was ripped in half by She-Hulk. Though they were both preoccupied by various crises (and one of them was a Skrull at the time), that doesn't really change the fact they left one of their teammates ''ripped up in a warehouse''. Even if they thought he was gone forever, didn't he at least warrant a proper burial?

* In the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers Assemble Annual]], TheVision calls out Tony Stark and Hank Pym for leaving his disassembled body in a warehouse after he was ripped in half by She-Hulk. Though they were both preoccupied by various crises (and one of them was a Skrull at the time), that doesn't really change the fact they left one of their teammates ''ripped up in a warehouse''. Even if they thought he was gone forever, didn't he at least warrant a proper burial?
* In an issue of ''YoungAvengers'', Patriot and Hawkeye II teamed up with the [[BuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]] to fight a MODOC squad. Winter Soldier kills several of the MODOCs with [[SuperheroPackingHeat his handgun]], which prompts Hawkeye to ask if they were human. Winter Soldier explains that the MODOCs were essentially turned into "human robots" by AIM, and that the process is irreversible. He then states [[MercyKill that by killing them, he was essentially doing them a favor]].

* There was a 70's comic in which the [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] were blowing up alien ships sent by Thanos. Presumably, there were aliens inside. This is odd considering the Avengers have a strict no-killing policy. What makes this even more odd is that many team members have been androids, aliens, or otherwise non-human.

** This was subverted in the Operation Galactic Storm arc, however. CaptainAmerica and other Avengers were opposed to destroying the Kree Supreme Intelligence, a sentient super computer, because they considered it alive and thus its life was sacred. IronMan and other Avengers disagreed and destroyed it in order to save the galaxcy.

* In the [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers Assemble Annual]], TheVision calls out Tony Stark and Hank Pym for leaving his disassembled body in a warehouse after he was ripped in half by She-Hulk. Though they were both preoccupied by various crises (and one of them was a Skrull at the time), that doesn't really change the fact they left one of their teammates ''ripped up in a warehouse''. Even if they thought he was gone forever, didn't he at least warrant a proper burial?

* This trope leads to massive MoralDissonance in ComicBook/TeenTitans issue 100. Superboy-Prime attacks Titans Tower in an attempt to kill Superboy (Conner) and brings along a handful of Superboy clones grown from Conner's DNA. Conner brings out his emergency Kryptonite and two Titans without a [[ThouShaltNotKill no killing code]], Ravager and Robin, kill the clones by stabbing them through the heart with a Kryptonite spike. Once Prime is taken down (and bearing in mind he's the most powerful and evil of any of the villains present by a mile) the same two suggest finishing him off. They're told "that would be murder" and "we're not killers". But killing the clones was apparently okay. And just to make matters worse, ''Conner is himself a clone''. He even mentions that he started off as a "blank slate" like the other Superboy clones.

* Its long been assumed that {{Aquaman}} doesn't eat fish or would be offended by others eating fish. As of the DC relaunch, Aquaman shocks a restaurant full of patrons by ordering fish. As a telepath he knows the fish he's ordering have very low order intelligence.

* In ''{{Runaways}}'', during the ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' {{Crossover}}, the [[CapeBusters Cape Killer unit]] is shown to actively rate an enemy's worth based on [[SlaveToPR how much the news-viewing public might object]]. Minors are treated with non-lethal force, adult humans with moderate force, and with artificial beings like [[spoiler:Victor]], it is permissible to use full lethal force. Aliens have no legal standing in the US and do not generate any sympathy from news-viewing audiences, so it is considered the same as hunting an animal.

* Speaking of ''JudgeDredd'', their twist on the matter involved an alien shapeshifter escaping to the Big Meg to get out of slavery. Dredd, who wants to arrest the shapeshifter for murder, is partnered with an alien administrator who wants to return it to its owners. The shapeshifter is finally left with the decision to either stay in Megacity One, where he counts as a sentient being and is therefore subject to the city's comically strict justice and faces a long prison term, or return to Alientown, where, legally counting as property, he can not be held culpable for his actions, but will remain a slave.

* Depending on the author, Comicbook/{{Batman}} varies greatly in this regard. However, he is shown many times to consider all sentient life sacred. An example would be where he believes he accidentally killed Judge Death in the ''Batman''-''JudgeDredd'' {{Crossover}}, despite Death being an undead killing machine that just killed three people in front of him.

* SpiderMan nearly did this in an issue of GhostRider. He was facing the vampire queen, Lilith and a host of the undead. He attempted to use Johnny Blaze's gun on them, explaining that "They're already dead". In team ups with {{Blade}}, he has also not seemed to care much about vampires getting killed. This is the same guy who will box your ears if you try to kill Carnage, a super-powered serial killer.

* in "Ode To Kirihito" by Osamu Tezuka, a newly discovered, fatal disease [[spoiler: caused by exposure to high levels of mine runoff]] called Monmow's disease causes people to change into doglike mutants before dying within about a month. Dr. Osanai Kirihito is assigned to medical research in the African village where the disease originated by his [[CorruptCorporateExecutive boss]] in order to [[ProfessorGuineaPig gather data]] on the disease.

* This trope leads to massive ValuesDissonance in TeenTitans issue 100. Superboy-Prime attacks Titans Tower in an attempt to kill Superboy (Conner) and brings along a handful of Superboy clones grown from Conner's DNA. Conner brings out his emergency Kryptonite and two Titans without a [[ThouShaltNotKill no killing code]], Ravager and Robin, kill the clones by stabbing them through the heart with a Kryptonite spike. Once Prime is taken down (and bearing in mind he's the most powerful and evil of any of the villains present by a mile) the same two suggest finishing him off. They're told "that would be murder" and "we're not killers". But killing the clones was apparently okay. And just to make matters worse, ''Conner is himself a clone''. He even mentions that he started off as a "blank slate" like the other Superboy clones.

* The Red Tornado angsts over this constantly, and when the ''JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' needs a member to sacrifice himself, he's usually at the top of the list.

* In the reviled ''Superman: At Earth's End'', Superman uses "you're just an android, '''''[[MemeticMutation I AM A MAN!!]]'''''" as justification when he ''punches Ben Boxer's guts out''. There are ''many'' things wrong with this, least among them the fact that Ben Boxer is about as close to human as you can be, with emotions, a personality, and ''brothers''. Oh, and ''intestines''. This guy has ''relatives'' and can ''poop'', man, that doesn't sound all that inhuman to me. Superman then condescends to him further, claiming that Ben is "only doing what your creators programmed you to do"... even though Ben actually has free will and makes his own decisions.

* Its long been assumed that Aquaman doesn't eat fish or would be offended by others eating fish. As of the DC relaunch, Aquaman shocks a restaurant full of patrons by ordering fish. As a telepath he knows the fish he's ordering have very low order intelligence.

** This trope leads to massive ValuesDissonance in TeenTitans issue 100. Superboy-Prime attacks Titans Tower in an attempt to kill Superboy (Conner) and brings along a handful of Superboy clones grown from Conner's DNA. Conner brings out his emergency Kryptonite and two Titans without a [[ThouShaltNotKill no killing code]], Ravager and Robin, kill the clones by stabbing them through the heart with a Kryptonite spike. Once Prime is taken down (bearing in mind he's the most powerful and evil of any of the villains present by a mile) the same two suggest finishing him off. They're told "that would be murder" and "we're not killers". But killing the clones was apparently okay. And just to make matters worse, ''Conner is himself a clone''. He even mentions that he started off as a "blank slate" like the other Superboy clones.

--->'''Aquaman:''' Do not assume I'm governed by some code against killing, or fear of legal consequences. No one will ever find your body. \\

* Depending on the author, Comicbook/{{Batman}} varies greatly in this regard. However, he is shown many times to consider all sentient life sacred. An example would be where he believes he accidentally killed Judge Death in the ''Batman''-''JudgeDredd'' [[{{Crossover}} crossover]], despite Death being an undead killing machine that just killed three people in front of him.

* In a late-1990's Elseworld-type story, Batman teams with Tarzan, and finds his new ally has no problem casually tossing a mook off a cliff. When Tarzan risks his life (and the mission) to save a lion, Bats reads him the riot act. Tarzan's response: "The man was my enemy - the animal is my friend."

* In ''{{Runaways}}'', during the ''Comicbook/CivilWar'' [[{{Crossover}} crossover]], the [[CapeBusters Cape Killer unit]] is shown to actively rate an enemy's worth based on [[SlaveToPR how much the news-viewing public might object]]. Minors are treated with non-lethal force, adult humans with moderate force, and with artificial beings like [[spoiler:Victor]], it is permissible to use full lethal force. Aliens have no legal standing in the US and do not generate any sympathy from news-viewing audiences, so it is considered the same as hunting an animal.

* In ''TheSandman'', Richard Madoc justifies his abuse of Calliope to himself because she's not human; however, this is clearly portrayed as absolutely immoral.

* There was a 70's comic in which the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers]] were blowing up alien ships sent by Thanos. Presumably, there were aliens inside. This is odd considering the Avengers have a strict no-killing policy. What makes this even more odd is that many team members have been androids, aliens, or otherwise non-human.

** Also in Dredd, robots are sentient and ''exactly'' like humans, but are still a slave race and abused. Dredd himself is responsible for destroying a robot revolution and sending everyone ''back'' to slavery. (Usually the writing is on the side of the robots, as is reader sympathy)
*** Should be noted Dredd himself is a robot-rights supported, the robot leading the revolution was clearly evil.

** Maybe now it does, but historically that hasn't been the case; among other examples, they originally killed Brainy's malevolent AI creation, Computo, without a qualm, and in the next incarnation tried to do it again, although Superman was the one who struck the death blow that time. Then there was an entire later arc about an invading machine race which raised the issue of the rights of [=AIs=] in the Legion's society (namely, that they didn't have any); at the end the Legion's leader pointed out that they'd been killing the machines all through the storyline, and wondered if this was a violation of their code.

* Something similar has popped up in, of all places, the past few years of ''Comicbook/{{Witchblade}}''; Sara Pezzini has read a monster its rights at least twice. Of course, the monster responds by attacking and she gets to kill it anyway.

* SpiderMan nearly did this in an issue of, of all things, GhostRider. He was facing the vampire queen, Lilith and a host of the undead. He attempted to use Johnny Blaze's gun on them, explaining that "They're already dead". In team ups with {{Blade}}, he has also not seemed to care much about vampires getting killed. This is the same guy who will box your ears if you try to kill Carnage, a super-powered serial killer.

* Its long been assumed that Aquaman doesn't eat fish or would be offended by others eating fish. As of the DC relaunch, Aquaman shocks a restaurant full of patrons by ordering fish. As a telepath he knows the fish he's ordering have very low order intelligence.

* On the other hand, the {{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'s [[ThouShaltNotKill official rule against killing]] extends to anything sentient, including [=AIs=].

** Also, she's a freakin' demigoddess, and therefore ''above'' humans by classical standards.

** This was subverted in the Operation Galactic Storm arc, however. CaptainAmerica and other Avengers were opposed to destroying the Skrull Supreme Intelligence, a sentient super computer, because they considered it alive and thus its life was sacred. IronMan and other Avengers disagreed and destroyed it in order to save the galaxcy.

* In ''{{Hellboy}}: Conqueror Worm'', Director Manning reveals to Hellboy that the BPRD upper brass decided to install a bomb in Roger the Homunculus, as a "fail-safe" to prevent Roger from endangering the lives of agents in the future; their explicit reasoning is that Roger is expendable because he's not human. When Manning gives Hellboy the detonator, HB is not pleased: "You know, '''I'm''' not human, either, remember? When are you guys gonna put a bomb on me?" Then, when an opportunity arises for Roger to kill [[EldritchAbomination the Worm]] by blowing himself up, he's [[MessianicArchetype perfectly willing to do so]], and it's Hellboy who insists they find another way. By the end, Director Manning comes around to HB's point of view, but Hellboy is so ticked by the entire incident (and a few other factors) that he quits the BPRD.

** This was subverted in the Operation Galactic Storm arc, however. CaptainAmerica and other Avengers were opposed to destroying the Skrull Supreme Intelligence, a sentient super computer, because they considered it alive and thus its life was sacred. IronMan and other Avengers disagreed and destroyed it in order to save the galaxcy.

* Something similar has popped up in, of all places, the past few years of ''{{Witchblade}}''; Sara Pezzini has read a monster its rights at least twice. Of course, the monster responds by attacking and she gets to kill it anyway.

** Maybe because [[HandWave he was raised here on Earth, where all sentient life has a heartbeat]]?

** To be fair they only did it because Roger almost killed a few Agents including Liz, albeit by accident.

* in "Ode To Kirihito" by Osamu Tezuka, a newly discovered, fatal disease [spoiler] caused by exposure to high levels of mine runoff[/spoiler] called Monmow's disease causes people to change into doglike mutants before dying within about a month. Dr. Osanai Kirihito is assigned to medical research in the African village where the disease originated by his [[CorruptCorporateExecutive boss]] in order to [[ProfessorGuineaPig gather data]] on the disease.