History Quotes / ReedRichardsIsUseless

-->-- ''The Verge'', "[[https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/7/18168909/2018-superhero-movies-marvel-dc-black-panther-infinity-war-aquaman In 2018, superhero stories doubled down on maintaining the status quo]]"

-->-- '''Creator/KurtBusiek''', introduction to ''ComicBook/AstroCity''

-->-- ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Way of the World]]''

-->-- '''Accord''' [[DrivenToVillainy explains how he discovered this trope]], ''Literature/{{Worm}}''

->'''Child''': Captain Incredible, why don't you ever use your power to fix the really big problems?
->'''Captain Incredible''': Well kid, if things kept getting better, the audience wouldn't recognize our world as being like theirs.

->''[T]he woman in the natty business suit returned with a suit bag draped over her shoulder. "Oh. Skyrider. I have something for you." She handed him an envelope.\\
"Aw MAN!"\\
"Skyrider, I HAVE to hand this to you, I signed for it. Complaining like a little boy won't help."\\
"Awww... who is it THIS time?" ''[...]''\\
"It's from Union Carbide™. They say that your plastics de-polymerization/resin reversal method conflicts with several of their pre-existing patents."\\
"WHAT? Bullshit! There are at least five separate and distinct improvements and developments from any existing patents, I already checked and double-checked that!" Skyrider read over the document and snarled. "This is whack, man! They just wanna tie my plastics recycling process up in the courts for ten years, until their pet test tube monkeys can come up with something that does the same thing, only half as well, which they can ram down peoples' throats with big PR campaigns and bribes! Just like the last time! Of '''course''' Reed Richards is useless! If you were shackled hand and foot, bound and gagged in a straitjacket, you'd be useless TOO!" Sky plopped down in a chair, his good mood almost totally spent.\\

--> -- '''Creator/KurtBusiek''', introduction to ''ComicBook/AstroCity''

->''They could be on land, saving everyone's lives, but instead they're like "Well...we actually have a game of Marco Polo planned for the rest of time, so I can't cure cancer. Sorry, I know."''
-->--'''Danny Gonzalez''', [[https://youtu.be/wKBSVk2E9p8 criticizing]] the characters in ''Scales: A Mermaid's Tale''

'''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}:''' I'll find a way. I know I can do it. [...] What if we've all been wrong? What if we've all been fighting crime and saving dozens-- when we could have been saving billions? Saving '''everyone'''?

-> As a side note, those superheroes who develop or invent entirely unique powers, and then hoard them? Screw those guys. When Edison invented the incandescent lightbulb, did he keep its secret to himself, and then bust nocturnal crime as the Illuminator? Fighting the nefarious [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla Doktor Lightning]] with the help of the Amazing Flight Brothers? No. Because, as a man of Science, he was familiar with Newton's statement about the shoulders of giants.

->''The greater the problem, the faster he could solve it. He’d taken the time one afternoon to solve world hunger. Six hours and twenty-six minutes with the internet and a phone on hand, and he’d been able to wrap his head around the key elements of the problem. He’d drafted a document in the nine hours that followed, doing little more than typing and tracking down exact numbers. A hundred and fifty pages, formatted and clear, detailing who would need to do what, and the costs therein.''\\\
''It had been bare bones, with room for further documents detailing the specifics, but the basic ideas were there. Simple, measured, undeniable. Every major country and ruler had been accounted for, in terms of the approaches necessary to get them on board, given their particular natures and the political climate of their area. Production, distribution, finance and logistics, all sketched out and outlined in clear, simple language. Eighteen years, three point one trillion dollars. Not so much money that it was impossible. A great many moderate sacrifices from a number of people.''\\\
''Even when he’d handed over the binder with the sum total of his work, his employer had been more concerned with the fact that he’d shown up late to work for his job. His boss had barely looked at the binder before calling it impossible, then demanded Accord return to work.''
-->--'''Accord''' [[DrivenToVillainy explains how he discovered this trope]], ''Literature/{{Worm}}''

->''While it may strain credulity, one of the accepted tropes or conventions of the superhero genre is that the world not be changed by the presence of the supernatural, supernormal and supertechnological heroes. (I would argue that ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' by Alan Moore is arguably science fiction, not superhero fiction, because it sets aside that convention, and dares to have the world change.)''\\\
''The world defended by the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica or the ComicBook/TeenTitans has extraterrestrials, Amazons, mindreaders, witches, cyborgs, and [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot reincarnated Egyptian princes with antigravity wings]], but none of these inventions, discoveries, or fantastic elements has any effect on the world outside (except perhaps for a secret military, espionage or police teams using futuristic weapons).''

->'''Mr. Teavee''': ''So can you send other things? Say, like, breakfast cereal?''\\
'''Willy Wonka''': ''[[CloudCuckooLander Do you have any idea what breakfast cereal's made of? 'sthose little curly wooden shavings you find in pencil sharpeners.]]''\\
'''Charlie Bucket''': ''But could you send it by television if you wanted to?''\\
'''Willy Wonka''': ''Of course I could.''\\
'''Mike Teavee''': ''What about people?''\\
'''Willy Wonka''': ''[[ComicallyMissingThePoint ...Well why would I want to send a person? They don't taste very good at all!]]''\\
'''Mike Teavee''': ''Don't you realize what you've invented!? It's a TELEPORTER! It's the most important invention in the history of the world! And all you think about is chocolate!''
-->--''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' (2005)

-> "So the Neweyes fart tells [the dinosaurs] his goal is to use the TimeMachine to travel back in time to grant all the wishes of children of the world. I would use it to stop [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror 9/11]], unethical jackass. I mean, the [[WhoShotJFK Kennedy assassination]]? The [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII bombing of Pearl Harbor]]? Really? None of these are important compared to [[SkewedPriorities entertaining whiny little bastard children]]? Well, while you're taking requests, here's a kid named [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]. He just wants to start his own Third Reich and bring [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust joy and happiness]] to the world. Why don't you grant him that wish? Huh, ''huh''?! But no, Neweyes sees it best to take animals out of their natural environment and into an unknown world of fear and violence. I can't see this going right at all."

->''ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} is also working to get a new [[ArtificialLimbs robotic hand ]]for him [Arsenal], which unfortunately is one of those things about superhero comics we have to tilt our heads at. The DC Universe has a lot of advanced technology on hand. Are robotic prosthetics more common in that universe, or do only superheroes get them?''
-->--'''Linkara''', ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' review of ''Rise of Arsenal''

->''[T]he woman in the natty business suit returned with a suit bag draped over her shoulder. “Oh. Skyrider. I have something for you.” She handed him an envelope.''\\
''“Aw MAN!”''\\
''“Skyrider, I HAVE to hand this to you, I signed for it. Complaining like a little boy won’t help.”''\\
''“Awww… who is it THIS time?[..]''\\
''"It’s from Union Carbide™. They say that your plastics de-polymerization/resin reversal method conflicts with several of their pre-existing patents.”''\\
''“WHAT? Bullshit! There are at least five separate and distinct improvements and developments from any existing patents, I already checked and double-checked that!” Skyrider read over the document and snarled. “This is whack, man! They just wanna tie my plastics recycling process up in the courts for ten years, until their pet test tube monkeys can come up with something that does the same thing, only half as well, which they can ram down peoples’ throats with big PR campaigns and bribes! Just like the last time! Of '''course''' Reed Richards is useless! If you were shackled hand and foot, bound and gagged in a straitjacket, you’d be useless TOO!” Sky plopped down in a chair, his good mood almost totally spent.''\\
''“So, you’ll accept their $15 million dollar purchase alternative?” the woman asked.''\\
''“Well YEAH… I mean, at least I can do some good with 15 Mil… and it’ll be better than putting the next generation of lawyers through college- But I WON’T LIKE IT!”''

->''Leo asks Luciana (demon doctor from Bradbury General) if there are any methods from the otherworld that could possibly heal his sister Michella’s legs and the good doctor flat out tells him that doing something like that could mess up the balance of nature…. EVERYTHING IN THIS SERIES FUCKS UP THE BALANCE OF NATURE!! There’s a giant portal to another dimension in the middle of New York City, demons and monsters roam the street, AND a group of superhuman crime fighters defend the citizens of Hellsalem’s Lot from, well, everything on a regular basis. And you mean to tell me that using magic to fix his sister’s legs is a no go…''

->The catalog had only thirty-two pages, but I've already described what kind of stuff it offered - simultaneously astounding and trivial. Take [[Franchise/StarWars light sabres]]. If [[BigBad Popigai]] could actually make thin energy fields that cut through solids, then producing toys for the rich was a criminal waste of technology. Why not create equipment for factories, or mining, or rescue work, or any of the other beneficial applications you could come up with, given a few seconds to think?
->I'm hardly the first person outraged by the gap between [[MagicFromTechnology Cape Tech]]'s potential and its actual use. You invent an ultrapowerful, ultraefficient energy source and the first thing you do with it is fly around shoot lightning? What are you, three years old?
->But [[{{Superhero}} Sparks]] had tunnel vision - focused on fighting, never on more productive aspects of life.
->What was ''wrong'' with us?
-->--''[[Literature/AllThoseExplosionsWereSomeoneElsesFault All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault]],'' by James Alan Garner

->''Suppose you make a miracle drug for cancer or heart disease-as Genentech did. Suppose you now want to charge a thousand dollars or two thousand dollars a dose. You might imagine that is your privilege. After all, you invented the drug, you paid to develop and test it; you should be able to charge whatever you wish. But do you really think that the government will let you do that? No, Henry, they will not. Sick people aren't going to pay a thousand dollars a dose for needed medication-they won't be grateful, they'll be outraged. Blue Cross isn't going to pay for it. They'll scream highway robbery. So something will happen. Your patent application will be denied. Your permits will be delayed. Something will force you to see reason-and to sell your drug at a lower cost. From a business standpoint, that makes helping mankind a very risky business. Personally, I would never help mankind.''

-> '''Peter Parker''': Why do you always act like you're from some other planet? Like you can't -- can't interfere with "humans"? There are our people, Reed. We're human!\\
'''Reed Richards''': But Pete... I'm not. And neither is Giant-Man or Iron Man or any other "super hero" with "man" in their name. Like they're trying to convince the world they're still just like them. [[TheSingularity Things have changed. The wellspring of powers, the growth of mutants. We need to be careful or we'll end up ruling the world]], creating a massive level of inequality.
-->-- '''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory''', Issue #2

->''Superheroes are almost always dedicated to stopping someone bad from changing things, not changing things that are already bad. Tony Stark's amazing technological advances are used to beat the tar out of alien invaders and protect the world, but not to end world hunger or forge peace in the Middle East. Great power is used to protect the world, not revolutionize it.''
-->--''Website/TheVerge'', "[[https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/7/18168909/2018-superhero-movies-marvel-dc-black-panther-infinity-war-aquaman In 2018, superhero stories doubled down on maintaining the status quo]]"

->"Seriously. We bring people back from the dead. FROM THE DEAD! So how hard can a pair of hands be?"
-->-- '''Hellion''', ''X-Men Legacy'' #242

->"Who knows, Robin? This strange mixing of minds may be the greatest single service ever performed for humanity! Let's go, but, inconspicuously, through the window. We'll use our Batropes. Our job is finished."

->"Superman". He loathed the term. When Nietsche and Shaw used the term a century ago, certainly they did not conceive of this specimen now at his mercy. Not a being who could move a planet, fly faster than light, pierce the barrier of time, see across space, shout loudly enough to shatter stone, and hear the falling of a flower petal on another planet. No. Those powers were the merest accident of being born on another world, under different environmental conditions. A body adapted to Kryptonian life, transplanted to a much smaller, yellow-sun world.\\

Well, he was not immune to that, of course. But he had good reason. Prior claim, as it were.

->''"I been readin' about you... how you work for the blue skins... and how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins... and you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there's skins you never bothered with -- ! The black skins! I want to know... how come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!"''
-->--'''Old Man''', ''ComicBook/GreenLantern/ComicBook/GreenArrow''

-> ''"Hello. I'm Gwendolyn Zapp! The incredibly wealthy, incredibly smart CEO of [=BigTech=]! I could end all the world's problems, but instead I choose to invent things like Robo-pants!"''
-->-- '''Gwendolyn Zapp''' ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens''

-> ''"Hello. I'm Gwendolyn Zapp! The incredibly wealthy, incredibly smart CEO of [=BigTech=]! I could end all the world's problems, but instead I choose to invent things like Robo-pants!

-->--''All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault,'' by James Alan Garner

-> '''Peter Parker''': "Why do you always act like you're from some other planet? Like you can't -- can't interfere with "humans"? There are our people, Reed. We're human!"\\
'''Reed Richards''': "But Pete...I'm not. And neither is Giant-Man or Iron Man or any other "super hero" with "man" in their name. Like they're trying to convince the world they're still just like them. [[TheSingularity Things have changed. The wellspring of powers, the growth of mutants. We need to be careful or we'll end up ruling the world]], creating a massive level of inequality."

-> "So the Neweyes fart tells [the dinosaurs] his goal is to use the TimeMachine to travel back in time to grant all the wishes of children of the world. I would use it to stop [[TheWarOnTerror 9/11]], unethical jackass. I mean, the [[WhoShotJFK Kennedy assassination]]? The [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII bombing of Pearl Harbor]]? Really? None of these are important compared to [[SkewedPriorities entertaining whiny little bastard children]]? Well, while you're taking requests, here's a kid named [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]]. He just wants to start his own Third Reich and bring [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust joy and happiness]] to the world. Why don't you grant him that wish? Huh, ''huh''?! But no, Neweyes sees it best to take animals out of their natural environment and into an unknown world of fear and violence. I can't see this going right at all."

-> '''Peter Parker''': "Why do you always act like you're from some other planet? Like you can't -- can't interfere with "humans"? There are our people, Reed. We're human!"
-> '''Reed Richards''': "But Pete...I'm not. And neither is Giant-Man or Iron Man or any other "super hero" with "man" in their name. Like they're trying to convince the world they're still just like them. [[TheSingularity Things have changed. The wellspring of powers, the growth of mutants. We need to be careful or we'll end up ruling the world]], creating a massive level of inequality."
-->-- '''ComicBook/SpiderManLifeStory''', Issue #2, written by Creator/ChipZdarsky

->''Superheroes are almost always dedicated to stopping someone bad from changing things, not changing things that are already bad. Tony Stark’s amazing technological advances are used to beat the tar out of alien invaders and protect the world, but not to end world hunger or forge peace in the Middle East. Great power is used to protect the world, not revolutionize it.''

->'''Franchise/{{Superman}}''': I know I'm forbidden to interfere... and yet the Earth is threatened by the same fate as Krypton's.\\
'''Elder #1''': The Earth is too primitive! You can flee to new worlds, where war is long forgotten!\\
'''Elder #2''': If you teach the Earth to put its fate in any one man, even yourself, you're teaching them to be betrayed.\\
'''Elder #1''': [[{{Narm}} BETRAYED! BETRAYED! BETRAYED! BETRAYED! BETRAYED!]]
-->--''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace''

->"[Stories in which the hero cannot solve the problem are], ''to be fair, an existing subgenre in action-adventure serials. But typically, when they do stories where the hero is completely helpless the hero is impotent in the face of real-world horrors like famine or cancer or 9/11 (superhero comics, in particular, had a brief period where everybody did astonishingly bad pieces about how superheroes couldn’t stop 9/11). This subgenre amounts to mawkish {{glurge}} in which the fact that stories are fiction [[WhoWouldWantToWatchUs is treated as a flaw,]] and anybody who writes it should be punched. (Note: This proposal would likely prove fatal to Creator/JMichaelStraczynski.)"''
-->-- '''[[http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/there-should-have-been-another-way-midnight/ El Sandifer]]''' on [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]]

->''"This is the problem with trying to tackle 'real world' problems in a 'serious' way with a character like {{ComicBook/Superman}}. He’s basically God. He can walk into a neighborhood full of drug dealers and just magically destroy all their drugs and drive them off. In order to explain why he doesn’t just do this all the time, or any number of other things that he could do with minimal effort that would drastically change the lives of every single person in the country, if not the world, writers like Straczynski resort to utter inanity."''
-->--'''Jason Michelitch''' on ''ComicBook/SupermanGrounded'', [[http://comicsalliance.com/worst-comics-2010-superman-grounded/ "The 5 Worst Comics of 2010"]]

->''"I mean really, you’d think that if the Joker enrolled himself in medical school, let alone made off with a nuclear warhead, Franchise/{{Batman}} would try to be on top of that situation."''
-->--[[http://comicsalliance.com/injustice-gods-among-us-comic-review-dc/ Chris Sims]], "The ''ComicBook/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' Prequel Comic is the Dumbest Comic You'll Read All Year"

->''"John [=McClane's=] once-relatable, [[TheEveryman everyman]] hero now makes no sense. According to this movie he's still just an NYPD detective after all four movies. '''[[LimitedAdvancementOpportunities HOW?]]''' Yeah, they keep telling us he's tough to work with ''every other'' day, but now he's saved Los Angeles, Washington, New York, and ''the entire country''. And everyone knows about it! Why isn't this guy running the Department of Homeland Security? Or a private security firm? Or just write a book and retire rich as hell?"''
-->-- '''[[Creator/BobChipman Moviebob]]'''