Irony of the Superhero

This Scientific American blog suggests Batman might be achievable, and I believe that a day may come when Robocop or possibly even Major Kusanagi might be possible.

Quigley Down Under is another "realistic superhero" option, but it wouldn't work in the modern world.

^What always bothered me about superheroes(Spiderman in particular) was the fact that crime would always spike if they decided to take a break. You mean to tell me there were no purse snatchers before he got his powers?

I think it should operate in a tier system: average joe -> beat cops -> SWAT then super hero. That way you can have a social life and limit your intervention to legitimate issues.

In order for superheroes to exist in Real Life, they would also need a Real Life supervillain. Although the Real Life equivalent of the Joker would be quite frightening.

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They could just fight gangsters or serial killers or sex traffickers or whatever.

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But that wouldn't make for epic urban legends!

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Yeah, that's an interesting one (Exploited in Hancock. Averted - save for Syndrome - in The Incredibles.) Do we have that as a trope?

Anyway, I always thought it'd be interesting to do an alternate reality where superhero X from universe Y travels to universe Z, where superheroes don't exist. Universe Z is a dystopia to be sure, but it isn't the Crapsack World superhero X had expected. Crime is actually slightly lower than it is back in Universe Y, and the ordinary cops there are more Bad Ass.

If one person or a small group of people were so much more powerful than everyone else that they could curbstomp criminals, police, military, etc., there would be little other than their morality keeping them from taking everything over. If Dr. Manhattan decided to Take Over the World, who could stop him? But would that be a good thing?

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

^^ Yep we've got it.

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^^You'd have to hope that their morality isn't fucked up.

"Welcome to law. Where semantics can change a whole fucking deal of a lot. :V"

Fine, fine, I'll bite.

You'll notice that the post in which I first mentioned motivations didn't say that they made a difference in a legal sense. They would, however, make a difference to me. Someone shoplifting because they can't afford a coat is different from someone shoplifting because they don't feel like spending money on it. Which is also different from a drugged up pseudo anarchist stealing for no other reason than wanting the company to lose money.

And better than thy stroke; why swellest thou then?

Okay, so we agree essentially.

Well he's talking about WWII when the Chinese bomb pearl harbor and they commuted suicide by running their planes into the ship.

A lot of you seem to be assuming that a single person, acting alone, can really make a noticeable difference in the crime rates of a city. Even assuming you were able to conveniently encounter muggings-in-progress, or whatever, a lone vigilante would get themselves shot/stabbed/beaten in short order if they tried to make a habit of fighting criminals.

I don't think anyone's assuming that. The scenario you've provided is a very realistic outcome, and I don't think anyone here would dispute it; the debate was about vigilantism being unreasonable from an ethical perspective.

And better than thy stroke; why swellest thou then?

The effectiveness of your actions are important to that debate, I think. But the main post I had in mind was Fighteer's on the last page, which did appear to assume effectiveness.

^^^Now what if that single individual starts killing criminal and their bosses? There's a reason we'd rather cal in a drone strike on Osama than say....Mohammad driving in the Toyota.

edited 25th Jan '11 4:21:03 PM by Kino

How much does a single drone cost? How many trained professionals are involved in its operation? How much does their training cost?

Again, a single individual can't really make that much of a splash unless they have the support of and are working with organizational backing.

@Wander: The debate that I was having was pretty much entirely hypothetical. I was discussing a poster's assumption that wanting to go out and stop crime was a common mindset.

As for who you're addressing, unless you're specifically referring to a person or a post, people will assume that you're following the latest post's thread of thought.

edited 25th Jan '11 4:23:49 PM by kashchei

And better than thy stroke; why swellest thou then?

Kino and Bobby's posts seemed to be based on similar assumptions. Multiple people within the thread were making similar general statements, and I replied to them generally.

Dr.Manhattan could conceivably take over the world, in a number of ways. I don't know how many times he can "split" himself, but if he could do it a shitload of times his reach would extend over the world. Or, assuming he can eventually create life, he could eventually monitor and control the world in any way he sees fit.

I'd like to see and alternate universe where he stays on Earth. Or not, just an interesting thought.

Power corrupts. Knowledge is Power. Study hard. Be evil.

^^ ???

I said that emulating the Punisher was not realistic or sane, and that superheroes were just fantasy entertainment.

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The other Bobby.

Oh, sorry.

Yeah, my opinion is his opinion. Don't bother talking to him, he's knitted footwear.

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My post was predicated on the Superhero idea being possible, as in you could actually be Spider-Man, or Superman. Obviously a single normal human being, no matter how Badass, is not going to turn into a one man vigilante justice wave because he'd get his ass killed.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

A group of badass vigilantes or something could fill the role of one superhero me thinks.

edited 25th Jan '11 4:57:48 PM by ViralLamb

Power corrupts. Knowledge is Power. Study hard. Be evil.

Nope. Attrition, injury, etc. Unless they're Immune to Bullets, they can't expect to sustain a vigilante rampage for very long. Besides, if you get a group that large, you can't help but come to the attention of a lot of people. Individuals can be isolated, targeted... unless you have some Applied Phlebotinum or superpowers that make you more than merely normal people, you can't hope to be dramatically effective.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"