The Ethics of Superheroes, Part 2: Making an Example

[feotakahari]

 If superheroes inspire us, then how exactly does that inspiration take form? In what sense can a person be more like a superhero?

I once read a Spider-Man comic that began with a mugger attacking a woman late at night, when a vigilante suddenly appeared and shot the mugger. It turned into a conflict between Spidey, who wanted to capture criminals, and this mysterious figure who just wanted to kill them. Their encounters ended with the vigilante defeated and apprehended, and Spidey still baffled by the vigilante’s actions. “What was he even trying to do?”

In the final page, another mugger attacked another woman. This time, the woman pulled a gun on the mugger. That was what the vigilante was trying to accomplish–to create an environment in which ordinary people knew they could fight back. People who could never imitate a web-slinging superhero could still imitate an average guy with a gun.

I could take this argument apart pretty easily if I wanted. Guns haven’t done much to make women safer, and when women do defend themselves, they’re charged with murder even when it’s blatantly self-defense. But I find it provocative, if nothing else, and I think it cuts to the heart of some of the problems with superheroes as models of behavior.