Yes-the bad guys won't stop otherwise
No-killing is wrong
It depends on the situations
Who cares-this is fiction
Superheroes that kill tend to be far less interesting then those that don’t. Their villains list tend to be way smaller and less developed. They seem to be harder to sell to a wider demographic.
Well, except for the MCU versions, which all had pretty high body counts and seemed at least mildly popular to me. I mean RDJ's version of Stark killed lots of people on his first mission. Granted, they were very bad people, but so is the Joker. No one had any problem with that IIRC. Or Evans' Cap.
And so their "sentence" is death. Who is Wonder Woman to decide that? Rape is a heinous crime but nowhere in the U.S is anyone given a death sentence. Nor is mind wiping, if such a crime is in the criminal codes since you are talking about comic book crimes.
You're strawmanning my argument. I never said killing should not have an effect. My argument was that killing someone does not automatically make you the next Hitler.[/QUOTE]
But you did say this...
I think there is something seriously wrong with someone who isn't effected by killing another human being even in the line of duty. Many large police agencies have the officer involved kills a suspect in the line of duty attend counseling sessions to deal with the consequences of having to take a life. Many soldiers have come back from war situations with PTSD. The reality of killing someone is not so simple as the sanitized violence of comic books.
Last edited by Iron Maiden; 02-07-2022 at 11:04 PM.
Again, you're strawmanning the issue.
If you read the entire conversation I posted rather than focusing solely on the part where Diana says they should have killed Light, you will see that Diana is saying that killing Light would have been preferable to violating his mind. She is saying this in response to Superman's weak argument that the League were justified in mindwiping Light and his attempts to excuse himself for covering it up. Nowhere does she argue that those who perform mindwipes should be killed.
At no point did I say that a decent person shouldn't be affected by killing. My argument was aimed squarely at the idea that a hero who kills even once automatically becomes a villain, or as The Ray put it, "pushed over the edge".I think there is something seriously wrong with someone who isn't effected by killing another human being even in the line of duty. Many large police agencies have the officer involved kills a suspect in the line of duty attend counseling sessions to deal with the consequences of having to take a life. Many soldiers have come back from war situations with PTSD. The reality of killing someone is not so simple as the sanitized violence of comic books.
To the end I've brought up before, I'm fairly certain we've come across situations in which each major hero has actually killed and seen the ramifications of it.
This feels like one of those situations where headcanon is essentially the answer.
You also have to take into consideration that there have been different men who were Captain America over the decades. During the early 1950s' when the company was Atlas Comics there was a brief Captain America run and in one issue I found on MU he breaks up a Communist spy ring in the U.S and leaves the ringleader to die in a burning building. He appears in some revival comics as Captain America - Commie Smasher. When Marvel used the frozen in a block of ice Cap story in Avengers #4 to bring him back they eventually had to deal with Commie Smasher Cap. He was retconned into a replacement Cap recruited by the FBI.
Much later in Captain America #253, Cap did chop off the head of Baron Blood with his shield but as you know vampires never really die.
I'd have to go back and read that myself since it's been a while for me. But from doing a little digging around I was reminded that at some point during his run Cap stepped away from the role of Captain America was replaced by John Walker, who later does go on a killing spree but this article goes into the tragic details of why Walkerton "lost it"
Last edited by Iron Maiden; 02-08-2022 at 11:09 AM.
I'm not so sure about that. Maybe Reed has unwittingly killed people but I don't recall an example where he does. If it was a villain from the early days, they're probably back anyway.
It appeared like he killed Ben's body as a last resort when that was the only way to save him from Doom's Ovid Mind Transference trick (I don't think he's been seen using it since) in the FF arc Authoritative Action in the Waid/Wieringo run. But Ben was later brought back to life when they found his essence or soul in the Hereafter arc.
Amazed we have got to page 4 of this topic without anyone submitting “Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” in evidence…
Well here goes!
I think Alan Moore in that great Superman story effectively gave one answer: that yes, you can write a super hero into a corner, into a situation where he has to kill.
But once that happens, the guys not a hero anymore, certainly not a super hero…that is the point of Superman’s sacrifice of his powers, Superman’s great speech (saying no one has the right to kill, especially Superman), and his retirement.
Last edited by JackDaw; 02-08-2022 at 11:15 AM.
Yes, I've already touched upon that. Basically, even if anybody were to kill The Joker, and I mean prime Joker, it would not matter because there would always be some faction trying to, and in most cases, succeeding in, bringing him back. That's why The Wall probably has the best answer to this problem.