Tweet
Re: Re: Re: Re: Superman, Killer...?
As one of those comic buffs I think I can speak for the record that Superman has a code AGAINST killing. It's actually a pretty major part of the character and has been used as the main point in many stories. In the Elseworld's "Kingdom Come" book they even make a point of saying "They chose the hero who would kill over the one who wouldn't and look what it got them" in reference to humanity's seeming growing preference and ease with the notion of killing.
In the early days when Superman was first coming into his own he was shown as a violent character, but from pretty much the 1940's on he was shown as sticking to a strictly "do not kill" mentality. This lasted until the late 80'e early '90's when some genius at DC decided that Superman would kill in an instance where he felt he had no other choice (flying in the face of a tradition that was probably older than the writer himself and probably owing more to the popularity of characters like Wolverine, Punisher, etc. than anything else).
In that instance Superman killed 3 Phantom Zone Criminals from an alternate reality each of which possessed the equivalent of the Pre-Crisis Superman’s power level. A level that was much much greater than the Superman of the comics at the time possessed. He predictably felt a great deal of guilt over this and went a bit mad for awhile and ended up exiling himself from Earth for a time. It was during this time that he developed his resolve to never kill again and coincidentally enough tested it out shortly thereafter when he ended up fighting in an alien gladiator game, which called for the loser to be killed. He refused to do so and ended up leading a revolt that toppled the alien empire.
After this the only other time he took a life was against Doomsday and since obviously neither he nor Doomsday remained dead after this I’m not sure how seriously that can be used as a barometer regarding his resolve not to kill. The comic references him commenting that he would stop Doomsday no matter what it took, but since both seemed to be pretty equal in strength I’m not even sure you can say he intentionally killed him. Both combatants simply beat away at each other until they fell.
At any rate, long story short, the one major thing that the characters of Batman and Superman have in common is their reverence for life. Neither kill for any reason. Hence the current schism between Wonder Woman and Clark & Bruce. She killed and perhaps even justifiably so, but neither one of them can condone her act.
“Smallville” however is an animal of a different color. I’ve often wondered over the years if any of the writers were even familiar with the character beyond the movie they probably saw as children if then. Their reverence for the subject matter is often in question in my opinion. Also in my opinion I think they try too hard to make the character someone others can relate to much more than they try to make him someone people can look up to. People seem to be much better with the idea of killing than they used to and I have to echo the sentiment mentioned earlier from “Kingdom Come”… "They chose the hero who would kill over the one who wouldn't and look what it got them"
Originally posted by MidgardDragon
Superman has killed super-villains in the comics before, you'd have to ask the comic buffs for specific references. I'm not talking about in Smallville, but yes Clark has killed Zoners before, and that is in line with Superman killing supervillains in the past. Killing is usually only used if it happens by accident or there is no other way to destroy or eliminate the threat, but it has happened.
Superman has killed super-villains in the comics before, you'd have to ask the comic buffs for specific references. I'm not talking about in Smallville, but yes Clark has killed Zoners before, and that is in line with Superman killing supervillains in the past. Killing is usually only used if it happens by accident or there is no other way to destroy or eliminate the threat, but it has happened.
In the early days when Superman was first coming into his own he was shown as a violent character, but from pretty much the 1940's on he was shown as sticking to a strictly "do not kill" mentality. This lasted until the late 80'e early '90's when some genius at DC decided that Superman would kill in an instance where he felt he had no other choice (flying in the face of a tradition that was probably older than the writer himself and probably owing more to the popularity of characters like Wolverine, Punisher, etc. than anything else).
In that instance Superman killed 3 Phantom Zone Criminals from an alternate reality each of which possessed the equivalent of the Pre-Crisis Superman’s power level. A level that was much much greater than the Superman of the comics at the time possessed. He predictably felt a great deal of guilt over this and went a bit mad for awhile and ended up exiling himself from Earth for a time. It was during this time that he developed his resolve to never kill again and coincidentally enough tested it out shortly thereafter when he ended up fighting in an alien gladiator game, which called for the loser to be killed. He refused to do so and ended up leading a revolt that toppled the alien empire.
After this the only other time he took a life was against Doomsday and since obviously neither he nor Doomsday remained dead after this I’m not sure how seriously that can be used as a barometer regarding his resolve not to kill. The comic references him commenting that he would stop Doomsday no matter what it took, but since both seemed to be pretty equal in strength I’m not even sure you can say he intentionally killed him. Both combatants simply beat away at each other until they fell.
At any rate, long story short, the one major thing that the characters of Batman and Superman have in common is their reverence for life. Neither kill for any reason. Hence the current schism between Wonder Woman and Clark & Bruce. She killed and perhaps even justifiably so, but neither one of them can condone her act.
“Smallville” however is an animal of a different color. I’ve often wondered over the years if any of the writers were even familiar with the character beyond the movie they probably saw as children if then. Their reverence for the subject matter is often in question in my opinion. Also in my opinion I think they try too hard to make the character someone others can relate to much more than they try to make him someone people can look up to. People seem to be much better with the idea of killing than they used to and I have to echo the sentiment mentioned earlier from “Kingdom Come”… "They chose the hero who would kill over the one who wouldn't and look what it got them"
Comment