Great Writing. Make Superman a Murderer.

[kal-el's bane]

Wow, I think it is a rare occasion when I hear or read about people whining so much. Someone else said it well, that when Clark gets smacked around too much, people say he's a wimp, but when something like the Titan incident happens and he's a cold-blooded killer. Yes there is a happy medium, and it is one that doesn't involve Clark murdering off his villians, and the writers have found and used that a few times, as with the phantoms being returned to the zone via Jor-el's crystal. However, the biggest whining I have heard is out of people who say that Superman is this way, or that way in the comics, and then spout off some random hot air that is completely unfactual or simply utter speculation--"well doesn't superman do this in the comics???" If you don't know don't guess. I have been a collector for almost 20 years, and I haven't missed a Supes issue yet, and that includes all of the biggest cross-overs. Superman has killed a sentient human(or rather group of) once in his life. It was Zod and his two subordinates, from an alternate dimension, AFTER they had slaughtered the population of an alternate Earth. He exposed them to GOLD K and then realizing that if they got their powers back that they would kill again--they vowed as much--he executed them with GREEN K, and it drove Superman to madness. Now, that being said, Superman, and that includes our young friend Clark Kent here, would never kill intentionally again. Doomsday? you ask. Read Superman #75, he asks Lois with his dying breath IF he stopped him, and by the way, Doomsday just happened to be immortal. SO he didn't kill him. Accidental death is something that even real people, in real situations are not CRIMINALLY charged with, especially in self defence situations. So, if Titan attacks Clark, and in the defense of his life, Titan dies by falling over and busting his head open (not that that would have happened) Clark wouldn't have been responsible. When the shapeshifter from way back in Season One or Two came at Clark and was impaled on a wooden stake, he didn't kill her, her death was the accidental result of battle. In the case of our undead military android-cyborg whatever you want to call him Wes Keenan, Clark defended himself, yes, he had other means at his disposal, but used a more violent one it could be argued, it resulted in the apperent malfunction of whatever circuitry or programming had been put into Wes. Now, with Wes' dying breath, he spouts off a sequence of letters and numbers, which appeared to me, and this wasn't really mentioned in any of the other replies, to be a self destruct sequence, or program termination sequence. Because of the pain that he was in, it appears like Wes simply chose to die. So if anyone wants to challenge me on Superman comic history, I'd like to win an argument, and if people will call Clark a killer for this, than there are hundreds of killers walking the streets today for the unfortunate death of someone during an act of self defense, that was not inflicted by the defendee, but just that...ACCIDENTAL.

[LexLuv180]

How fast can someone think of all these solutions in seconds? He knew a nuke like force would be the only way to get through that field, and to protect himself he needed to get through that field, therefore...

The impact ended up frying some of the electronics in Wes. That's not murder, that's the domino effect.

[bobser]

Originally posted by Timester
Uh?

The comics is full of super-powered beings at Clark's level and he doesn't go rampage killing them.

Has anyone forgot that Clark has super-breathing and super-speed? It seems so.

Why would he need to kill them?

It'd make for good fights and actions, also giving him a chance to wail on someone with full strength and give us something to get stoked about.

[Mello Penelo]

Big dumb murderer. He killed Wes Keenan. He kills everyone. This must be the Justice Lords universe.

Originally posted by msleggie
Superman does kill, he just kills super-human or alien beings. He doesn't just outright murder anyone who is inocent.

Where did you hear that? The real Clark (not this Smallville homo) doesn't kill anyone. When he killed Doomsday, he was so wracked with guilt he could barely function.

[Mischael12]

Technically Wes was deal already anyway.

[Mello Penelo]

Wes wasn't dead. He was taken from Afghanistan half dead, nursed back to health, then cannibalized.

[Raistlin]

As soon as it happened I thought, "I can't wait to see the Superman doesn't kill" thread.

1. Clark isn't Superman.
2. Superman doesn't kill humans. Super-alien hybrids are on their own.

Nice way of putting it.