Here’s a question I struggle with, how do you respond when people dismiss superheroes as inherently fascist? Obviously those arguments are wrong, going back to the earliest mystery men, that’s like ninety years of history. Sure, some people dubbed superheroes by themselves or the media are authoritarians, I won’t “no true Scotsmen” this, but after ninety years, saying there is one one kind of person who is a superhero is so reductive. Not everyone is just a cop in spandex. But when people denounce the whole enterprise I don’t have a good way of shutting them down. Partly this is because I do agree there is a danger of celebrating “great men” so I don’t know if I would be able to be firm. I know plenty of superheroes are folks trying their best to help the oppressed, but it’s hard to speak with nuance when someone outright dismisses the very concepts. You can’t out argue an unthinking wall.

Sorry if this is incoherent, but I keep getting triggered by bad internet hot takes (which I immediately feel embarrassed of but the meat computer that is a human brain doesn’t listen to shame) and while I know enough not to get involved in pointless internet fights, I would like something to reassure myself. And as someone who has to deal with the public, I suspect you have had to deal with those kinds of hot takes on occasion.

When people bring this idea up. That superheroes are fascistic. That they serve at the behest of a corrupt, statist system and are therefore complicit or even supportive of its crimes. I would simply like to point ONE thing out for them.

The ABSOLUTELY WORSE ALTERNATIVE

(A picture of one of the JLA's more stacked lineups, just so we all know what kind of power level we're working with)

You might not be "no true scotsman" about it. But I will. A cop in spandex isn't a superhero, it's a supervillain. We already have a word for it. Those who kill and maim for their own version of justice are villains, those who PRETEND to do so for the greater good can only hide behind that affectation for so long before the obvious nature of what they're doing and why becomes too obvious to ignore. Superheroes are responsible for ending the immediate threat of violence upon people who cannot defend themselves and then turning over the perpetrators to justice.

That's where people tend to have the hang up. Because our justice systems are imperfect, they always have been, they probably always will be. The current American justice system has as many problems as I've got hairs and a list of its own crimes a mile long. So people see institutions like the Justice League supporting it as being fascist in nature by default. Guilt by association. Ok, let's follow that thought.

Assuming your are not the kind of total idiot who thinks crime and violence would just disappear in whatever form of radical utopia you happen to subscribe to. What do you DO with the criminals? Even ASSUMING we get rid of ALL money, ALL material goods, everyone is PERFECTLY cool with you breaking in to the house where they sleep and carting off everything that isn't nailed down. What do you do with the murderers? And extra complication, you now have to implement it RIGHT NOW with ZERO underlying social, political or legal reform.

That's what people are asking the Justice League to do. They are asking them to create a PERFECT system of criminal law enforcement that is at once totally disconnected from the system that all of US have created and 'support' by living in the societies that contain them while ALSO not being tyrannical or overbearing to the good order of society. They want Superman to come down from on high, stop the guy who is melting the front of the bank before he kills somebody and then find the perfect way to make him repay his debt to society that no one will have any disagreements with that is somehow totally disconnected from the infrastructure of justice that we ourselves have created.

They're asking Superman to be a tyrant, just a tyrant that happens to agree with whatever form of radicalism they happen to believe in. I'm sorry but that's not Superman's job. He's not the president, he's not a politician, no, he's not even a cop. Legally speaking he is not beholden to ANYONE'S political opinions. If we want to fix the justice system then that is an US problem, and superheroes already do more than the vast, VAST majority of us to correct for bad actors in the justice system. You want police reform. Go vote. Because Superman is not going to crack open the capital building to dictate your political philosophy to congress and we should all be VERY scared if he does.

Superheroes are our PROTECTORS. They keep people ALIVE and SAFE to the best of their abilities. Everything else is on us, that's OUR job.