Glenn Hauman: Should The Never-Ending Battle Have Casualties?
With the imminent arrival of Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, a lot of the old arguments generated from the previous film are being taken out and argued. Most prominently on one side of the argument is Mark Hughes filing at Forbes, he other is most eloquently represented by Mark Waid, who has the advantage of, y’know, actually having written the character numerous times. (for starters) and Kevin Powers.
@markhughesfilms @Forbes I can't believe a company like Forbes gave you a forum to whine about how you lost a Twitter argument. Get lost.
— Mark Waid (@MarkWaid) March 17, 2016
Very little amuses me more than being told I "fundamentally misunderstand" Superman. (Though this is NOT an invite.)
— Mark Waid (@MarkWaid) March 17, 2016
"Superman should champion internment camps because he did in a story in 1943." See how dumb that sounds?
— Mark Waid (@MarkWaid) March 17, 2016
Regular readers of this site can probably guess where we come down, and yet, we still understand the conflict leading so many to wondering. A strange visitor with godlike powers that was sent here by his father from above is known all over the world for his great deeds, constantly watching over us and protecting us from great evil while walking among us, and yet people say it isn’t enough– he doesn’t reflect the world we live in today. The man on the street can’t identify with him, and so his story must be changed to become relevant to a mass audience. In light of this, it seems only fair to ask…
Should Jesus kill?
Oh, wait. That probably should have read “Superman”.
Surely you can understand the confusion. People go every week to a special spot and plunk down money to hear stories about his life and teaching by example, be entertained, and hopefully enlightened.
And yet, it does seem that we’re hearing a different version of those types of stories a lot lately, doesn’t it? “Superman should kill people, and fight only for Americans!” “Jesus would take a submachine gun to those Roman soldiers trying to put him on the cross, and then haul ass after Judas!” “Superman will protect our way of life by any means necessary!” “Christ commands us to hate gays!” “Kindergarten teachers should carry guns!” “Soldiers should waterboard family members!”
The people who say those things are fundamentally missing the point. And what they say shows not only that they don’t understand, but that they are crude, materialistic, self-serving, cruel, and antithetical to the teachings of their stories. Rather than aspire to their level of goodness and hope, they insist on dragging the hero down to their level after a quick mud bath for good measure, because it’s what they would do themselves.
All of this would be bad enough, but it gets worse. Because lately, these same sorts of people who say Superman should kill have also been using another phrase about someone else:
“He says what I really believe. He says what everyone wants to say.”
Yeah, that’s what worries us… that many people really have been having thoughts like that, and have been all along, along with other thoughts they wouldn’t dare say out loud, and they were just waiting for someone to come along and let them express their innermost desires. A man of wealth and taste, who doesn’t feel ashamed about flaunting it.
As it turns out oh-so-conveniently for the theme of this column, there’s a comic book character who’s been making a splash in other media who does the exact same thing.
Maybe you’ve heard of him. Hope you guessed his name.
