Anyone else remember that one time Superman gave someone a lobotomy?
A lot of Superman's iconic foes have stuck with him through 75 years of comic book stories. Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Brainiac, and, of course, Mr. Mxyzptlk to name a few. As time went on new villains were introduced and some managed to stick around. For every failed villain like Titano or Equus, there's Livewire and Doomsday and all those fake Supermen, and today's topic of discussion: The Elite. Manchester Black, his sister Vera Black, Coldcast, The Menagerie, and The Hat. This cavalcade of punks used their superpowers to murder criminals in Punisher-like fashion. This obviously clashes with Superman's Superman-like fashion of crime fighting which is "let them rot in jail". Their ideologies finally come to blows when Manchester and The Elite challenge Superman to fight. On the moon. Well, Jupiter's moon.
At Superman's request the fight is on a moon to ensure no citizens will be hurt. And at The Elite's request the whole fight is televised so that The Elite can prove themselves more effective than Superman. Taking advantage of being on TV, Superman devises a plan to prove his methods effective. By using his super speed to attack each member of The Elite, and his X-Ray vision to strike them in the pin-point area to render them unconscious, Superman appears to have killed Manchester's teammates. Startled, Manchester lashes out and claims Superman violated his code, that he was never supposed to stoop to their level. Superman finishes his performance by using his heat vision to disable Manchester's psychic powers.
You see, Superman can focus his heat vision into an almost unseen laser. By using X-Ray vision he was able to find the anomaly on Manchester's brain that housed the superpowers and use Manch's eyes as a magnified glass. Using his heat vision, Superman burns Manch's power lobe from his brain. Ridding him of his powers in an "Instant Lobotomy". Superman has performed this trick only two or three other times, but it's always the showstopper he needs it to be.
Following this, Manchester claims Superman is no better than he. Manchester claims he will never stop coming after Superman. No matter what. And Superman? He wouldn't have it any other way. "And I swear on my soul, until my dream where dignity, honor, and justice becomes the reality we all share I'll never stop fighting. Ever".
This moment is important to me for a few reasons. Much like "Injustice" or "The Justice Lords" it shows how effective Superman would be as a killer, but it has the added bonus of actually serving a point. You see, this story "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way" was Joe Kelly's answer to The Authority. The Authority-written by Warren Ellis and Mark Millar (AKA the two most depressing talents in the industry)-basically was a book about God-like superheroes who "realistically" struggle with the morality of their powers. If you have the power to topple a terrorist organization or flip a country over, why save kittens out of trees. Ellis and Millar love to deconstruct the idea of "the superhero" and tell readers how silly and irresponsible "the superhero" is when they aren't being written to be "complex".
In this story, Joe Kelly basically tells us "no, superheroes aren't misusing their powers, they are being ideals". Superman-THE superhero-represents the better nature of us all. Having to fake a murder spree was hard for Superman, but he did it prove a point. In a world of powerful people, killing is easy. Anger is easy. And that's why there is nothing good, productive, or sensible about it. If we-the superpowered-kill people, how are we different from the men we imprison? Do we only continue the long chain of frivolous murders? Or are we as a nation so desensitized that we'd quickly take the wrong path because it is easier?
Superman isn't boring, he's a walking bible. And I don't mean in a religious way, I mean he represents what is righteous in this world. One might say it's easy for him to stop crime because he's so powerful, but it would be ten times easier if he murdered people. Superman teaches us that the hard way of doing something is the only way that makes progress. And when we can all believe progress is reachable, we all become a little more super.
Thanks for reading.
At Superman's request the fight is on a moon to ensure no citizens will be hurt. And at The Elite's request the whole fight is televised so that The Elite can prove themselves more effective than Superman. Taking advantage of being on TV, Superman devises a plan to prove his methods effective. By using his super speed to attack each member of The Elite, and his X-Ray vision to strike them in the pin-point area to render them unconscious, Superman appears to have killed Manchester's teammates. Startled, Manchester lashes out and claims Superman violated his code, that he was never supposed to stoop to their level. Superman finishes his performance by using his heat vision to disable Manchester's psychic powers.
You see, Superman can focus his heat vision into an almost unseen laser. By using X-Ray vision he was able to find the anomaly on Manchester's brain that housed the superpowers and use Manch's eyes as a magnified glass. Using his heat vision, Superman burns Manch's power lobe from his brain. Ridding him of his powers in an "Instant Lobotomy". Superman has performed this trick only two or three other times, but it's always the showstopper he needs it to be.
Following this, Manchester claims Superman is no better than he. Manchester claims he will never stop coming after Superman. No matter what. And Superman? He wouldn't have it any other way. "And I swear on my soul, until my dream where dignity, honor, and justice becomes the reality we all share I'll never stop fighting. Ever".
This moment is important to me for a few reasons. Much like "Injustice" or "The Justice Lords" it shows how effective Superman would be as a killer, but it has the added bonus of actually serving a point. You see, this story "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way" was Joe Kelly's answer to The Authority. The Authority-written by Warren Ellis and Mark Millar (AKA the two most depressing talents in the industry)-basically was a book about God-like superheroes who "realistically" struggle with the morality of their powers. If you have the power to topple a terrorist organization or flip a country over, why save kittens out of trees. Ellis and Millar love to deconstruct the idea of "the superhero" and tell readers how silly and irresponsible "the superhero" is when they aren't being written to be "complex".
In this story, Joe Kelly basically tells us "no, superheroes aren't misusing their powers, they are being ideals". Superman-THE superhero-represents the better nature of us all. Having to fake a murder spree was hard for Superman, but he did it prove a point. In a world of powerful people, killing is easy. Anger is easy. And that's why there is nothing good, productive, or sensible about it. If we-the superpowered-kill people, how are we different from the men we imprison? Do we only continue the long chain of frivolous murders? Or are we as a nation so desensitized that we'd quickly take the wrong path because it is easier?
Superman isn't boring, he's a walking bible. And I don't mean in a religious way, I mean he represents what is righteous in this world. One might say it's easy for him to stop crime because he's so powerful, but it would be ten times easier if he murdered people. Superman teaches us that the hard way of doing something is the only way that makes progress. And when we can all believe progress is reachable, we all become a little more super.
Thanks for reading.
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