Benevolence

Superheroes are seen as protectors of the innocent, upholders of the law, so on and so forth. But if we just ignore that childlike ignorance and really think what the existence of someone like Superman would do to our society, we'd find things could be a lot scarier. I'm not even referring to "Man of Steel" levels of collateral damage, I'm talking about the severe disadvantage Earth would have against something like The Justice League.

In many instances in the DC Universe, the US government has devised ways of harming the Justice League. Often these plans are made by Amanda Waller, a government agent who has organized anti-superhero agencies like The Suicide Squad, Cadmus, Checkmate, and Argus. During the years that Lex Luthor was president of the United States, Waller was appointed as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs. Some of her actions have resulted in political tampering, vigilante murder, public propaganda, and kidnapping. Waller's argument is simple: If the Justice League ever turned against humanity, they would win. It's not rare for superheroes to become possessed or duplicated in an attempt to hurt innocent people or stage an incident that'd ruin their reputation. With the Justice League's satellite base-The Watchtower-harboring living weapons and a mounted-on laser pointed down at the Earth, it's not out of the question to be cautious.

It's not just the government who fear an angered Justice League, one of the world's most renowned heroes has had his doubts, too. Batman was one of the founding seven members of the Justice League and ever since the heroes united together Batman had been secretly studying every member's strengths and weaknesses. In 2000's "JLA: Tower of Babel" storyline, one of Batman's enemies-Ra's al Ghul-stole files from the Dark Knight containing contingency plans against the Justice League. Each file described how Batman could neutralize each JL member in the instance that any of them were to go rogue. Obviously the JL survived these plans thanks to Batman, but they didn't ignore the Batman's betrayal of trust. While he would eventually be welcomed back into the Justice League, Batman's relationship with his fellow heroes took time to heal.

While a superhero team like The Avengers has worked side-by-side governments before, The Justice League is notorious for lying outside any government, avoiding political affairs, and only involving themselves in wars when people are caught in the crossfire. Other than those instances, The Justice League is a group of dangerous people looking down at the Earth from a giant cannon floating in space. To a modern world, the only trust people could have on these heroes would be their word. Their actions may be pure, but too much power eventually leads to one of two things: War or domination. It's easy to recognize superheroes as the good guys and super-villains as the bad guys, but when the world of comic books mirrors are own society, it's clear that any person with the power to destroy should be feared. Thanks for reading.

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