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04/07/09
04/07/09
I'm not talking about mutant powers; I'm talking about the ability to actually go out and fight crime. You always see stuff like Spiderman foiling a purse-snatcher or a carjacking or Batman stopping a drug deal or a mugger. I simply do not think that is plausible.
New York City covers more than 300 square miles. Now, consider that a purse snatching takes about a minute. A carjacking takes less than five minutes. A mugging can also take about five minutes. These are not crimes that get broadcast over a police frequency as they are occurring; rather, they are reported after the fact.
Imagine that Spidey is swinging through Murray Hill, looking for criminals to stop. How is he going to stop a bodega from getting robbed in Marble Hill in the Bronx?
Even Superman can't be saving a kitten from a tree and stopping a hand-to-hand at the same time.
Costumed vigilantism simply cannot prevent your average crime. It is not feasible and this lack of realism in comic books is too much for my suspension of disbelief to bear.
04/07/09
Also, the bread and butter of a superhero comic is the idea of continuity. These people aren't here to completely eradicate all crime; if they did, the series would be over. They're there because they have a personal need to feel like they are making a difference. The actual amount of societal impact isn't the focus of the comic, it's about the character's growth, or their challenges, or their downfall.
I will admit, however, that foiling a bank robbery or the machinations of a super-villain make more sense than keeping someone from being beat up in an alley for their wallet.
04/07/09
Take a gas-station hold-up for example. You always see the videotape of the robbery. But the thing is, that's not a live feed. It's a videotape. You're seeing something that already happened.
The typical vigilante origin that is always shown - you know, the one that leads to the superhero first being declared a menace by the papers and then hailed as a hero by the masses - it simply cannot happen.
Also, drug dealers don't discuss their plans while hanging out on the stoop; they talk about that girl that they either having been trying to hook up with, just hooked up with, want to hook up with, or wouldn't touch with a ten-foot crack pipe. Is Batman going to beat up two guys hanging on the stoop for talking about sex?
Those drug deals - they take place in poorly-lit nearly windowless stairwells in Section 8 housing. There are no cameras and usually a few fluorescent bulbs are busted. The lack of visibility makes it perfect for doing hand-offs. In the Bronx, there are tons of those buildings.
How is Batman supposed to foil crime in those circumstances? Just hang out in the A stairwell of Building 13 of the Morrisania Air Rights project until someone hands someone else some dope? Maybe there won't be a handoff there. Maybe it will be in the B Stairwell. Or maybe it'll be at the Kennedy Fried Chicken on Webster Ave.
It's completely ridiculous. Costumed vigilantism is impossible.
04/07/09
In those cases, the heroes have extra powers to assist them. Spider Man has his spider sense, that alerts him to when danger is near, so it is an extra trigger to let him know if something is about to go down. No, he can't stop every crime, but even if he stops 1 per night, that is something.
Batman attempts to stop crime at the source...he has informants that lets him know when crimes will occur, and he stops them as they happen, or before.
And of course superman has super hearing, vision, etc, that lets him know basically everything going on in a wide area. (just a few examples).
04/07/09
And while the grab itself it just a few seconds, the approach --> grab --> get away is more into the minutes. That's the time window that a superhero has to foil most crimes (purposeful murder not included).
04/07/09
It's bad enough that that area is underserved by greenspaces and farmer's markets, has high incident rates of asthma and lead poisoning, has poor schools, and terrible air quality from automobile exhaust and waste processing facilities.
Now we're going to have Superman give everyone in the area a daily X-ray, not to mention just ignore the Fourth Amendment privacy concerns. When everything north of 130th Street becomes a giant cancer cluster, will you still advocate Superman irradiating Latino, Sino-American and African American neighborhoods in the name of Truth, Justice and the White American Way?
04/07/09
Further, if the crime incidence is such that, on any given street at any given time, there is a purse-snatching or a car-jacking or a mugging or a corner store-holdup, then that is a city in chaos. We're not talking about Detroit; we're talking Juarez.
04/07/09
Plus, Superman lives in a fictional Metropolis, where it's convenient to find crime because it's so open and clean and what not.
Aaaand not all vigilantes fight crimes like robbery and what not. Iron Man fights terrorists. And as for detecting crime, Daredevil has his special powers to hear crime happening nearby.
04/07/09
And I'm sure that to help him find crimes to foil, Matt Murdoch doesn't just go through his filing cabinet to find a client to beat up on. Sure, it might not be in the comic book, but neither is Matt Murdock taking a dump. Does that mean that Daredevil doesn't poop. Daredevil is a walking violation of the ethical canon and should be disbarred.
Except for Superman, most superheroes don't start at the top. They spend a long time foiling street crime, building a reputation, first as whispered urban legend (see Batman [Tim Burton 1989 version]), then as local hero (see Spiderman), and then, only after beating up a certain number of thugs do they garner enough media attention to make the front pages of the newspapers. Occasionally, a superhero will do an apprenticeship - you know, like Robin or Elektra. But usually, it's a lot of beating up shoplifters. The only saving grace is that sometimes, there's a montage to speed up the process.
Supervillains don't just issue ultimatums and spell out their nefarious plans to any juicer in a leotard. It's got to be a superhero. Otherwise, what does it say about the villain if he's just fighting some schmo in a Hanes tee-shirt with an iron-on of a fist?
04/07/09
Street crime happens all the time in big cities. It's not a matter of stopping every instance, but finding a perch where you can watch a high-incidence area, and bust everyone you spot. The fact that you're doing it will deter some percentage of criminal activity (just don't use the _same_ perch all the time, or they'll all just find new places to do their thing. To prove the point, there's an episode of B:TAS where Robin complains that they've spent the entire night watching the streets without finding so much as a simple street theft to foil.
But that sort of thing is just time-filler as far as being a costumed superhero goes. The main point is to be there to deal with the costumed supervillains. When one of them starts something, they call in the big guns. The rest of the time, those "big guns" just do a little target practice.
@OMG! Ponies!:
You're assuming that Superman actually emits X-Rays from his eyes, when it's likely just a passive scan (the universe is flooded with them already, so it's not like he really needs to add more just to see what sort of underwear Lois is wearing).
04/07/09
Maybe you'd like to have Superman give you a zap or two a day of his harmless X-ray vision. I don't think you'll be making such bold claims when you have a tumor the size of a cauliflower growing out of your ear.
Not everyone has a boatload of cash that they inherited from Daddy Dearest and a boy toy to spend the evening with. Without those gadgets, Batman would be just another gym rat in tights, waiting around and looking to get into a fight.
You're assuming that with Batman flitting around or Spiderman swinging through the urban landscape, criminals will just pack up their stuff and skip town. They could just find more private ways to perpetrate their crimes.
When I need some "circus tickets", I don't just ask random strangers on the street if they have any. I ask someone I know if they can talk to their friend about getting some "circus tickets". And, I get the "circus tickets" delivered to my door. No window facing the street. A guy buzzes my intercom and I let him upstairs. No phone call. Nothing to show up on a radar. Just a couple of text messages. And I get "circus tickets". From the privacy of my apartment.
Think of all the ways you can communicate. It took several years for the police to figure out that you can use Craigslist for all sorts of illegality. If it's a line of communication, it can be used for crime. I wouldn't be surprised if XBox Live chat was used for drug dealing. They can't all be monitored.
The "high crime spot" is everywhere and nowhere all at once. Plus, you just don't see much purse-snatching anymore.