BvS Is anyone else not excited about Superman and Batman? I feel nothing but dread.

[The Question]

Not asking about the masses, I have many own theories as to why there is a mixed reaction(one of which being cinema history). I'm talking to anyone bringing up the point here.

Well, even among fans I'd argue that, for the most part, Captain America isn't as big a deal as Superman. Captain America is great, don't get me wrong, but Superman is something else.

Are we talking about laws or are we talking about virtue ethics here.

Neither. I'm talking about public perception. Most people hold soldiers to a different standard than civilians, and that is very deeply ingrained into our culture. Captain America killing a bad guy in the middle of a fight doesn't feel as weird because he is of the military, his origin is tied to the military, and he is cloaked in the trappings of the military. Superman, on the other hand, is a civilian. A journalist and a farmer. These have very cultural meaning for people. They evokes a different emotional reaction on a very visceral level.

Here's a question, would things change if superman joined the army?
(Let's ignore that he was in actually working with if not for the national guard in this film, it's kinda confusing).

No, because then the reaction would be "why the **** is Superman joining the army? This is weird."

It's not a simple thing of "If you're in the military, it's okay to kill people. If you're not, it isn't." What it is is that:

A) People, rightfully so, have different expectations of and reactions to the military than they do for civilians.

B) Captain America being tied to the military is an inherent, ingrained aspect of the character, so people have different expectations of him. Its not that being in the military suddenly absolves him of something people would otherwise consider a sin, it's that it defines who he is as a person to the extent that it doesn't feel weird for him to occasionally kill in the heat of battle.

Superman, on the other hand, is defined by being the ideal of civilian peacetime morality. He's not a soldier. He's a farmer. He's a reporter. He is a man of the people who works on behalf of the common man, and he makes this country better with his labor and his words. These are the things that define who he is. People have different expectations of that than they do a soldier. And him becoming a soldier would be very weird and would go against who he is and what he's about.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Oh, so Superman II sucked then?

Yes.

Not a fan of any of the old films.

 

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