Should superheroes (of either gender) be "political"?

[BrianWilly]

The hero is symbolic of maintaining the status quo through enforcing government-imposed law. The superhero is the ideal fascist symbol because he/she not only maintains the status-quo through overt acts of violence, but elevates it to a mythic level in the eyes of the public. They maintain the law, and often rob the individual criminal of personal freedoms which are owed to them.

What personal freedoms are you referring to that superheroes routinely rob the public of? The freedom to mug and kill other people and sell drugs and kidnap and abuse and harass?

The state is still the final judgement, since Superman and Batman and all of them still hand over the criminal to the police at the end of the story. Neither dispel justice, thats for the LAW to decide. Otherwise Superman would have a prison in his fortress of solitude, then or he'd just melt people's faces off. The end message of most comic stories is that the government is the true justice: the superheroes are just agents of it. The superhero, even as an ultimate symbol of individual power, is still subject to the will of the state. Most heroes may have a moral problem with murder, except when its state sanctioned (such as war, or the execution of a criminal). With great power, comes great responsibility to maintain state law.

If Superman took it under his own power to imprison every wrongdoer he sees in his own private fortress of solitude with no representation or input from any other voice but his own, how is he not being a overtly fascist himself? Because he's not a part of "the state?" He just created his own state!

What is your definition of a superhero actually dispensing justice? For Batman to break the necks of every criminal he sees and for Superman to "melt people's faces off" whenever he feels like it? How is that not different from them becoming their own state and their own laws? What is your ideal representation of justice being done here? Because the way you're presenting it sounds like a choice between A)fascism B)other kinds of fascism and C)barbarism.

 

[VICTORVONDOOMX]

Now that being said, what I would not want is blatant pandering to a political party. A comic book character extolling the virtues of the Democratic or Republican party would be the wrong forum to present your leanings. Superheroes aren't tools for a political party, they're meant to be enjoyed by everyone.

I agree.

Unfortunatly, due to the self-serving morons we have to choose from as "political representatives" and "leaders" in our countries, we often mistake extolling the virtues of one side or another as being the only outlet for being political. Because of this vacuume of leadership, we have forgotten that actions without words can also be political statements. Of course, we haven't actually been able to observe this from alleged leaders in the modern age. Therefore "enlightened" authors who wish to extoll the virtues of their particular worldview often do not recognize the character's ability to express ideology through actions and we typically get a ham-fisted "good guys all believe like the X Political Party." (see G. Morrison's... can it really be called "writing" as opposed to just muddying the waters of characterization?)
And that is both stupid and annoying.

 

[Caliber]

Superheroes on some level are above politics to me. Cap, for example, could be caught up in the issues like the iraq war but he finds a way to say I don't for either side or view.