I recently found myself wondering just how often superheroes have found themselves on trial for their alleged crimes. I decided to make it an open question to my fellow fans. Please mention any superhero trial stories you can think of!
A Few Ground Rules
1. The trial must have happened in a story that was in continuity when it was published. I will accept such examples even if it later got erased from continuity. For instance, if the Silver Age Superman ever got put on trial in a real court of law, then Ill count that, even though any such story should have been wiped out by his Post-Crisis Reboot twenty years ago. On the other hand, Im not interested in trials that only happened in a DC Elseworlds, or an old issue of one of Marvels What If? titles, or anything like that.
2. The trial could have happened anywhere, in a courtroom on Earth or on some other world entirely, but it must have been a real and legal trial by the standards of the established government that had jurisdiction in that time and place. Suppose a supervillain captures a hero and says mockingly, Im putting you on trial before I execute you! (I believe this has been known to happen.) Unless the villain actually had lawful authority to conduct such a trial as might be the case if Doctor Doom conducted a trial in Latveria while serving as its official Chief of State, for instance then it doesnt count for my purposes.
3. Just being publicly accused of a crime doesnt count. Just being arrested doesnt count. Even a civil lawsuit doesn't count. Likewise, a Congressional Hearing (or any type of hearing) is not the same thing as a "criminal trial." So please dont remind me of the miniseries America Vs. The Justice Society from the mid-1980s. That case never went to trial!
4. Stories from any superhero universe, published by any company, are acceptable.
5. The hero could be on trial in his superhero identity or his civilian identity. Either way is fine, even if the judge had no idea the defendant was a superhero!
P.S. If youre going to mention a trial, please tell us how it ended. Was the hero found guilty, or acquitted, or did the whole thing get interrupted in the middle and was never properly finished as far as we know, or what?
I'll just mention one example, to start the ball rolling. In the four-issue story arc of Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Dark Age, Book 1, we learned that, back in the early 1970s, the Silver Agent was charged with murder, arrested, pilloried in the media as I recall, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed. All perfectly legal. Later it turned out he wasn't guilty after all, and everybody felt just awful about it.
A Few Ground Rules
1. The trial must have happened in a story that was in continuity when it was published. I will accept such examples even if it later got erased from continuity. For instance, if the Silver Age Superman ever got put on trial in a real court of law, then Ill count that, even though any such story should have been wiped out by his Post-Crisis Reboot twenty years ago. On the other hand, Im not interested in trials that only happened in a DC Elseworlds, or an old issue of one of Marvels What If? titles, or anything like that.
2. The trial could have happened anywhere, in a courtroom on Earth or on some other world entirely, but it must have been a real and legal trial by the standards of the established government that had jurisdiction in that time and place. Suppose a supervillain captures a hero and says mockingly, Im putting you on trial before I execute you! (I believe this has been known to happen.) Unless the villain actually had lawful authority to conduct such a trial as might be the case if Doctor Doom conducted a trial in Latveria while serving as its official Chief of State, for instance then it doesnt count for my purposes.
3. Just being publicly accused of a crime doesnt count. Just being arrested doesnt count. Even a civil lawsuit doesn't count. Likewise, a Congressional Hearing (or any type of hearing) is not the same thing as a "criminal trial." So please dont remind me of the miniseries America Vs. The Justice Society from the mid-1980s. That case never went to trial!
4. Stories from any superhero universe, published by any company, are acceptable.
5. The hero could be on trial in his superhero identity or his civilian identity. Either way is fine, even if the judge had no idea the defendant was a superhero!
P.S. If youre going to mention a trial, please tell us how it ended. Was the hero found guilty, or acquitted, or did the whole thing get interrupted in the middle and was never properly finished as far as we know, or what?
I'll just mention one example, to start the ball rolling. In the four-issue story arc of Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Dark Age, Book 1, we learned that, back in the early 1970s, the Silver Agent was charged with murder, arrested, pilloried in the media as I recall, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed. All perfectly legal. Later it turned out he wasn't guilty after all, and everybody felt just awful about it.
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