Superman, the Flash, Iron Man, Batman, Spider-Man–these are all household names widely regarded as comics’ best heroes. They come in to save the day and beat the villain no matter what. But what if they didn’t? Are these superheroes morally obligated to be superheroes?
Iris Chiofolo answers, “I think it depends on how much it affects the superhero’s life and how it affects the one they’re saving. If it has a big impact on your personal life, it is not an obligation.“
A very sensible answer, Chiofolo may seem cold in nature, but it is a fully justified response.
If you were one day bestowed with the powers of flight and super-strength and could zip away to any crime in the world to stop it, would you? The easy answer is yes–but that’s not the entire answer. With the sheer vastness of our planet and the number of people on it, there will always be crime happening. By subscribing to such a goal, you would be spending every waking second running to save people’s lives, thereby ruining your own. It is just unfeasible to put your life on pause for the goodness of the world.
Now, if you witness a crime and are able to stop it, most would feel that there is a moral obligation to help, an ideology shared by Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben. In witnessing a violent crime, stepping in to help would be the only human response. But in being a superhuman, your ability to help is greatly extended; while normally only able to help in a 10-foot radius, superheroes can treat the whole world as their range. So, is it now your responsibility to be the guardian of every person on Planet Earth? No. There have to be limits.
The Flash, for example, has enough speed to circle the globe continually. Yet, he doesn’t: he works solely in the fictional Central City. But not every crime is in Central City. There could be a stabbing in West London, of which he can run to instantly–yet he won’t. Not because he wants to let people die, but because he himself wants to live. In the Kingdom Come universe, the Flash has started to circle every inch of the globe, constantly surveilling the world for crimes. He is said to live between the ticks of a second, everywhere, all at once. There is peace. But, he is no longer a man. He is a presence. He does not live.
Let’s apply this to the real world. The tangible equivalency of a superhero is a doctor: always on call and saving lives. Is a student obligated to study 10 years of medical school to become a doctor, regardless of passion, for the sole reason that there is a lack of doctors in the present world? Obviously not. Even with their ability and the need for doctors, confining a person to duty is entirely unjust. To be forced into danger, forced to be on stand-by, forced to travel for every person who is injured–why, that is nothing short of bondage. And that is exactly the expectation we put on a superhero.