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The Military Entertainment Complex:
(lemmy.ml)
dc is more guilty of this than marvel, but yeah.
Great. So we're going to be seeing this meme 8 times every month?
There's like two way it could end when a superhuman being try to change the status quo for the good, one is through the courtroom, which is slow and boring, another one is to forcefully take over the "bad" government and force the "good" on people, which we have seen in something like Injustice.
The court decisions are only worth something if the legislative made proper laws and the executive is enforcing them.
But assuming superhuman capabilities the most obvious choice imo. is to use these abilities to help lift the most discriminated out of poverty. And if then the forces of the status quo come to take it away again, then he needs to fight them directly.
superheroes are "benign" fascists, it's fiction that would never work. Even in the gooest, saccharine interpretations I would be the one criticizing superman lol
Also it bleeds into other media. Like the kid's show Paw Patrol. I am obviously far too old to watch the show and while I have enjoyed watching kids stuff from time to time I just haven't been able to spare rhe time for that one.
However based on a cursory knowledge of it and reviews from youtubers the show has some really bad ideas in the subtext.
Firstly the shows basic services in the community are fully privatized. They even have some scenes where outsiders want to call the cops or some other local service only to be reminded by locals that in that community they are done by this kid and his dogs.
Also that kid who commands paw patrol? He is like the avengers in that he lives quite apart from the community he is supposed to be serving.
This is akin to how billionaires don't just live far away... they live REALLY far away and secluded from most people and don't interact with them directly. This is despite the fact that they control extremely critical assets to the community, they are not just isolated from the community, they are also unaccountable to them.
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Fair enough, but watchmen is cool
It's cool because it deconstructs the whole thing, down to having a quasi god as one of the heroes
And having Captain America be The Comedian, because American exceptionalism is a joke.
The Comedian was based on Peacemaker. The initial pitch was that all of the Watchmen would be DC's (at the time) recently-acquired Charlton characters. DC nixed the idea, so Moore just tweaked them and renamed them.
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Ironically Superman is one of the least fascy superheroes, at least when written by anyone who understands the character.
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Some versions do try to tell a more complex story, like The Boys and Invincible. My Hero Academia is also there as an anime
I like One Punch Man. While he is a hero. The fact that he does it for fun and is frustrated at being so powerful makes it really stand out.
Saitama is hilarious in the driest way possible, which is a humor that not everyone can appreciate
The pilot episode where he meets a crazed villain who loses his shit when Saitama tells him 'I am a hero for fun', and goes on a rant on what a stupid backstory that is... before he gets blown to bits with one single punch.
The running joke of him always losing at video games because he just does the same move again and again.
His entire relationship with Genos
Doesn't Invincible literally work with and for a secret government military organization?
Only at first, when he was naive.
then
The shadowy organization betrayed him because hes not fully human, and invincible basically starts fighting them while still fighting the impotent bad guys.
Season 3 spoilers:
Tap for spoiler
Mark realizes Cecil is using them and nearly kills him, leaving Pentagon. There’s an epic episode showing Cecil’s past
TBF, Cecil is like the gold standard for shadowy government operation heads - he’s not corrupt, he listens to experts, he has no hidden agenda besides a full commitment to the Earth’s defense from near-constant alien invasion, and the worst thing he does is not fully trust Mark (with pretty good reason, let’s not lie) and rehabilitate villains by forcing them to use their abilities to protect the Earth. That and teleporter abuse, but he’s earned that.
, and the worst thing he does is
...to farm dead veterans and turn them into cyborg soldiers solely so that he can antagonize Mark and (fail to) make a point about how "above things" he has to be?
Oh and he tapped the water supply of the entire country. Possibly the entire world, who knows. Anyone who's read Batman "protocol" stories how where do those "preparations" lead and how.
That and teleporter abuse, but he’s earned that.
At the cost that has been calculated by the fanbase, in the apparent economy of cities being destroyed on the double? Okay that one I might be willing to concede.
Sadly the only way for an American to get a new thought is to be spoon-fed it through a screen.
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this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
348 points (90.8% liked)
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