Batman vs Superman: Does Incorruptible Beings Exist?

With the impending Blu-ray release of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”, I decided that I wanted to throw my two cents in surrounding the actual plot of the film. This is about the age old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely but if given the choice who should be in charge of this corruptible power and is there someone who is incorruptible? Furthermore, is that someone Clark Kent? Lex Luther Jr. believes that only humans should possess this type of power and much like Batman, he wants to destroy the threat of super powered beings before they have the opportunity to destroy the earth but unlike Batman, Lex seeks to hold this power only for himself.

But behind his deceit, he proposes some valid questions. Should any man with God like abilities have control over who lives and who dies especially when salvation to one means destruction to another? Why does this being get to decide who is worthy of salvation and should it have free reign over the entire world without adhering to procedures and protocols put in place by the United Nations? Should this individual that is clearly susceptible to manipulation be allowed to live among us without any counter measures in place for the day Superman puts his needs before humanities? Superman has been controlled many ways throughout the vast history of comics, movies, and animation. He has been manipulated by distress, magic, kryptonite, and a variety of other things. Should this man remain unchecked in a world that he could conquer with little to no effort; whether under his own volition or the manipulation of another?

Even within the latest cinematic installment Superman has proven to be reckless and controlled by his emotions; he dives into situations without giving proper thought into what damage he may cause. A majority of the issues surrounding him was caused by his own doing. Essentially, Superman behaved similarly to an overzealous boyfriend reacting to his girlfriend being in danger without thinking of the lives of the people around them. The only difference is he had the added bonus of the power of flight, speed, and superhuman strength. Superman’s fluctuating emotions also have contributed to his publicity issue; whenever someone he loved was threatened, he was temporarily at a loss of control and was forced to calm himself or have external forces remind him what was at stake. As a viewer of animated movies, cartoons and the occasional comic, to me, superman is unstable and easily succumbs to a wide variety of control methods; the ultimate being his own emotions when dealing with the possible loss of Lois Lane or Martha Kent.

Another question that came out of BvS is if one super powered being should be held responsible for all human life and is that a fair expectation? Superman alone cannot save everyone that’s in danger at every moment nor should he make every decision on who is more worthy of salvation over another. As previously mentioned, we saw him choose to save his loved ones at the expense of other, which is decidedly human and a part of the flaw of having an emotional individual make decisions that require an analytical mind. When Lex taunted Superman with the life of Martha Kent, we see a glimpse of what could happen if he loses control. There are no jails that could hold him nor rules that he couldn’t break because there are no consequences to his actions and yet some people of Earth are ready to believe that this man from the sky has their best interest at heart despite the countless examples of real world events and tales passed down generations.

For centuries, stories were told of gods that could hurl lightening or had the strength of a hundred men. While many have come to believe these gods were a way to explain things that humans of that time did not understand, my question is what if these creatures existed? There are countless tales of the atrocities these beings committed because no one had the power to stand against the will of the gods. The only difference between the people today and the ancient Greeks is that the people of the movie believe that this God is incorruptible and a representation of the good in humanity and as Lex Luther said in the film, “I figured out way back if God is all-powerful, He cannot be all good. And if He is all good, then He cannot be all-powerful.” Just as the Greek gods chose a side so does Superman. The only difference between them is there were more Greek gods. If one of the gods go out of hand, there was someone there that had similar power who could relate, understand, and attempt to make amends. Superman is that only one of his kind and in a world of ants he is an elephant. Every person he saves, everyone he helps is still at risk that he might use his power against them and just like an ant has little power to go up against the will of an elephant, man would have little power to fight against a Superman.

Since it has been established that Superman is unable to control himself, the next question is who should be in charge and can any one man control such power? Batman, a fellow vigilante, decides that he should be the one that puts Superman down (which actually would have worked had Batman not been foiled by the name Martha) but he has his own weakness that can be manipulated. This instantly makes him incapable of policing Superman. “Captain America: Civil War” however introduced an interesting concept (don’t write any angry emails. I promise this will make sense). In the Marvel film, governments came together to enact a set of rules that would allow the “heroes” to act within its borders. While Batman vs. Superman did introduce the justice system and the concept of holding Superman responsible for the destruction he caused, it was an empty request mainly because they had no one to enforce the decisions the government created, nor did they have anyone to actually police the actions of Superman. In my opinion, Batman had a good idea to have an emergency system in place that would stop Superman from destroying the earth on a whim however the decision that one person should do it rather than a council was ridiculous. The Justice League found its beginning in this movie.

We all know that eventually that Superman has a part of it, along with a slew of super powered individuals. In this way, they will be able to police each other but even that may present issues down the line.

While I agree that someone should be in charge of policing and regulating the superheroes, I don’t think other superheroes should be judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to the wrong doing of those who have decided to protect us. I think a council of both metas and humans. Tell me what your thoughts are on this issue? “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” comes to Blu-ray July 18th.

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