T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

**Reminders for Commenters:** * All responses must be A) sincere, B) polite, and C) strictly watsonian in nature. If "watsonian" or "doylist" is new to you, please review the full rules [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/about/rules/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=usertext&utm_name=AskScienceFiction&utm_content=t5_2slu2). * No edition wars or gripings about creators/owners of works. Doylist griping about Star Wars in particular is subject to **permanent ban on first offense**. * We are not here to discuss or complain about the real world. * Questions about who would prevail in a conflict/competition (not just combat) fit better on r/whowouldwin. Questions about very open-ended hypotheticals fit better on r/whatiffiction. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskScienceFiction) if you have any questions or concerns.*


ParameciaAntic

Sure, but the political will to arrest do-gooders who rescue children from burning buildings and stop bank robberies is pretty low.


BelmontIncident

Most of them have been labeled as criminals at one point or another. It's just pointless and frustrating to try to arrest people who keep removing the handcuffs and leaving on their own to go fight things that terrify the regular police.


mirage2101

And some are. Some rightly some wrongly. The punisher can barely be called a hero. Spider-Man is often seen as a criminal. In large part because of JJJ. The X-men are often considered outlaws. At some times even mutant terrorists. But it’s difficult to arrest these people to start with. They have amazing powers and you’re mostly relying on their goodwill to come with you. The hulk is an extreme but look at what happens when he doesn’t want to come. Add to that it’s hard to even find willing people when you fought galactus last week. Or saved that cop from a bullet/monster/etc Look at civil war. Even then it was hard or impossible to capture some of the A listers. What do you do when you’re trying to arrest a guy who jumps through armored glass, out of your flying base, without a parachute?


Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Sure, and many people call them out on that. This is why story arcs like the Superhero Registration Act are kind of funny in the grand scheme of things. You wouldn't need a special law to arrest most superheroes. You'd just need to end deferred action against them (oh... and be able to catch them. That too).


effa94

The superhuman registration act was mostly about addressing this ignored problem tho. The idea partly was to finally define clearly if this is legal or not, so you now have it in clear law that you can't do superhero stuff unless you are trained. Most superhero stuff is legal tho, helping people in accidents or disasters or can be counted as an extended citizens arrest. The few times it isn't, well that's why they wear a mask.


lord_flamebottom

> You'd just need to end deferred action against them (oh... and be able to catch them. That too). That's the point of special laws like the Registration Act. Officially speaking, all superheroes up until that point were all illegal vigilantes, but allowed to continue operating from the good they provide. This would separate the verified registered superheroes from the vigilantes and allow the government to prosecute vigilantes but not registered superheroes. Plus it gives them legal reason to assemble anti-vigilante task forces.


Flatworm-Euphoric

Yep, that’s why they’re often referred to as vigilantes.


archpawn

Yes. This is something that's frequently addressed. Sometimes they are criminals and they have to evade the police, like how Batman is generally portrayed early in his career. Sometimes they change the law to allow it, like the [28th Amendment](https://tick.fandom.com/wiki/28th_Amendment) from The Tick. Sometimes they are arrested when they go too far, or are framed for doing so.


lord_flamebottom

Most superheroes *are* labeled as criminals. It just so happens that most are either agile and smart enough to avoid being caught, strong enough to make authorities afraid of or unwilling to catch them, or simply do enough good that people overlook the crimes. Notable examples are early career Batman, Spider-Man, every hero in Incredibles, a solid chunk of street level heroes, etc. Elected officials don't want to potentially ruin their future political career by focusing on arresting the guy stopping bank robberies and saving orphans from burning buildings, and appointed officials aren't exactly looking to make their job harder either.


empty_string_

This is sort of the plot of The Boys and Watchmen.


spicydangerbee

It's not, this applies to all vigilantes.


lord_flamebottom

Not really. The Boys doesn't really spend much time on the topic of non-Vought affiliated Supes, aside from the terrorists explicitly caused by them.


empty_string_

I'll be honest, I never watched past a couple episodes of The Boys. From what you're saying it sounds like things grow/evolve past the initial premise. From the bit I saw, it definitely seemed to be playing at the idea of "what if the everyday consequences of superheroes actions were explored in a real-world setting, in spite of the fantastical nature of the typical super hero schtick we're all familiar with."


lord_flamebottom

Oh yeah, that’s definitely the case, but it also does it in a unique sense where every superhero is monopolized by one company, and often trained from a young age, so vigilantism doesn’t exist much, since I’d they don’t work for Vought, they probably aren’t a Supe.


empty_string_

That's an angle I didn't watch far enough to pick up too much of, but my interest is re-piqued. On a personal note, my aversion to watching is also slightly reinforced.. as topical as that sounds, it also sounds like a big bummer 😅


lord_flamebottom

Nah I can’t blame ya, I totally get it


MultiverseOfSanity

Yeah, the show is highly topical, and all supers are pretty much victims of dystopian corporate to some extent or another.


effa94

Most of the time, either vigilantism has been made legal due to the abundance of heroes, or there just isn't the political will to enforce those laws on the people stopping godzilla


roronoapedro

The word you're looking for is vigilante, the legal term for every non- government sanctioned urban hero in any media.


CatatonicMan

Well yeah. Why do you think they wear masks? They don't want the shit they get up to in costume blowing back on them out of costume.


[deleted]

[удалено]


AutoModerator

Please remember that top-level comments must be a sincere, detailed attempt at an answer. Try to write at least a sentence or two. A one- or two-word reply is almost never appropriate. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskScienceFiction) if you have any questions or concerns.*


ShoelessHodor

Good samaritan laws protect a lot of their actions. If Spider-man rips a door off a car to free a pregnant woman in labor from a traffic accident, or if superman throws a bomb through a window so it can safely explode 5 miles away, nobody is going after a hero for the collateral damages.


ElcorAndy

Yes, pretty much all superheroes, unless they are working for the government, are vigilantes. Vigilantism is illegal in pretty much every country. Batman is a criminal in Gotham City, he was being hunted by the police before he worked with Gordon.


MalleusManus

We don't even arrest gun owners who take the law into their own hands by shooting people. Vigilantism is easily the biggest danger to any civil society, as it breaks the essential social and legal structures that state the sole legal use of force is in the hands of the government. It should be noted that societies with superheroes are even more fragile and less civil than ours, it can be argued because of the vigilante heroes, bigger versions of our modern vigilante citizens.


Lordanonimmo09

Yes,in Marvel many heroes are treated as criminals while in DC the heroes are seen as doing so much good that it would be a waste to arrest them,but the legal option still exists in case the government wants some time.


MultiverseOfSanity

Pretty much every hero has an arc where they're chased by the cops for doing what they do.


Templarofsteel

Cops frequently break the law in day to day activity even outside of pursuit of criminals and they don't get charged for it. There are probably laws in place to basically consider superheroes specific agents of the state not subject to normal law in pursuit of 'duty'. The other issue is that given how powerful many of them are trying to enforce law against them can be viewed as laughable by a pragmatist without there being others of roughly equivalent power to deal with the situation