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forsythOkay, so. Especially since Dark Knight Returns, one of the common things DC has done is paired Superman and Batman, to contrast them. It's the entire basis of at least one comic series and their dynamic drives a lot of Justice League (animated and comic versions) and countless other things. And it's interesting, because it shows their differences more and makes them seem starker. So that's the good part. That and the fanboy glee of seeing two of the three characters that pretty much define heroism in the DCU working together*.
Except I think it sort of hurts them both, too. If you try too hard to emphasize how different they are, that can start to overshadow how similar they are, too. Besides the whole tights thing. Batman and Superman both are the pinnacle of different traits, Batman is the World's Greatest Detective, Superman is... well, Superman. He's the ultimate physical badass. There's no way Batman can compete with Superman physically, unless he cheats. Which Batman is more than willing to do. But Batman's hardly a physical slouch himself, he's a ninja. He's trained in dozens of martial arts. And so on. But when Supes is around, that's a lot less remarkable. But Superman gets it worse, kinda. He's not thinking four moves into the next game before things even start, like Batman does, but Clark Kent's an old-school investigative reporter. He's not stupid, even if he's not as uber-clever as Batman. But that's overshadowed when Batman's around.
When they're set up to contrast each other, Superman and Batman both block out parts of the other's character. They're limited in what they can do by the presence of the other. And the differences can be played up too much and overshadow how similar they are. It doesn't have to be, it's more a mark of lazy or bad writers. But even superheroes need some alone time to round themselves out.
Okay, I had somewhere I was going with this, but I seem to have lost the thread.
Ah, I think that's it. Right. So, when characters are the best at what they do, whether or not what they do is pretty**, it's really easy for them to devolve into one-dimensional characters defined by their main attribute. There's a lot of interesting territory to be milked with problems the characters can't use their specialties to solve. Or use their secondary skills to solve. ***
Or maybe I'm just the only one who'd be interested in a Clark Kent, Mild Mannered Reporter comic.
* I've never been sure why Wonder Woman's included, just because she's powerful and female, so it doesn't seem sexist? I've never found her interesting, but that's another post.
** Bub.
*** Well, okay, that doesn't quite work for Batman, since he always wants to be the best at Everything. Even DDR.
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snarkoleptics)
Except I think it sort of hurts them both, too. If you try too hard to emphasize how different they are, that can start to overshadow how similar they are, too. Besides the whole tights thing. Batman and Superman both are the pinnacle of different traits, Batman is the World's Greatest Detective, Superman is... well, Superman. He's the ultimate physical badass. There's no way Batman can compete with Superman physically, unless he cheats. Which Batman is more than willing to do. But Batman's hardly a physical slouch himself, he's a ninja. He's trained in dozens of martial arts. And so on. But when Supes is around, that's a lot less remarkable. But Superman gets it worse, kinda. He's not thinking four moves into the next game before things even start, like Batman does, but Clark Kent's an old-school investigative reporter. He's not stupid, even if he's not as uber-clever as Batman. But that's overshadowed when Batman's around.
When they're set up to contrast each other, Superman and Batman both block out parts of the other's character. They're limited in what they can do by the presence of the other. And the differences can be played up too much and overshadow how similar they are. It doesn't have to be, it's more a mark of lazy or bad writers. But even superheroes need some alone time to round themselves out.
Okay, I had somewhere I was going with this, but I seem to have lost the thread.
Ah, I think that's it. Right. So, when characters are the best at what they do, whether or not what they do is pretty**, it's really easy for them to devolve into one-dimensional characters defined by their main attribute. There's a lot of interesting territory to be milked with problems the characters can't use their specialties to solve. Or use their secondary skills to solve. ***
Or maybe I'm just the only one who'd be interested in a Clark Kent, Mild Mannered Reporter comic.
* I've never been sure why Wonder Woman's included, just because she's powerful and female, so it doesn't seem sexist? I've never found her interesting, but that's another post.
** Bub.
*** Well, okay, that doesn't quite work for Batman, since he always wants to be the best at Everything. Even DDR.
(Crossposted to
snarkoleptics)
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Date: 2005-09-23 11:02 am (UTC)Wonder Woman found the guy controling Superman and wrapped him in the good old lasso of truth and demanded to know what it would take to free Superman. The answer was 'Kill me', he could control Superman when he was on the MOON and the claws were so deep that any attempt to undo the controls would kill Superman. So Wondy thought about it, weighted the consequences and then snapped the guys neck, saving countless people from a rampageing Superman.
Now both Batman and Superman are condeming Wonder Woman for killing the guy...because killing is evil and all that. Her arguement is that there was no other way at the time to STOP Superman the guy was not gonna release him at all and could control him anywhere. This is a prime example of how Wonder Woman is looking at the big picture and future consequences instead of the more narrow black and white views of Bats and Supes.
I see Wonder Woman as a balance to the other two, shes the one that will smack them about when they get outta line, and try to keep the peace when they are at odds with the other, and up till this mess they both respected her for it. Now they don't and hell is breaking loose for it.