Classic EBI #48: Thou Shalt Not Kill
EVERYTHING BUT IMAGINARY 2/04/04 -- THOU SHALT NOT KILL
Thou Shalt Not Kill
So Iceman killed a guard, I’m told. I’m working on what I’ve picked up talking to various people who are still reading Uncanny X-Men, because it’s been some time since I tried that series, but from what I understand Iceman had been reduced to a few little ice chips (must be that “secondary mutation” thing, since I know he used to just cover his normal, flesh body with ice) and he extracted the moisture from a guard to create a new body for himself, killing the guard in the process.
This bothers me, frankly, because the five original X-Men remain my favorite characters in that franchise, and Iceman has never been a character who kills. Out of those five the only one who’s ever really had a killer edge is Archangel, and then only when controlled by those nasty wings Apocalypse gave him. There are two types of superheroes -- those who kill their enemies and those who don’t. I’m talking about this from a characterization standpoint, I’m not making any moral judgment here -- it’s logical for a character like the Punisher or Wolverine to have a killer instinct, but other, brighter characters simply don’t (and shouldn’t) have the capacity to take life capriciously.
It does make sense for someone like the Punisher to resort to brutal force - he’s had a brutal life and his family was ripped away from him in a brutal fashion. He wants vengeance, and he feels he’ll never get it until all criminals are dead. Not only does it fit his character, but this brings up a lot of story potential as he clashes with brighter characters who don’t kill, like his early battles with Spider-Man.
This is not to say that even the brightest characters will never take a life. Rather, having a hero dole out death is something that should be done sparingly, and have serious impact when it happens, not unlike when a police officer has to shoot a criminal in the line of duty. John Byrne did a story towards the end of his Superman run wherein the man of steel found a pocket universe created by the Time Trapper. He had conjured it up to fool the Legion of Super-Heroes into thinking there had once been a being named Superboy (thereby explaining all the pre-Crisis Legion stories in which young Clark was a member, all of which were rendered void after the 1986 revamp). Three Kryptonian criminals were loose on this alternate Earth, and finally succeeded in killing all but one inhabitant of that universe, the creature that became Supergirl. The criminals boasted that they would one day find their way to other universes and destroy them as well, and Superman believed them... so to save more worlds from that horrible fate, he executed the criminals with a chunk of green Kryptonite.
It was a shocking, powerful moment. Superman killed someone. And it didn’t end there, either. He went mad with guilt, winding up with a split personality then exiling himself into space until he came to grips with what he had done. The titles have dealt with the ramifications of his actions and the scars they left him with ever since. The point is, though, that it was still in character because he didn’t do it casually. He did it because he felt he had no other choice.
Wonder Woman is a different story, though. A character of peace, an ambassador from paradise, she is still a warrior born, and while violence is always her last resort, I would see no change in character if she were to reach a point where she felt the only way to save innocent lives was to take the life of an offender... and did it.
Another of those bright characters, Captain America, is a character I wouldn’t have a problem seeing use lethal force more often -- he is primarily a soldier, not a superhero, and he has been forced to kill both during World War II and since his return. However, the Avengers charter prohibits its members from taking lives, something that has come up time and again during the team’s history. During the “Operation: Galactic Storm” storyline, Iron Man led a group of Avengers in killing the Kree Supreme Intelligence, an action that was excused as being done in a time of war.
In an earlier tale, while trapped in the past during a time-travel adventure, Mockingbird was drugged and seduced by the man called the Phantom Rider. When she shook off his influence, she sent him hurtling off the edge of a cliff. Back in the present, her actions had her expelled from the team and ended her marriage to Hawkeye, although they eventually reconciled some time before she, too, was killed in battle. As a former SHIELD agent, it was in-character for her to be able to kill, particularly under such provocation. As an Avenger, however, she could not.
Provocation, in fact, is a main point in trying to tell a tale where someone you think of as a hero has to resort to lethal force. From what I’ve heard of the Iceman story, the provocation does not seem great enough... there could have been another way, or even a better explanation, such as when Colossus killed one of the Marauders during the Mutant Massacre storyline. The Marauders were a group of mutants brought together by Mr. Sinister and set loose in the sewers of New York to murder the underground mutant population called the Morlocks. Colossus, for all his brawn, was never a brutal character, but seeing the death and devestation beneath the streets broke something in him, and when he managed to get his hand on one of the murderers, he snapped his neck. It worked because the kind man he was felt pushed to rage and a thirst for vengeance, but even his teammates were taken aback: Rogue even commented, “Killing’s my job. Or Wolvie’s. Peter is made for gentler things.”
Provocation can only go so far without changing the character, however. When Element Lad and Hal Jordan became killers (murdering Monstress and several Green Lanterns, respectively), the writers recognized it was totally out of character... so the only way to make it work was to change the character, making them both go crazy. I’m not going to get into the Hal Jordan debate here -- there isn’t enough bandwidth on the website -- but at least both of the characters were brought to that point in a semi-logical fashion.
Then there are characters that I simply cannot imagine taking a life for any reason. DC’s Captain Marvel, for instance, may have the power of Zeus and the wisdom of Solomon, but he has the heart of a young boy, and was in fact singled out by the demon Neron as having the purest soul in the universe. If he were to intentionally take a life, it would cause irrevocable harm to the character. If he were to do it unintentionally, however, that could open up some doors for storytelling...
That, in fact, is exactly what happened to Barry Allen, the second Flash. The brutal Professor Zoom had murdered his wife, Iris, but after some time Barry managed to put his life back together. He was even planning to marry again when Zoom reappeared, threatening his new bride-to-be. The Flash was so focused on stopping his enemy, on stopping history from repeating itself, that he broke Zoom’s neck - not intentionally, but in a panic to save the woman he loved. This led to the still-infamous “Trial of the Flash” storyline (which we’d like to get in a trade paperback sometime, DC), and some of the best storytelling that character ever saw.
Then, of course, there’s Batman. In his case you’ve got to look at who he is. While it’s true, in his early adventures, he did sometimes use lethal force, he has evolved as a character since then and those early adventures are no longer in continuity. Now you’re left with someone who saw his parents butchered and, as a result, struggles against death. As Superman put it in Kingdom Come, when you strip Batman of everything else he is, you’re left with someone who doesn’t want anyone to die. Even criminals. Even scum. Every so often you’ll hear someone comment about how many lives would be saved if he just killed the Joker. That’s probably true. But if he did that, he wouldn’t be Batman.
Even when pushed to the edge, it doesn’t quite work to make Batman a killer. One of the few weak points of Jeph Loeb’s “Hush” storyline was the much-touted issue where he almost did kill the Joker, only to be stopped by James Gordon. Honestly, it would have made more sense for Gordon himself to use lethal force: the Joker is responsible for crippling his daughter and murdering his wife, but he’s a good cop first and foremost and doesn’t kill when it isn’t necessary. It was a great moment for Gordon. Not so much for Batman, because you knew he wouldn’t cross that line. The same problem came up near the end of Judd Winick’s run on Green Lantern, when the character tracked down some thugs responsible for almost killing a gay friend of his. There was zero suspense as Green Lantern threatened the man’s life, because you knew he wouldn’t do it. I’m not saying he should have done it, I want you to understand that, I’m saying that since we all knew he wouldn’t, it would have served Winick not to make the story hinge on that point to begin with.
Again, folks, I’m not saying any of this to make any kind of value judgment about one type of character versus another. Virtually every character I’ve mentioned here has had wonderful stories told about him or her, but the point is that those stories have to work with who the character is. Lobo would have no problem killing a guard. Iceman would. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.
FAVORITE OF THE WEEK: January 28, 2003
Continuing down the path Marvel forged with the Ultimate line, Devil’s Due Comics started a whole new continuity last week with the premiere of G.I. Joe: Cobra Reborn. Writer Paul Jenkins is starting a new line from scratch, beginning with this origin story of the ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. It’s somewhat darker than the classic G.I. Joe property, and that’s just fine - this is aimed at the folks who loved G.I. Joe but who feel the original property hasn’t grown up as much as they have. I can’t wait until this story continues in G.I. Joe Reborn, then the new ongoing G.I. Joe Reloaded.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress Lost in Silver at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with good buddy Chase Bouzigard and Not-On-the-Internet Mike Bellamy, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcasts. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms. Read past columns at the Everything But Imaginary Archive Page.
Thou Shalt Not Kill
So Iceman killed a guard, I’m told. I’m working on what I’ve picked up talking to various people who are still reading Uncanny X-Men, because it’s been some time since I tried that series, but from what I understand Iceman had been reduced to a few little ice chips (must be that “secondary mutation” thing, since I know he used to just cover his normal, flesh body with ice) and he extracted the moisture from a guard to create a new body for himself, killing the guard in the process.
This bothers me, frankly, because the five original X-Men remain my favorite characters in that franchise, and Iceman has never been a character who kills. Out of those five the only one who’s ever really had a killer edge is Archangel, and then only when controlled by those nasty wings Apocalypse gave him. There are two types of superheroes -- those who kill their enemies and those who don’t. I’m talking about this from a characterization standpoint, I’m not making any moral judgment here -- it’s logical for a character like the Punisher or Wolverine to have a killer instinct, but other, brighter characters simply don’t (and shouldn’t) have the capacity to take life capriciously.
It does make sense for someone like the Punisher to resort to brutal force - he’s had a brutal life and his family was ripped away from him in a brutal fashion. He wants vengeance, and he feels he’ll never get it until all criminals are dead. Not only does it fit his character, but this brings up a lot of story potential as he clashes with brighter characters who don’t kill, like his early battles with Spider-Man.
This is not to say that even the brightest characters will never take a life. Rather, having a hero dole out death is something that should be done sparingly, and have serious impact when it happens, not unlike when a police officer has to shoot a criminal in the line of duty. John Byrne did a story towards the end of his Superman run wherein the man of steel found a pocket universe created by the Time Trapper. He had conjured it up to fool the Legion of Super-Heroes into thinking there had once been a being named Superboy (thereby explaining all the pre-Crisis Legion stories in which young Clark was a member, all of which were rendered void after the 1986 revamp). Three Kryptonian criminals were loose on this alternate Earth, and finally succeeded in killing all but one inhabitant of that universe, the creature that became Supergirl. The criminals boasted that they would one day find their way to other universes and destroy them as well, and Superman believed them... so to save more worlds from that horrible fate, he executed the criminals with a chunk of green Kryptonite.
It was a shocking, powerful moment. Superman killed someone. And it didn’t end there, either. He went mad with guilt, winding up with a split personality then exiling himself into space until he came to grips with what he had done. The titles have dealt with the ramifications of his actions and the scars they left him with ever since. The point is, though, that it was still in character because he didn’t do it casually. He did it because he felt he had no other choice.
Wonder Woman is a different story, though. A character of peace, an ambassador from paradise, she is still a warrior born, and while violence is always her last resort, I would see no change in character if she were to reach a point where she felt the only way to save innocent lives was to take the life of an offender... and did it.
Another of those bright characters, Captain America, is a character I wouldn’t have a problem seeing use lethal force more often -- he is primarily a soldier, not a superhero, and he has been forced to kill both during World War II and since his return. However, the Avengers charter prohibits its members from taking lives, something that has come up time and again during the team’s history. During the “Operation: Galactic Storm” storyline, Iron Man led a group of Avengers in killing the Kree Supreme Intelligence, an action that was excused as being done in a time of war.
In an earlier tale, while trapped in the past during a time-travel adventure, Mockingbird was drugged and seduced by the man called the Phantom Rider. When she shook off his influence, she sent him hurtling off the edge of a cliff. Back in the present, her actions had her expelled from the team and ended her marriage to Hawkeye, although they eventually reconciled some time before she, too, was killed in battle. As a former SHIELD agent, it was in-character for her to be able to kill, particularly under such provocation. As an Avenger, however, she could not.
Provocation, in fact, is a main point in trying to tell a tale where someone you think of as a hero has to resort to lethal force. From what I’ve heard of the Iceman story, the provocation does not seem great enough... there could have been another way, or even a better explanation, such as when Colossus killed one of the Marauders during the Mutant Massacre storyline. The Marauders were a group of mutants brought together by Mr. Sinister and set loose in the sewers of New York to murder the underground mutant population called the Morlocks. Colossus, for all his brawn, was never a brutal character, but seeing the death and devestation beneath the streets broke something in him, and when he managed to get his hand on one of the murderers, he snapped his neck. It worked because the kind man he was felt pushed to rage and a thirst for vengeance, but even his teammates were taken aback: Rogue even commented, “Killing’s my job. Or Wolvie’s. Peter is made for gentler things.”
Provocation can only go so far without changing the character, however. When Element Lad and Hal Jordan became killers (murdering Monstress and several Green Lanterns, respectively), the writers recognized it was totally out of character... so the only way to make it work was to change the character, making them both go crazy. I’m not going to get into the Hal Jordan debate here -- there isn’t enough bandwidth on the website -- but at least both of the characters were brought to that point in a semi-logical fashion.
Then there are characters that I simply cannot imagine taking a life for any reason. DC’s Captain Marvel, for instance, may have the power of Zeus and the wisdom of Solomon, but he has the heart of a young boy, and was in fact singled out by the demon Neron as having the purest soul in the universe. If he were to intentionally take a life, it would cause irrevocable harm to the character. If he were to do it unintentionally, however, that could open up some doors for storytelling...
That, in fact, is exactly what happened to Barry Allen, the second Flash. The brutal Professor Zoom had murdered his wife, Iris, but after some time Barry managed to put his life back together. He was even planning to marry again when Zoom reappeared, threatening his new bride-to-be. The Flash was so focused on stopping his enemy, on stopping history from repeating itself, that he broke Zoom’s neck - not intentionally, but in a panic to save the woman he loved. This led to the still-infamous “Trial of the Flash” storyline (which we’d like to get in a trade paperback sometime, DC), and some of the best storytelling that character ever saw.
Then, of course, there’s Batman. In his case you’ve got to look at who he is. While it’s true, in his early adventures, he did sometimes use lethal force, he has evolved as a character since then and those early adventures are no longer in continuity. Now you’re left with someone who saw his parents butchered and, as a result, struggles against death. As Superman put it in Kingdom Come, when you strip Batman of everything else he is, you’re left with someone who doesn’t want anyone to die. Even criminals. Even scum. Every so often you’ll hear someone comment about how many lives would be saved if he just killed the Joker. That’s probably true. But if he did that, he wouldn’t be Batman.
Even when pushed to the edge, it doesn’t quite work to make Batman a killer. One of the few weak points of Jeph Loeb’s “Hush” storyline was the much-touted issue where he almost did kill the Joker, only to be stopped by James Gordon. Honestly, it would have made more sense for Gordon himself to use lethal force: the Joker is responsible for crippling his daughter and murdering his wife, but he’s a good cop first and foremost and doesn’t kill when it isn’t necessary. It was a great moment for Gordon. Not so much for Batman, because you knew he wouldn’t cross that line. The same problem came up near the end of Judd Winick’s run on Green Lantern, when the character tracked down some thugs responsible for almost killing a gay friend of his. There was zero suspense as Green Lantern threatened the man’s life, because you knew he wouldn’t do it. I’m not saying he should have done it, I want you to understand that, I’m saying that since we all knew he wouldn’t, it would have served Winick not to make the story hinge on that point to begin with.
Again, folks, I’m not saying any of this to make any kind of value judgment about one type of character versus another. Virtually every character I’ve mentioned here has had wonderful stories told about him or her, but the point is that those stories have to work with who the character is. Lobo would have no problem killing a guard. Iceman would. Sometimes it’s as simple as that.
FAVORITE OF THE WEEK: January 28, 2003
Continuing down the path Marvel forged with the Ultimate line, Devil’s Due Comics started a whole new continuity last week with the premiere of G.I. Joe: Cobra Reborn. Writer Paul Jenkins is starting a new line from scratch, beginning with this origin story of the ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world. It’s somewhat darker than the classic G.I. Joe property, and that’s just fine - this is aimed at the folks who loved G.I. Joe but who feel the original property hasn’t grown up as much as they have. I can’t wait until this story continues in G.I. Joe Reborn, then the new ongoing G.I. Joe Reloaded.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress Lost in Silver at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with good buddy Chase Bouzigard and Not-On-the-Internet Mike Bellamy, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcasts. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms. Read past columns at the Everything But Imaginary Archive Page.