Jump to content

Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill


Erkenfresh

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 382
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

The Harbinger of Justice was Steve's character. Why don't you ask him about that?

 

Harby was created for a darker campaign. That's why he originally appeared in Dark Champions.

 

I guess it depends on your Champions campaign.

 

It's funny that people mention "The Boys" when talking about killing in a supers game. The Boys, Martial Law, etc are all worlds where there really aren't any super powered heroes. All of the Supers including the Protagonist(s) are pretty much villains themselves. The Boys is going through that now where the it turns out that while the supers were pretty bad, the people keeping them inline turn out to be just as bad or worse. I guess that's the point of the series. That the people fighting the evil using extreme tactics become unrecognizable from the people they are fighting. That is why your PC's shouldn't be casually killing the badguys. Because eventually the game becomes about the out of control Supers and the "badguy" they are going to kill this week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Punisher and Wolverine live in the same universe as Spiderman' date=' Captain America, and dozens of other "no kill" heroes, so I'm not sure how you can claim it is a genre issue.[/quote']

 

Wolvie's bodycount has tapered off quite a bit since he became an X-Man. He even stopped fighting the CvK people once he fully embrased Charlie's dream. Wolvie now uses his killer rep and people's genuine fear of those claws to get stuff done. He knows with such a signature weapon, anyone he kills will be blamed on him (yeah X-23 and his Son have similar claws, but the first suspicion will be on him).

 

Punisher lives in the same universe, but he operates at a different powerlevel and kind of criminal from the Mutants and other Supers. Their worlds rarely intersect. So yes it is a genre thing. Punisher lives/works/adventures in a different level of the Marvel Universe. Kind of like Dark Champions exists in the same universe as the normal CU, but the characters adventure differently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Ah' date=' but by that token there shouldn't be any cross-overs with the Punisher unless the actual heroes were looking to take the murder in.[/quote']

 

The typical crossover tends to be one where there is a greater threat requiring temporarily putting aside those differences, with Frank slinking off afterwards before he can be taken in - and lots of tension over his methods even during the alliance.

 

Wolvie's caused issues in X-Men. Angel didn't stick around after about 137 because Wolvie's presence bothered him. Storm called him out in the middle of a fight against the Brotherhood shortly after taking over as leader from Cyclops. And Wolvie wasn't really shown as a killer early on. In the Savage Land, around #115, there is a scene where they need to take out a guard. After some discussion, Wolvie stealthily slinks off and we hear a snikt. Storm thinks something like "he is like the great cat on the veldt - when he strikes there is no mercy in him". That set off a letter page furor which ulimately ended in the writers responding "OK, heroes don't kill, and we never SAW what Storm saw. Wolvie grabbed him from behind and KO'd the guard - he did not kill him from ambush".

 

He was later summarized as "If a man comes at me with his fists, I'll meet him with my fists. But if he pulls a gun, or threatens people I'm protecting, then he's made his decision, and I've got no sympathy for him" Like most Supers, this was still a character who used the force needed for the threat, and didn't start with lethal tactics. He lacked the Code against killing, but he still wasn't a casual killer. That was the character that initially garnered popularity with the fans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

And then there's Byrne's take:

 

"Wolverine was a character that could be eating a sandwich, get annoying by Kitty Pryde walking in, kill her, and go back to eating his sandwich."

 

So... a normal person in the presence of Kitty Pryde, then...

 

The main killer hero in the DC universe is the Spectre. Nobody seems to want to try to bust him for murder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

And then there's Byrne's take:

 

"Wolverine was a character that could be eating a sandwich, get annoying by Kitty Pryde walking in, kill her, and go back to eating his sandwich."

 

I am pretty sure that wasn't Clairmont's vision of the character. I think that Clairmont's run on X-men is probably the best indication of what the original vision of the character was. I seem to remember that he was just as protective of Kitty Pryde as the other members of the X-men were.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when there is no other option.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except in self defense.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except to save others.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when the situation requires it.

 

 

My Grandfathers both fought in World War II. I call them Heroes, but they did not claim to be. In their words "It had to be done."

 

IMOHO, Heroes should only kill as a last resort. The Psychological Limitation: Code vs Killing comes from the Comics Code Authority. Yet the non superhero genre comics Westerns, War, and others Heroes Killing Villians was completely glossed over. Many Philosophies and Religions have different views of the subject of Killing. What it boils down to is Heroes shouldn't Murder.

 

QM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when there is no other option.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except in self defense.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except to save others.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when the situation requires it.

 

 

My Grandfathers both fought in World War II. I call them Heroes, but they did not claim to be. In there words "It had to be done."

 

IMOHO, Heroes should only kill as a last resort. The Psychological Limitation: Code vs Killing comes from the Comics Code Authority. Yet the non superhero genre comics Westerns, War, and others Heroes Killing Villians was completely glossed over. Many Philosophies and Religions have different views of the subject of Killing. What it boils down to is Heroes shouldn't Murder.

 

QM

 

I think those four caveats basically boil down to "Heroes shouldn't kill, except in defense of self and/or others, AND when there is no other option." That rules out vigilante justice(i.e., retaliatory killing) and using excessive force in the name of ruthless efficiency(i.e., killing bad guys simply to preclude the possibility of having to fight them again).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when there is no other option.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except in self defense.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except to save others.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when the situation requires it.

 

 

My Grandfathers both fought in World War II. I call them Heroes, but they did not claim to be. In there words "It had to be done."

 

IMOHO, Heroes should only kill as a last resort. The Psychological Limitation: Code vs Killing comes from the Comics Code Authority. Yet the non superhero genre comics Westerns, War, and others Heroes Killing Villians was completely glossed over. Many Philosophies and Religions have different views of the subject of Killing. What it boils down to is Heroes shouldn't Murder.

 

QM

amen to that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when there is no other option.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except in self defense.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except to save others.

Heroes shouldn't kill, except when the situation requires it.

 

 

My Grandfathers both fought in World War II. I call them Heroes, but they did not claim to be. In there words "It had to be done."

 

IMOHO, Heroes should only kill as a last resort. The Psychological Limitation: Code vs Killing comes from the Comics Code Authority. Yet the non superhero genre comics Westerns, War, and others Heroes Killing Villians was completely glossed over. Many Philosophies and Religions have different views of the subject of Killing. What it boils down to is Heroes shouldn't Murder.

 

QM

 

Totally agree.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Why Your Heroes Shouldn't Kill

 

Rorshach was a hero until he found out that that kidnapper fed the girl he took to his dogs because she wasn't worth any money.

 

Also Watchmen isn't a great source for "heroes". It's a great comic that shows what happens when Heroes kill and how it screws up their heads. At the end, the Watchmen weren't any better than the people they fought. Rorschach was the only one that stuck to his convictions. It got him killed in the end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...