this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
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[–] Enkers 129 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It is interesting that Superman’s archenemy was an incredibly wealthy businessman. That seems to be the exact problem with our world today (there’s just many more of them).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The more you look at the villains in all the TV, movies, and books growing up, the more you realise they're mostly evil capitalists.

It's weird that Hollywood etc would green light so many movies about how rich people like themselves are evil, and teaching kids to fight against them.

The rich landlord is going to close the community club hall! The rich businessman is trying to have us killed to cover up his chemical spills! Etc etc.

If it's not a literal alien from another planet, more often than not the bad guy is just a literal normal capitalist.

And yet try to use the lessons taught in every piece of media you ever watched as an impressionable child, and you're told that your anticapitalist beliefs are "extremist" and you're dangerous and must be stopped.

Weird eh?

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Environmentalists in comic books are nearly always deranged villains, and the ones that aren't are still weak and naïve.

The only strong environmentalist hero in Western canon is Captain Planet, and he's got sus narc vibes.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago (18 children)

Well, Green Arrow. But you have a point.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

Poison Ivy is essentially an anti-hero at this point, and she is considered fairly powerful too.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Storm and aquaman are pretty pro environmentalist without making it their only identity.

[–] [email protected] 58 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Couldn't he just take all the billionaires and fly them into the sun or smth? I don't know if that alone would fix things, but it's a start. Also literally no downsides.

[–] samus12345 38 points 3 days ago

His nemesis is literally a billionaire and he never managed to get rid of him.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago (1 children)

We got American Superman. We got Soviet Superman. We need Anarchist Superman.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Captain planet gets close to that

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Don Cheadle's Captain Planet, you mean.

[–] samus12345 9 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] samus12345 24 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Ah yes, In. Public he "Fights" the rich but in the Dark he is awfully chummy with a rich furry.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

That's why he's constantly fighting ~~Jeff bezos~~ Lex Luther l.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I bet you if he just lightly beat up one billionaire a day that the problem would sort itself out pretty quickly.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago

This just makes me think of Captain Planet. He knew how to solve these sorts of issues. By beating up assholes and making them stop.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

Nobody understands Superman, especially most of his writers.

Dude is alien Moses created by two Jews during the Holocaust. His arch nemesis is a billionaire/the president. C'mon.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

Kryptonite is pork, basically?

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 days ago (12 children)

We can solve those problems directly or indirectly by tying superman to a dynamo. With free energy even the issues with materials can be solved over time.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Just have superman round up every billionaire and political leader and drop them off on an deserted island, and the rest of us can start fixing our problems like adults.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There are evil "robots" you can go beat up to solve those issues, yes

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

But you said they were robots Rick!!

They're bureaucrats Morty! I don't respect em.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 days ago

1930s Superman would've agreed with the crowd.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Don't forget about fighting people who actually have plans to make the world a better place

Related note, excellent video essay, "Defenders of the Status quo" https://youtu.be/LpitmEnaYeU

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Only watched half of the video (because it's something I'm well aware of), so it might have gone into it, but another angle is that there's often villains that make good points and then suddenly take it in a batshit direction.

Like Thanos had a point but apparently never understood exponential growth and how reducing all life by any constant factor is just delaying the same result, even if his snap made 99% of people disappear (unless he snaps enough people that the population collapses entirely, which is what he wanted to avoid).

There's many other examples where reasonable starting points end up in unquestionably evil conclusions. Pretty sure it's just propaganda to make people who don't think much about things link those reasonable beginnings with "evil" in their minds.

Also there's characters like Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark who are billionaires but their stories always ignore the realities of what must be done in order to become a billionaire (ie underpay staff doing the actual work by billions). In Stark's case, they sidestep that by giving him super advanced AIs and automation robots, though he's still the owner of a large corporation, that he still benefits from despite offloading any of the responsibility of even running it to everyone else.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

It's addressed in the video, that these characters are always written to then go over the proverbial line.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Bitch could literally turn back time

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

This is what I like about Wonder Woman. She shows up and is like. "Oh shit! There's a world war going on! Better go stop that." Meanwhile in the present super man is stopping random petty theft.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

Didn't Luigi have something to say about that?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Do people really write "yeah" as "yea"? Why isn't that pronounced like sea or pea or tea?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago

Well, he could beat up all the CEOs and politicians...

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

That's why Superman is usually more proud of his work as Clark than as Superman.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Isn't superman pro free will

He will protect against threats but if you fuck it up your mostly on your own

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

Does superman think humanity chose capitalism? If Superman landed in 1600s Europe, would he think humanity chose feudalism and help put down peasant uprisings? 1700s Haiti, would he help stop slaves from stealing or enacting violence against the French?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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