Heroes and Moral Codes

                                                 

(Big Blue Boy Scout)

    When it comes to being a superhero, many people assume that the hero has morals and a code of not taking the law into their own hands. While there are heroes such as Superman, Batman, Captain America, and Spider-Man (both peter Parker and Miles Morales) that do not kill as they believe that they would be no better than the foes they try to stop, there are some who think the opposite and will do what they can to end a threat before they can come back such as The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Punisher, and Invincible (on occasion). To me, I feel it is a situation that has made me think about what I or any other person would do if they had the power to protect the innocent.

(Invincible having enough)

    While I find the aspect of having a moral code interesting, I have occasionally found myself rooting for the heroes that decide to end the threats before they can strike again. This was my biggest complaint when it comes to Batman as there are several heroes (and a few villains) who would love nothing more than to end the Joker's life. While this would put a stop to future deaths at his hand, this would ruin the major aspect of Batman's established character as not sinking to murdering a criminal instead of having the law, despite it being extremely flawed, do its job. I like that Batman's entire crusade against crime is a message about how the justice system may be flawed, but we can't take the law into our own hands no matter how much we want to. Seeing heroes being pushed to their breaking point is something that I love to see in heroes as it shows how brutal they can be if they decided, but it also shows why the heroes have a code as they do not want to lose who they are and why they help the innocent.