AG Monday
Dark superheroes.
Dark heroes are a staple of popular culture across media and genres. In the 1980s and 1990s, they became prominent comic books, and arguably still are today. Characters like The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Venom, Judge Dredd, and Lobo epitomized this subgenre. Who are these dark superheroes, who are willing to use lethal force to clean the streets of punks and thugs? Are these harmless violent fantasies, or something else? What does it say that many of our entertainments are rooted in violence? And how does the mythology of dark heroes influence our popular culture and politics today?
Guns! Knives! Swords! Other pointy and shoot-y weapons! Skull t-shirts! Anonymous thugs! Sadistic villains! Mini-vans mounted with mini-guns! It’s all here.
Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of culture. We were geeks before it was chic!
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The theme reminds me of a Batman animated movie Under the Red Hood. It’s hard to even describe without spoilers.
I haven’t listened yet, but another one I recall reading a few times as a tot was someone named “Foolkiller”. I also read Punisher and Ghost Rider a bit. Intriguing and exciting stuff for a kid not even ten years old; maybe not the best sort of thing to be reading for an impressionable mind, but I think I turned out okay anyway. (I haven’t killed a single fool, though there have been temptations over the years.)
Much of the discussion reminded me of a movie called The Star Chamber*. I saw only a part of it long ago by chance on cable. I was left with the impression of vigilante judges privately carrying out their version of justice by other means.
It also brought to mind a minor character in the Justice League Unlimited animated series called Vigilante. he carried guns, and shot them, but he never killed anyone.
Last there’s Lockup in the classic Batman animated series. He was a sadistic guard at Arkham who got fired for torturing the inmates. So he turns up as a masked vigilante and begins locking up the people he thinks coddle criminals. Namely the mayor, Commissioner Gordon, reporters, etc.
Of course he’s the villain in that ep. But by his own light he’s as much a superhero as Batman.
BTW, if you want to get philosophical in another ep., you might want to discuss the legal probative value of evidence collected by masked (usually), anonymous superheroes.