Boycott Hollywood reports that things have changed in the Justice League:
AOL Time Warner, via its subsidiary D.C. Comics, has issued a comic book called ‘Justice League of America.’ The thing has a less than comical, eerily familiar plot.
Somehow the villain, Lex Luthor, has snagged the job of president of the United States. And President Luthor plans to pre-emptively strike a country called Qurac. Hmmm, wonder which country that̢۪s supposed to make us think of.
Superheroes, including the venerable Batman and Superman, oppose the military action.
In the comic book, Superman launches into the following Sean Penn-like oration: “We exist . . . because those with the power to stop injustice simply must. With clarity, compassion, and truth as their most powerful weapons. We can show them a better way, I know we can. Armed conflict may be an option, and I will support it . . . if the truth is clear, and the cause is just. But I will know the truth, and I will not feel ashamed or be called un-American for demanding it.”
Oh, boy.
The amusing thing is that this makes J. Jonah Jameson, General “Thunderbolt” Ross, and the other standard “superheroes are vigilantes” characters right.* Whether one’s view of war in “Quarac,” the last thing we’d want is to have superheroes come in and decide for us? Indeed, wouldn’t the way to prevent war be to, oh, I dunno, send Superman out to capture the DC universe’s Saddam Hussein? To join the UN inspectors with his mighty X-ray vision and help look for hidden WMD?
Yes, I know I’m switching from DC to Marvel. I can’t think of any comparable characters in the DC universe, although the vigilante theme was always prevalent in the Batman books.
