#so like with the whole. doomsday thing and the end of the heroic age

[oflgtfol]

i think the 2099 worldbuilding is so fucking bleak what with this capitalist dystopia but what i find really fascinating is this whole like new religion propped up around thor, the whole thorite thing, and the way they worship spiderman as the “harbinger of thor” and all that. like i dont know if anything is ever going to come of this and im fine with that because having it as just an unresolved background thing is fascinating all on its own

[thisiscomics]

It’s 1985 and there is a Crisis On Infinite Earths.

It’s April the 18th 1938, and Siegel and Shuster don’t yet realise what they will lose as a result of giving the world a hero.

It’s February 2020 and I’m reading the conclusion of a 12 issue series that has taken just over two years to reach the finish line.

It’s 1987 and the first collected volume of Watchmen appears, an event that will ultimately see Alan Moore disavow his creation and any associated spin-offs or incarnations in other media.

It’s 34 years since Moore dedicated an issue to Manhattan’s perception of time, and the device feels neither fresh nor necessary here. Like the adoption of Rorschach’s syntax by Reggie, it seems a hollow echo of the source, an unnecessary cover of a classic song just to show the band knows the greats.

It’s two days before I read the comic, and a Twitter thread discusses how Pax Americana and Pete Cannon, Thunderbolt both understand, engage and seek to transcend the sacred Gibbons and Moore text, building on what came before rather than just echoing it. It positions Doomsday Clock at the opposite end of the scale, lacking a true understanding of the text and being shackled by it, trapped in the shadows of a better work. It doesn’t seem an unfair assessment.

It’s December 18th, 2019, and this book hits the stands, apparently promising an eternity of Crises on as many earths as it sees fit, forever and ever and ever amen.

It is now, and I don’t disagree with the central thesis here that Superman is central to everything that makes the DCU what it is (either within the fiction of the DCU or in terms of the company that screwed over Siegel and Shuster), that he makes each universe better for being there, that he inspires his reality to be heroic and that he can be reborn for every age to keep inspiring, in the hope that one day reality will finally catch up with what he represents. I feel happy to see the Legion, to see their Superboy connection acknowledged (even though I never cared for Superboy, I do appreciate his importance to the Legion), but wonder what the point was of all the Legion foreshadowing if they amount to a quick cameo and proof that Clark remembers things once erased from history.

Flight rings in the 21st century and Imra in Arkham seem to have had very little significance in the end. Which I suppose is representative of the series as a whole- hyped extensively (it is May the 25th, 2016. Batman finds the Comedian’s bloodstained badge in the Batcave. Hype builds. It is April 2017. Batman and the Flash investigate the button. Nothing much comes of it. Later that year, Doomsday Clock 1 is released, promotion indicates it is a significant event in the DCU. It is 2020 and I can’t really remember the details of any of this stuff and remain unconvinced of any great impact, whether on the fictional universe or the medium), but seems to end with little more than the promise of ever more events and reboots, as though hype is all there is. Rather than engaging with the medium, challenging it or changing it, it just reiterates its past and promises further reiterations of the same old things, well beyond the lifetimes of current readers.

I am sure there are good things here- it looks good, it seems to have been something Johns was passionate about- but I struggle to find anything that I have enjoyed in the series, beyond moments of fan service style recognition. Much of this is due to its failure to be in any way representative of Watchmen- to willfully take on a work that (like it or not) towers over much of the superhero genre suggests great hubris. To do so in a way that suggests, at least to me, that you didn’t really get what it was about, is the very downfall that the Greeks warned hubris would lead to.

Moore looked at time: aging, the loss of innocence, the change of public opinion and trends, the struggle to make sense of your place in a world where things are not constant- the clock ticking down was as much the one on your wrist as the one maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (it is 2020 and the hand is at 100 seconds to midnight), because time is against us all. Heroes must grow up, retire, die. Vigilantes cannot fight the same fight forever, because society changes and what was once ‘un-American’ now is not, and what was once a scientific endeavour that ended a World War is now the Sword of Damocles hanging over all our heads. The sins that were once justified as being in the interests of peace are seen as the cold manipulations of powerful men willing to sacrifice innocent lives in the interests of little more than their own ego. There are no true absolutes in Watchmen.

Doomsday Clock promises an infinity of crises, resetting things to better suit the age, but still the same- Superman as the promise of justice, the same heroes fighting the same evils. Maybe one day he will be black, or female, or something once unimaginable to past readers stuck in their particular period, but that change is superficial at best, everything else is a form of recycling, just as the syntax of Rorschach, the time travel of Jon and the grid layout of Gibbons are reused throughout.

It feels like everything Moore would be against, like the logical and heartbreaking result of losing your creation to a corporation. Whether you are Superman or Rorschach, you are now trapped in the infinite loop of crises, never really having to face up to the ticking of the clock, taking comfort in the fact that doomsday will only bring you back to the start, safe in your role forevermore, archetypes that will never really have to change or truly face change.

It is 1986, and Watchmen is heralded as a sign of a new maturity in superhero comics, an indicator of new life in a genre (rightly or wrongly) perceived as childish and lacking in wider appeal, caught up in its own continuity and lacking both moral and narrative complexity.

It is 2019 and we are promised a future filled with the same characters being reborn time and again, the past always being brought back, rather than the past giving way to the present, and the present surrendering itself to the future. Here, the Doomsday Clock cannot be allowed to reach midnight, because what (or who?) the book represents fears what may come with a new day, fears change, fears not belonging in the world the way it once did. Everything Moore wanted to leave behind to seek new forms and stories is determined to hold the medium in a frozen moment of perpetual Rebirth.

From Doomsday Clock 12, by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson & Rob Leigh

[jumperlink2-blog]

Tunnel Visions

We need to talk about transport tunnel portals.

Ages ago, The Beauty of Transport looked at the Rotherhithe Tunnel, the portals for which feature moulded stonework and a pink granite finish. It was completed in 1908 to the designs of Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice.

Rotherhithe Tunnel portal. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Just over a century later, in 2011, the Hindhead Tunnel in Surrey opened. It was one of those rare things, a major road scheme with support from environmental groups. The diversion of the London-Portsmouth A3 road away from rare heathland allowed two such areas, previously blighted by the A3, to be reconnected with benefits to the environment (and visitors). But its portals, rather than celebrating this excellent addition to the trunk road network, are, well…

Hindhead Tunnel, northern portal of southbound carriageway. cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Ben Gamble – geograph.org.uk/p/2408078

No pink granite nor moulded stonework here. Just plain, unadorned concrete. Not that there’s anything wrong with plain, unadorned concrete, it’s just that here it’s not doing anything interesting.

But of course it is the railway, rather than the road network, which has been the great tunneller amongst transport modes. Thanks to the railway’s need for shallow gradients and generous curve radii, the railways frequently ended up building heroic tunnels, and they’re still doing it to this day. Perhaps the greatest railway tunnel of recent decades in Britain has been the Channel Tunnel. It is proper, daring, railway engineering, providing a giant social change in the process; a land connection between the Britain and mainland Europe. For some British people it effectively cost Britain its island status (though I think it still is an island, or at least it was the last time I checked). For mainland Europe, the Channel Tunnel provided a firm link to its semi-detached best frenemy, though it hasn’t helped hold the UK within the EU. So how is this world-changing, psyche-shattering transport project marked at its portals?

Embed from Getty Images

With a big flat concrete wall, with two circular holes in it. That’s how. I can’t help thinking that this somehow fails to sell the scale of the endeavour. It wasn’t always this way, though. Once upon time, railway engineers knew how to dress a tunnel portal. I am generally sceptical of articles, transport articles in particular, claiming that things were much better in the olden days. Mostly, they weren’t. But when it comes to tunnel portals, I’m afraid to say that things were, well, much better in the olden days.

One of the earliest great tunnel portals can be found close to London’s Euston station on the West Coast Main Line. Primrose Tunnel opened in 1937 and was designed by William Budden, assistant to George Stephenson, who was too busy building the world’s first long-distance inter-city railway (not the first inter-city railway, note) to worry about tunnel portal design.

Luckily, Budden was up to the task. He created a tunnel portal featuring carved lion masks, rusticated voussoirs, a heavy modillion cornice and vermiculated stone pedestals. Statutory heritage body Historic England notes that this was the first railway tunnel to treat its portals as an architectural set piece. This was not least because local landowners Eton College Estate demanded it. If you know the area at all, you’ll notice one key difference between the picture above, and the current situation. A second tunnel, and portal, was added in 1879, faithfully recreating the details of the earlier one.

Shortly afterward, on the North Midlands Railway in Derbyshire, George Stephenson designed the portals of Clay Cross Tunnel, and the northern portal is particularly notable. This is a common theme with railway tunnels, in which the portal at one end is much grander than the one at the other.

Clay Cross Tunnel, northern portal. Photo by Tony Hawes [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Clay Cross Tunnel’s northern portal was built from 1838-40 and features flanking octagonal towers with castellated tops, and further castellation along the parapet above the tunnel mouths. Charmingly, this little faux castle has little faux arrow slits, though it’s not clear what any archers would have been able to do in the face of an oncoming steam locomotive. It was all part of the early Victorian need to reassure nervous passengers of the safety of the new-fangled railway through dressing it up in markers of historical solidity, or overt Classical grandeur (as at Primrose Tunnel).

Milford Tunnel, also in Derbyshire, also on the North Midland Railway, and of the same vintage as Clay Cross Tunnel, reaches even further back into British history. The northern portal (again; did the North Midland not want southerners to have a nice view?) takes the form of a monumental Romanesque, or Saxon, depending on what sources you’re reading, arch. It’s huge, and wonderfully detailed, with seven rings of differently shaped stones.

Milford Tunnel, northern portal. Photo by RHowarth [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons

George and Robert Stephenson engineered the North Midland, with their assistant Frederick Swanwick, and it is likely that one of the three, or perhaps Francis Thompson (suggests Historic England) designed the portal, though it adds,”this is uncertain.” Historic England suggests the special architectural treatment Milford Tunnel received was merited because, “it faced land owned by the Strutt Family, who were in negotiations with the railway.” It’s not well seen today thanks to the growth of lineside vegetation but it is a truly spectacular construction.

You don’t get very far in a discussion of architecturally significant railway tunnels without mentioning Box Tunnel, opened at more-or-less the same time as Clay Cross and Milford Tunnels. The western portal is by far the most dramatic (the eastern one, however, features in Cold War doomsday scenarios – see this earlier The Beauty of Transport article). Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in a Classical idiom, to reassure and impress nervous passengers, and I rather suspect as a further example of Brunel’s personal brand-building, there’s no doubt that this is one of Britain’s great tunnel portals.

There’s a well-known legend that Box Tunnel was built die-straight on an alignment that allows the rising sun to shine through it on the date of Brunel’s birthday, April 9. This does sound exactly like the sort of thing Brunel would have done, no doubt adding to the currency of the legend, but it is disputed. Thanks to the fact the year isn’t exactly 365 days long, the sun’s position on particular dates isn’t the same from year to year, but current franchisee on the line, GWR, tested the theory on April 9, 2017. Its staff found that the sun did indeed shine directly into the tunnel, but it didn’t shine all the way through. Another example of the fame of Box Tunnel’s western portal is that a miniature recreation of it can be found at Stapleford Miniature Railway in Leicestershire.

Stapleford Miniature Railway’s replica of Box Tunnel’s portal. Photo by Stapleford at English Wikipedia (Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

A year after Box Tunnel opened, one of the most intriguing tunnel portals in the country opened at Clayton Hill in West Sussex, on the London-Brighton Railway. Clayton Tunnel’s northern portal returns to the popular castle theme, although this is a very grand one, with two large octagonal turrets flanking the pointed arch of the tunnel mouth, and retaining walls either side finished with a smaller turret, giving four turrets in all. Poking shyly above the parapet over the tunnel mouth is a small cottage.

Clayton Tunnel, north portal. tristan forward, via Wikimedia Commons

There is some disagreement about the date of its construction: 1849 is often quoted but Historic England’s listing citation insists it dates from the tunnel’s opening in 1841. It remains a private residence, and its occupiers have created a website about it (the cottage occasionally opens for tours). The occupiers claim it as the inspiration for Charles Dickens’ classic railway ghost story The Signalman, though as we’ve seen (in this earlier The Beauty of Transport article), there are other contenders for that honour. Nevertheless, the cottage over the tunnel is a real rarity and along with the decorative portal makes for a wonderful composition.

Bramhope Tunnel, of 1845-49, takes a rather rakish approach to the castellation of tunnel portals. Eschewing the conventional symmetry of most such essays in the genre, Leeds-Thirsk Railway engineer Thomas Grainger instead created a radically asymmetric design.

Bramhope Tunnel north portal. Photo by Linda Spashett Storye book [CC BY 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

To the left of the tunnel mouth is a large circular tower, while to the right is a smaller octagonal one, giving the whole a very rakish appearance (although Network Rail could do with giving it a bit of attention to sort out the vegetation growing on it and repair the damaged window; unless it has done so since this picture was taken). Hidden by trees are further turrets. The dramatic effect is enhanced by a whopping keystone at the top of the tunnel mouth which features a sculpture of a bearded man’s face, but whose? One possibility is that it is a likeness of the landowner whose property was crossed by the railway. Above the sculpture is a large panel featuring a wheatsheaf, fleece and fish. Like many early railway tunnels, its construction was expensive in terms of the lives of the navvies who built it; their lives, however, were regarded as cheap. Twenty-four of them died, and a memorial in the form of a model of the tunnel can be found in nearby Otley churchyard.

Sutton Tunnel, on the Chester-Manchester line returned to the more familiar symmetrical approach of tunnel portals pretending to be castles. It is notable for the attractive and unusual sunburst arrangement of stones surrounding the actual tunnel mouth.

Sutton Tunnel, south portal. Photo by Philphos [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons

It is, unfortunately, more famous for being the site of a fatal 1851 train crash that once again demonstrated why separating trains by set periods of time, rather than by signalled blocks of track, was a very bad idea. It was all very well allowing a train to depart along a section of track at set intervals of a few minutes, but if one of those trains came to an unexpected halt, there was no way for the driver of the train behind to know, until it was far too late…

By the latter half of the nineteenth century, tunnel portals had moved away from Classical, Saxon/Romanesque and castle allusions. With the railway essentially accepted by society, tunnel portals were allowed to stand on their own merits, though the best ones were still works of art. In London, the Crystal Palace and South London Railway opened a branch line in 1865 to serve the relocated Crystal Palace in Sydenham. Just before the terminus at Crystal Palace High Level station was a short tunnel, which goes by a number of names, though Paxton Tunnel (the name commemorates the architect who designed the Palace itself) seems the most common. Its south portal is a thing of wonder.

Paxton Tunnel, south portal. Photo by ethanlittle [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Constructed of red and cream brick, its colours match those of the Crystal Palace Subway (subject of this earlier The Beauty of Transport article). Its details are exquisite, with the bricks arranged to make a sort of cogwheel pattern around the tunnel mouth, interspersed by large sculpted stones. Flanking pilasters have cream brick sections standing proud of the red bricks. Though the line to Crystal Palace High Level has long since closed, the tunnel portal remains.

As the expansion of the railway network slowed, there simply wasn’t the same number of tunnels to decorate, so inevitably our picturesque tunnel portals tend to date from Victorian times, and reflect Victorian tastes in architecture. At least, they do in Britain. Overseas, examples can be found in much more recent design idioms. Though attractive tunnel portals outside Britain need an article of their own to do the subject justice (I’ll add it to the list…), two American tunnel portals bring the story up to date. The first, opening in 1928 is the Moffat Tunnel in the Rocky Mountains just west of Denver.

Moffat Tunnel, east portal. Photo by Mackpie [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Its construction knocked miles off the difficult Rollins Pass through the mountains, which was frequently snowed in. The tunnel’s muscular portals are good examples of Inter-war Modernism. Ventilation in the long tunnel is difficult though – when you go through the tunnel on an Amtrak train, you’re told to keep the windows closed.

Meanwhile, Alaska’s extraordinary Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel sports two portals which would probably be best described as Postmodernist, with structural elements making a pattern of triangles within triangles. The tunnel dates from the 1940s, and started life as a railroad tunnel constructed by the American military. The military eventually pulled out, and the 1960s saw tourist traffic to the town of Whittier increasing, with cars conveyed on flatbed railroad trucks. That sounds perfect to me, but by the 1980/90s the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities wanted to improve car access. After considering several options, it decided on an ambitious plan to convert the railroad tunnel into a hybrid rail/road tunnel, with cars and trains taking turns to use the tunnel. It opened in its new form in the early 2000s. New tunnel portals were designed as part of this conversion process.

Anton Anderson west portal. Photo by Gabor Eszes (UED77) [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY-SA 2.5], from Wikimedia Commons

Their distinctive triangular design, with sloping roofs, stems from a very practical need: withstanding avalanches (of a pressure of 1,000lbs/square foot on the Whittier portal). Because the tunnel is single track width, not only do trains and cars take turns, they do so in each direction. In each hour cars pass through from east to west for 15 minutes, followed by 15 minutes for westbound trains. Then there’s 15 minutes for cars from west to east, and then 15 minutes for eastbound trains. It’s one of the great pieces of unusual transport infrastructure. Actually, why am I just writing about it? Where’s my passport…?

Bibliography and Further Reading

Alaska Department of Transportation history of Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, here, and design features, here

Primrose Tunnel, Historic England listing citation, here

Clay Cross Tunnel, Historic England listing citation, here

Milford Tunnel, Historic England listing citation, here

Box Tunnel, Historic England listing citation, here

Clayton Tunnel, Historic England listing citation, here

Bramhope Tunnel, Historic England listing citation, here

Moffat Tunnel, at American Rails, here

…and anything linked to in the text above.

Source: https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2018/05/16/tunnel-visions/

[godstaff]

Q&A.

Anonymous said: “How do you feel about DC Rebirth? The whole deal sounds empty to me since they keep changing the backstory of the DC universe. I mean yeah, it's the old Superman and the real Wally West but then they keep changing the story to say that he is the same guy as New 52 a few months later. It's like I try to care about it but I just don't.”

Rebirth sucks. DC Comics is trying to do something any politician and celebrity would love to accomplish: re-write the past. A perfect way to bury all your previous mistakes and make people forget the skeletons in your closet. Problem is they are so stupid they can’t even decide what parts to keep and what to erase. It may work with Batso, because its fandom is very forgiving and has a short memory. They just want to know Batso is the greatest and coolest. Superman’s and other heroes’ fans are a little more demanding, but not by much. But, since the hands on the helm are so shaky and confused, they can’t properly stir the ship, they will never pull it off. They are unable of give the writing team a clear direction, and the whole thing is a mess. It’s not a matter of rebooting every year: you must have a clear objective, those great characters need purpose. They are trying different things to see which one sells more and then move to the next. It may work for when you sell goods, not stories.

Anonymous said: “Why do you think that the writing in Superman still sucks? I mean the guy has everything you could ask for: marriage kids, beats up his villains, potentially many all at once considering the new revenge plot? Just asking for your opinions on this.”

The writing of Superman started sucking balls the moment they married him with Lane. The moment they’ve made Lois the most important thing in his life, the figure of the hero began to fade: he  skipped his multiple duties to save her or even to hold her hand when she was ill at the hospital, while the whole World was falling apart. Many people found it selfish and self serving, not heroic. Much like when he let Diana fighting Doomsday alone to save a drowning Lois in BvS. Most people won’t find it “romantic”, most people will find it stupid. The hero moved away to give birth to the husband. This was such a failure, it forced the New 52 reboot. Not learning from past mistakes and to make things worst, now they gave him a son: the hero became a family man. Not many people want to read about that. That’s the reason many romantic stories end when the hero finally reunites with his romantic interest. And we have a lot of supers appearing from under a rock! When you diversify the attention from the main subject to a lot of similar ones, the attention on the main subject starts failing. Interest fades. Readers get bored.

diehard200904 said: “IDK, but I hear so much about how all these stories happened in past DC Canon but really just don't care? What do you make of all this, does it really matter if some DC Character had the Silver Age Events canon? I just don't see a reason to care about what's canon like people on boards do. (Crisis on Infinite Earths, New 52, Convergence, Rebirth, etc.)”

You, my friend, do not care much about the history of the characters, but that history makes the heroes what they are today and, much more important, prevents those assholes in charge to fuck things up, it would stop this “anything goes” philosophy. If they keep tradition consistent, they will have to present a very good reason to modify it and won’t be able to lie about things past or re-write them as they please, confusing readers. Not caring about the past in a serial or comic leads to lazy writing and lazy writing ends up in lousy stories, like the ones we are having now. I repeat: it’s not carved on stone, it can be changed. Not all things past are good or better, but if you force yourself to stick to history and tradition (at least to acknowledge them) or to present a very good case on why something needs to be changed, it would make you a better, more imaginative storyteller and readers will be thankful. It will force editors to be sincere about rebooting whenever they feel like needing a fresh start. The alternative is the mess we have now. 

These are my humble and sincere opinions.

[justiceleagueofphilosophy]

World’s Finest: What makes a man a hero?

It’s funny to think about how we don’t associate our golden age heroes, Batman and Superman, with philosophy, but within their mythos is a plentiful bounty of situations that require deep thought and extensive philosophical discussion. Together Batman and Superman have over 75 years continuity(Retconned and otherwise), and millions of fans who adore them, but what makes us fall in love with them? What makes them heroes? But before we can discuss Batman and Superman we must look at who they were before they donned the cape. Let’s start with Superman.

Everyone knows the Origin story of The Last Son of Krypton. The Infant, Kal-El and his older cousin, Kara Zor-El, were sent to earth before, their home planet of Krypton was destroyed. However, due to the yellow sun of Earth’s solar system, Kal-El(now dubbed Clark Kent) is gifted with awesome powers. With these gifts, Clark decides to protect the world as Superman. This origin Story is so well known you will seldom find a person who hasn’t the knowledge of it. The only more known origin story would be that of Batman’s but let’s not reiterate that for fear we have to go through the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents all over again(Looking at you, Zack Snyder!). The point of these origins is to explain or give a reason as to why Batman and Superman are heroes, but this doesn’t answer the question as to if they are really heroes. Beyond the cape might hold our answers.

It is really simple to say that Superman=Clark Kent, and Batman=Bruce Wayne however, is this really true literally? Of course, it is! Superman was not born Superman, and Batman was not born Batman. They became that after situations placed them to this outcome, but let’s just say that maybe this isn’t the case within the hearts of both heroes. This is why their origins are so important. While Superman has sad origins in the stars, he was literally an infant. Therefore the tragedy of planet Krypton does not affect him as it would if he were may be old enough to remember his parents or his planet. What shaped Clark to become Superman was his time spent in Smallville, Kansas with his adoptive human parents. This is opposite to Batman, who’s life was shaped the night Joe Chill gunned down his parents in Crime Alley. This event created The Batman and destroyed the innocent boy that was Bruce Wayne. To Batman, Bruce Wayne is billionaire, airheaded, playboy, but in his head, Bruce Wayne is Batman truly and surely. He even says as much in the animated series, Batman Beyond, where he admits that in his head he refers to himself as Batman(even though he has retired and is no longer wearing the cowl). Superman is a different story. With all his heart Superman wishes for one thing and that thing is to be human. For Batman, the mask is Bruce Wayne, and for Superman, Clark Kent is who he truly wants to be.

Knowing who they are, gives us better insight with in order to determine if these two are truly heroes. Heroic origins aside, What is a hero? Other than the webster definition, the text gives some descriptions of the hero that either is supposed to be. One of those things is being altruistic. Altruism is the practice of selfless concern for the well-being of others. Meaning that you do something for someone else without any concern over what may happen to you.Therefore there must be some kind of potential danger to you when you practice this selfless act. Batman is a textbook example of a truly altruistic person. Every night he goes out of his way to personally protect the city of Gotham even going as far as to train others to the same should something happen to him, and during the day he donates as much money as he can to charities, helping those less fortunate than he. Bruce Wayne in Christopher’s Nolan, The Dark Knight Rises is no longer considered wealthy after giving everything he had to different charities. Superman, on the other hand, does not do everything he can to be altruistic, and one wonders if he can truly be considered altruistic seeing as unless he’s fighting Doomsday, Darkseid, or a Batman with a Kryptonite spear, he is hardly ever in danger. And during the day as Clark Kent he makes a measly paycheck as a reporter, he does not give any extra money to charity because he himself must be able to pay rent at the end of the month. Besides, he does enough as Superman, right? This gets into deontology, giving good deeds a weight based on what they accomplish, but we can discuss that all day without agreeing on an answer, and therefore we move onto to supererogatory actions.

Superogatory actions, which are very similar to the idea of being altruistic. To complete a supererogatory action one must do more good than required, which is something everyone can agree that Batman and Superman do in spades. Clark Kent does not have to give money to charity because it is not required because of his smaller income. While Bruce Wayne because he is a billionaire is expected to give at least some money to charity. The main idea about supererogatory actions is that they are not required if they were then the common man is grossly neglectful to his fellow person. But it does make you wonder how much good we can consider our heroes to be.

Still, we can not ignore the fact that Batman and Superman seem to “go beyond” their duty... or do they? Batman is Batman and does all these amazing things because of a promise he made at the grave of his parents to make Gotham City a better place, to protect the city his parents loved. Therefore it is his duty to be Batman. However one could argue that a promise that he made to his now deceased parents at 10 doesn’t really hold up, but we commend Bruce Wayne for trying. Superman is a little harder to place as technically with his powers Superman should always be helping someone, right? If you see someone about to get hit by a car then it is your duty to try to call out to them and warn them, right?If Clark Kent can hear Green Arrow calling for help in the middle of the pacific ocean when Clark himself was in Metropolis, Delaware(Green Arrow and Black Canary #4) then it should stand to reason that Superman’s duty is far larger than the standard persons. Still, even Superman admitted that he can’t be everywhere at once, and thus the Justice league was created.

The final and most unifying quality of being a superhero is the fact that both Batman, Superman, heck almost all superheroes we love are criminals. Yup, They are criminals and completely unforgiving about it, but isn’t that what kind of makes them heroes in the first place? They go beyond the law, doing what they have to do in order to protect people and save lives. You will never find Batman or Superman ever claim to follow the law completely because as it stands they are vigilantes which is pretty much illegal. One can not simply take the laws into their own hands, and those who do are social deviants. Really... Batman a guy who stalks people dressed up like a bat is a social deviant, go figure. Superman and Batman break the law because they feel that they must in order to save lives. Superman in Frank Miller’s famous graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns quotes, Batman saying, “Sure we’re criminals. We’ve always been criminals. We have to be criminals.” Of course breaking the law doesn’t make you make you Ra’s al Ghul level evil. Many important figures from our history like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi broke the law. Though Civil Disobedience and vigilantism are on a whole different level. It’s just simpler to say that Batman and Superman break the law so that they can enforce it.

That doesn’t every question, as the style in which Batman is a vigilante and the style in which Superman is one are different and have reasons that they are different. Superman’s style of vigilantism is the kind that we should approve of. Other than acts of heroism Superman follows the law. He works with the law. Even when Lex Luthor was voted for president instead of taking him down immediately he waited until Luthor did something explicitly evil(and Illegal!) to bring him to justice. But why does Superman have to wait? Why couldn’t he just have taken Luthor down? I mean, it was Lex Luthor. Of course, he was planning something evil! Superman waited because he is in a constant battle to seem benevolent to the people. He fights for them, and Superman knows that they have to trust him which is hard considering how easy it would be for him just to take over the world and be its dictator. Superman believes in freedom and he would never compromise that because if he does then he will just be the evil alien overlord that Luthor thinks him to be.

Batman, on the other hand, is a man on a mission and that mission is to clean up the streets of Gotham City. He rarely works with the police or the government because at the end of the day they don’t help him in his mission. Batman is a man that is waging war on crime, and “in times of war the law is silent”. That is the reason why Batman disregards the law. Even when the Justice League were convicted of something they know they didn’t do, as a show good faith to the public they turned themselves in... Well, all except Batman who felt his time was better spent figuring out what had happened instead of locked in a cell hoping they find him innocent.

 Batman completely disregards the law because one he is at war, and two he has the luxury to. Superman’s amazing powers make him more of a threat than one rich orphan ever could. This kind of Vigilantism needs checks which is the reason Superman adheres to the law and works with the government, and the reason why Batman has created contingency plans to neutralize every member of the Justice league should they go rogue( Justice League: Tower of Babel). Batman doesn’t apologize for making them when they are later stolen by a supervillain and used against them because he realizes how dangerous they can be if there isn’t anyone who can stop them, and knows that no government can do it.

After knowing all the qualities that make a hero it is easy to say that both of these characters fulfill those qualifications. Though who is the better superhero is up to you.

[aion-rsa]

DC Universal Threats: The 15 Most Powerful Objects In DC Comics

Powers are granted to heroes through many means. Some acquire them though hard work and discipline, some have their powers thrust upon them and others are born with their abilities. There is a constant struggle going on between all meta-humans, be they good or evil, and sometimes extra help is needed to get the upper hand, or even to acquire powers in the first place.

RELATED: Marvel Magic: The 15 Most Arcane Artifacts In The Universe

The DC Comics Universe is littered with objects that can provide that very thing. Some exhaust their users, while others embolden them; some require heavy sacrifices, and many are bestowed to those who are in the right place at the right time. They could come from places that existed before creation itself or could have been created with world domination in mind. No matter their origin or purpose, the items in the DC Universe that can bestow great power are spread far and wide, and we at CBR have compiled the 15 most powerful.

WARWORLD

The Warzoons created Warworld in an effort to conquer the Universe. It first appeared in “DC Comics Presents” #27 in 1980, created by Len Wein and Jim Starlin. Controlled by a mental link, Warworld is covered in missiles and laser cannons capable of destroying entire planets, so it’s fortunate that the Warzoons mysteriously died out before they could utilize their weapon. Rediscovered by the Largas, they could not bring themselves to destroy Warworld, and gifted its keys to the Martians before they died out as well.

History dictated these keys would fall to Mongul, the alien warlord. In the Pre-Crisis continuity, Mongul controlled the deadly planet, but found the mental powers it demanded from him too overwhelming. Its defences were strong, but Superman and Supergirl were able to break through them and destroy it. In the Post-Crisis continuity, Warworld was the seat of Mongul’s galactic empire, and the site of his twisted gladiatorial games. Superman fought the champion Draaga on its surface, and was able to defeat him with ease. Warworld would eventually fall to the hands of Draaga, as well as Brainiac, but no matter its ruler, it remains a deadly threat to all peaceful planets across the Universe.

ROCK OF ETERNITY

The Rock Of Eternity is the traditional home of Shazam The Wizard, and has been around since the Golden Age of comics. It first appeared in 1947’s “The Marvel Family” #7, published by the now defunct Fawcett Comics. The story featured the Marvel family visiting Shazam on the Rock Of Eternity and gaining their powers. The superhero named “Captain Marvel” first appeared here, but Fawcett Comics was forced to give the rights over to DC after a lawsuit, and DC was forced to give up their rights to the name when Marvel claimed it for themselves.

Regardless of all this, the Rock Of Eternity has remained a profoundly powerful place. The Champion created it from two large rock formations, one from Heaven, and one from Hell, and it is the nexus of power that fuels a neighbouring reality. It is the prison for a reptilian demon known as The Three Faces Of Evil, as well as the Seven Deadly Sins. Furthermore, The Rock is the source of all magical power on Earth. The Rock’s guardian is bound to it for life, meaning that poor Shazam can only leave for 24 hours at a time.

H-DIAL

The H-Dial is a powerful magic device first discovered by Robby Reed in a cavern near his hometown of Littleville, Colorado. It resembled an old telephone dial, and when Robby spelled out H-E-R-O on its keys, that very thing he became. Each time he typed in the word he was granted different abilities, and could return to normal by typing the reverse. New forms could be taken by typing other words, such as V-I-L-L-A-I-N, H-E-R-O-I-N-E, or in one unfortunate circumstance, H-O-R-R-O-R.

Eventually, Robby used the H-Dial to split himself in two in order to stop the plot of a villain. His two selves embodied the goodness and evil within him, and could not remember who they truly were. Chris King and Vicky Grant discovered two more H-Dials, but these versions only granted super abilities for one hour at a time. They used them to help Robby combine his halves once more, and he then retired as both a hero and villain for good.

NTH METAL

Nth Metal (or Ninth metal) is a substance found on the planet of Thanagar, and grants unusual abilities to those who come into contact with it. It negates the properties of gravity, allowing a user to fly, protects one from physical extremes and speeds healing. The full extent of its properties are not fully understood, and the supervillain Onimar Synn had complete mastery of the substance, making him akin to a God.

In ancient Egypt, a ship made of Nth metal crash landed and was discovered by Pharaoh Khufu and his wife-to-be, Chay-Ara. Their contact with the mysterious substance sent them into a cycle of reincarnation, with their latest forms being Carter Hall and Shiera Saunders, better known as Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They were gifted Nth Metal belts by Thanagarian Paran Katar, and have continued the Nth Metal legacy on Earth that was started by their ancient selves. With the use of the metal, they have performed numerous heroic deeds and have became indispensable members of the Justice League.

THE BOOK OF THE BLACK

The Black Lantern Corps. is one of the most frightful organizations in the DC Universe. They are the embodiment of Death, and their avatar is Black Hand, who channels the energy of Nekron after he was resurrected by Scar. The Black Lantern Corps. represent the darkness that existed before the white light of existence was born, and their struggle against creation is what caused the white light to split into the emotional spectrum. They predict the coming of The Blackest Night, a great doomsday event that will extinguish all light forever.

The Book Of The Black is a tome that exists in the vaults of planet Oa, and contains within it many forbidden prophecies and untapped magic potential. It was written by the fallen Guardian of the Universe, Scar, and is considered the facilitator of the Blackest Night, for within it are written the names of those who have the power to resist the end of times, and possibly reverse it. The book also predicted that Hal Jordan would be the greatest Black Lantern, which was proven true when he joined the Black Lantern Corps. to escape the Dead Zone, summon Nekron, and defeat the First Lantern, Volthoom.

AMAZO

The great android Amazo has been around for a long time, first appearing in “The Brave And The Bold” #30, created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson in 1960. He was built by the immortality-obsessed Professor Ivo. Amazo has long been a thorn in the side of the Justice League and is one of their deadliest villains, as he has the ability to duplicate their powers. He can take on the strength of Superman, the speed of The Flash and the cunning of Batman, but also takes on their weaknesses. Frightfully, he has the ability to “adapt” around these weaknesses, making his villainous potential virtually limitless.

There have been multiple models of the Amazo Android. Fellow android Hourman once dragged Amazo out of the timestream to study him, but Amazo copied Hourman’s time manipulation abilities and wreaked havoc upon the Universe. Another version of Amazo copied the powers of the Justice League as a whole, but his programming was overwrought when Superman officially disbanded the League. He also had a son named Kid Amazo, who went against his programming to become a hero, an act that slowly drove him insane.

THE COSMIC ROD

The Cosmic Rod is the tool and symbol of Starman, a hero that has taken many forms. The original Starman was Ted Knight, who first created the Gravity Rod, the item that the Cosmic Rod was based upon. The Cosmic Rod is powered by the stars themselves and grants its user a myriad of powers, including gravity and magnetic manipulation, energy projection and absorption, inter-dimensional travel and the ability to control the Rod with one’s mind.

Though the Starman mantle has fallen to many heroes, including Charles McNider and even Bruce Wayne, the most famous wielder of the Cosmic Rod would be Jack Knight. Jack was the son of the legendary Ted Knight, and looked up to his father immensely. Jack’s brother David was the original recipient of the Cosmic Rod, but Jack was forced to assume the role of Starman after the supervillain Mist ordered his children to murder David. The villainy of Mist and his children could not go ignored, and Jack, somewhat reluctantly, swore to defend his city against them. He would eventually bestow the Rod to Stargirl, formerly known as the Star-Spangled Kid, and help her become a key member of The Justice Society.

THE SWORD OF SUPERMAN

The Sword Of Superman was a relic that appeared in the Pre-Crisis storyline “Superman Annual #10: The Day The Cheering Stopped, ” written by Elliot Maggin in 1984. The sword came into existence in the Big Bang, and has Superman’s stylized “S” embedded on its pommel. It has a sentience of its own, and transmitted the “S” symbol to Jonathan Kent’s mind when he was creating Clark’s super suit. The sword is the very reason that Superman’s name is known throughout the Universe, and it seems to have a deep and mysterious connection to him.

When King Kosmos hypnotized everyone on Earth into despising Superman, the sword appeared to him and gave him the power he needed to regain his influence and overthrow the villain. The Sword then attempted to imbue him with all the power of the Universe, which would allow him to become one with its eternal fabric. Superman refused this power as he dramatically began coming apart like shattered glass. Having been denied, the blade of the Sword fell away, leaving only the hilt, which Superman hurled into space to await the one who would earn its nigh unlimited power.

CENTRAL POWER BATTERIES

The emotions that came into being with sentient life conformed into the light spectrum, and this energy manifested itself as seven emotional embodiments. The Central Power Batteries were created to channel these massive energy sources, and each Lantern Corps. has their own battery from which all their power is drawn. The most well known of these batteries in the Green Central Power Battery, located on Oa, which empowers the Green Lanterns.

There are two other central power batteries alongside the seven of the emotional spectrum, those being Black and White. The Black Battery was constructed by Nekron around the remains of the Anti-Monitor after he was obliterated by Superboy-Prime. The White Battery is somewhat more mysterious, as it crashed on Earth during the Blackest Night, when it was needed most. It houses The Entity, the spirit that triggered all life. No matter their origin or followers, the Central Power Batteries are some of the greatest sources of power across the DC Universe, and are pivotal to all members of the various Lantern Corps.

THE SPEAR OF DESTINY

The Spear of Destiny is a dangerous tool in the DC Universe and one that bleeds into the history and mythology of our own world. The Spear was the very same that pierced the side of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion, eventually finding its way to the hands of Adolf Hitler. The Spear turned anyone that got close to Hitler into a servant of Nazism, and thus no superheroes could stop him from creating the Third Reich.

Before the Nazi regime was overthrown by conventional means, Hitler performed a ritual that would fill any holder of the Spear with an unstoppable desire for power. The Spear made its way to American hands and was given to Superman to help stop the Spectre and a raging water elemental, as the Spear was the only thing powerful enough to harm them. The Spear almost corrupted Superman, but he hurled it into space before any real damage could be done. The Spear was retrieved once more when the rogue angel, Asmodel, possessed the Spectre and literally froze over Hell. The Spear Of Destiny is a dangerous weapon to wield, but its dire need often outweighs the risk of carrying it.

MOBIUS CHAIR

The Mobius Chair is a device of the Anti-Monitor, ruler of the anti-matter Universe and instigator of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He built it in his unending quest for knowledge, and bestowed it upon the Metron before it was taken from the New God by Batman.

The Mobius Chair can teleport through time and space in mere moments, and can travel to other dimensions with ease. It has an inherent life support system that allows users to survive the perils of the cosmos, and a tractor beam that is strong enough to pull an entire planet. Its most useful feature, however, is that it contains all the knowledge of the New Gods, deific beings of the Fourth World, and this allows its user to access knowledge beyond the mortal realm. In “Justice League” #50, Batman did what we thought would never happen, and used the chair to reveal the identity of the Joker. We won’t spoil the truth of that here, but such forbidden knowledge is just a taste of what the Mobius Chair can provide.

MOTHER BOX

The Mother Boxes are near sentient supercomputers used by the Gods of New Genesis and communicate with a familiar “ping!” Jack Kirby created them for his “Fourth World” saga when he left Marvel for DC in 1970. Each Mother Box is so powerful that they seem to have minds of their own, and are directly connected to The Source, the wellspring of life and energy in the DC Universe. They can manipulate gravity, summon Boom Tubes to teleport, heal injuries, sustain a being in space and reconfigure matter. They form deep bonds with those who use them, and have been known to self-destruct when their owner dies.

Many characters across the DC Universe have possessed Mother Boxes. Superman was given one through Mister Miracle when he was tracking Doomsday to Apokalips. The Mother Box healed Darkseid in order to help Superman in his fight, gave him various high-tech weaponry and healed him completely once the battle was finished. Orion carried one that controlled his fury and beast-like appearance, but this Box was taken from him several times. Ted Knight, the original Starman, also had one, and his consciousness was transferred into it before it was destroyed.

THE HELMET OF FATE

Much like the Cosmic Rod, the Helmet of Fate grants the powers of a hero known as Dr. Fate to whoever wields it, and was created by Nabu, the Lord of Order. The first Dr. Fate was Kent Nelson, who discovered Nabu in an ancient temple in Mesopotamia. Nabu granted him the helmet, along with the Amulet of Anubis and The Cloak Of Destiny, giving him all the powers that he possessed. This Dr. Fate helped form the 1940’s Justice League, and married Inza Cramer, with whom he was destined to fight alongside for years.

During the “Infinite Crisis” event, Nabu was destroyed, along with the Helmet’s current owner, Hector Hall. The Helmet travelled through many hands and space itself before being delivered to Kent V. Nelson, great nephew to the original Dr. Fate. He became the Helmet’s primary owner and used it to battle the demon Negal. The Helmet gives its user incredible magical powers, such as flight, spell casting, telekinesis, teleportation and enhanced intellect. Dr. Fate is one of the most powerful sorcerers in the Universe and could be seen as DC’s counterpart to Marvel’s Dr. Strange.

WHITE LANTERN RINGS

The White Lantern Ring is the most powerful tool to harness the emotional spectrum, as it utilizes the combined force of all emotions. The White Ring first appeared in “The Blackest Night” #7 and carried within it the strength of The Entity. This all-consuming power overwrote Hal Jordan’s Green Ring, giving him the strength to defeat Nekron, resurrect his fallen allies, create the White Lantern Corps. and put an end to the Blackest Night.

The White Lantern Ring had several owners after this event. Deadman came to possess it, and became a servant of the Entity. Many heroes were killed and resurrected by the White Ring, and it pulled many unexpected strings in order to prevent the rising of the Dark Avatar. In the New 52 reboot, Kyle Rayner gained a White Lantern Ring that was free from the influence of The Entity when he mastered all seven powers of the emotional spectrum. He then absorbed the Life Equation and became so powerful he feared he could not keep himself under control. This crisis was solved when the ring was split into seven pieces, with the ability of being re-combined in times of great need.

THE MIRACLE MACHINE

The Miracle Machine is the most powerful, unpredictable, and unstable item in the DC Universe. Its dangers lie in the volatility of the human mind, as it has the ability to turn any person’s thoughts into reality. An insane Brainiac 5 attempted to use the machine to destroy the Universe, but could not imagine a properly magnificent death. He conceived of Omega, a being who could, and the machine was eaten by Matter-Eater Lad in order to stop this plot. The consumption drove him mad, and once the machine was removed from his body, he was essentially granted the power of invulnerability. Superman has also used the machine, once to create a duplicate of himself, and once to defeat the terrifying onslaught of Darkseid.

Even a fleeting thought will become true if one is near the Miracle Machine and it has the ability to create and destroy entire worlds. It was built by the Controllers after reverse-engineering the willpower technology of the Guardians of the Universe and can only be properly used by someone with complete control of their mind. It is currently locked deep in the Legion of Superheroes’ vault to prevent any misuse. Thank goodness for that!

Are there any other powerful objects from DC Comics that deserve a mention on this list? Be sure to let us know in the comments section!

The post DC Universal Threats: The 15 Most Powerful Objects In DC Comics appeared first on CBR.com.

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