If you were a superhero, would you kill people?

I've seen quite a few people discussing the whole to kill or not to kill question with relationship to comic characters, often in relation to Batman.

As someone with a substantial interest in philosophy and such, I was interested in hearing some opinions of this.

So, if you were a superhero in a comic book world, would you allow yourself to kill villains? Are the utilitarian advantages just too tempting not too? Or would you follow more Kantian principles and restrain yourself to certain absolute rules?

-If that last bit made no sense to you don't worry about it - I just want to hear your thoughts :)

I'd kill selectively, but I'd cripple everyone with powers

vigilantes like punisher, midnighter,even dexter morgan always appealed to me so if i had their powers/abilities , yeah i'd kill . maybe not muggers but definetly rapists ,murderers , and really strong super-villains who posed a global threat

Depending on what powers. There is more of a chance I'd kill by accident. I would not kill on purpose.

If I gained powers now, in this universe, I would not kill because I think my role model would be the fictional character, Superman. In another time, another place, idk. I'd like to think not.

If you'd kill with powers you would without them. The only thing holding you back is fear of you yourself getting harmed and unwillingness to accept the consequences.

I would do what would need to be done...but i would not believe myself a self appointed executioner.

I have superpowers and I haven't killed........yet

Just in extreme cases like the Joker, I would kill he but that's becaus he has taken more lives than you can ever count. But not whoever stands in my way.

I wouldn't for the most part. Unless I got myself in a Fantomex situation.

I'd kill if they left me no other option, like if the villain was holding a hostage and I had no choice but to kill them or risk the hostage being killed, then yes I would kill. As for some petty thug who just stole some money, then no I wouldn't kill them.

Yeah , If is saved them and they pull an X-Men crowd on me then they are vaporized

Ungrateful or hateful muggles get the instant death as self-defense but some villains get off with a disability

- Considering the damage certain villains have caused over time, as well as the inevitable escape from whatever prison they are locked up in, there are cases where killing them off would be unavoidable if the greater good is the priority. Such a decision may be difficult, but certain villains have a history of murder, rape, genocide, etc where sparing their lives is only guaranteeing that they will have future victims in time.

- The problem is if every villain worth killing was given the ultimate sanction, you would not have a lot left to work with.

@BlackArmor said:

I'd kill selectively, but I'd cripple everyone with powers

Wouldn't it depend on who the heroes are, would you try to cripple Superman lool?

No, I don't have the authority to make that decision. 

@jeanroygrant said:

@BlackArmor said:

I'd kill selectively, but I'd cripple everyone with powers

Wouldn't it depend on who the heroes are, would you try to cripple Superman lool?

If he went evil yeah, but I meant I would cripple all superpowerd villains unless they were in the list of superpowered villains that I would kill

No, I would not kill. Being a superhero means not killing.

@BlackArmor said:

@jeanroygrant said:

@BlackArmor said:

I'd kill selectively, but I'd cripple everyone with powers

Wouldn't it depend on who the heroes are, would you try to cripple Superman lool?

If he went evil yeah, but I meant I would cripple all superpowerd villains unless they were in the list of superpowered villains that I would kill

Depends on how much power i had

@jeanroygrant said:

@BlackArmor said:

@jeanroygrant said:

@BlackArmor said:

I'd kill selectively, but I'd cripple everyone with powers

Wouldn't it depend on who the heroes are, would you try to cripple Superman lool?

If he went evil yeah, but I meant I would cripple all superpowerd villains unless they were in the list of superpowered villains that I would kill

Depends on how much power i had

Yeah, assuming I could cripple Superman is pretty arrogant...........I would try to get Batman to do it :p

@BlackArmor said:

@jeanroygrant said:

@BlackArmor said:

@jeanroygrant said:

@BlackArmor said:

I'd kill selectively, but I'd cripple everyone with powers

Wouldn't it depend on who the heroes are, would you try to cripple Superman lool?

If he went evil yeah, but I meant I would cripple all superpowerd villains unless they were in the list of superpowered villains that I would kill

Depends on how much power i had

Yeah, assuming I could cripple Superman is pretty arrogant...........I would try to get Batman to do it :p

True

I'll be completely honest here... If I woke up with the powers of Superman, there's certainly some injustices and wrongs that I would right, and most of them would involve making person-shaped craters from throwing scumbags at the moon. Human-traffickers, rapists, child molestors, the drug cartels, oppressive warlords, tyrannous dictatorships, terrorists cells... I'm pretty sure I'd basically do the job that Supes would do if he didn't aways have to worry about being a U.S. citizen or fighting superpowered criminals. A few superspeed flights around the world with superhearing and x-ray/microscopic vision would be all I needed to find those who persecute and harm the innocent, and then I'd show everyone what Superman could do to Batman if they fought using the aforementioned scumbags as an example.

Not the average guy, no. But the major villains? Maybe.

Depends on the powers.

Mere invisability? HELL NO.

Impenetrable Skin, Flying, Lazer eyes, Invincible.... HELL YES. WORLD DOMINATION TIME.

I'd try to avoid killing, though I'm not going to hold back on breaking a lot of bones.

I would save people, be a hero.

Only Ron Marx

I meant Marz. Stupid Ipad spellcheck.

@Tbird13: no killing is wrong whatever the reason. it may solve the problem but it is still not right. making that choice makes you a hero.

No, because that would make me a super villain.

@War Killer said:

I'd kill if they left me no other option, like if the villain was holding a hostage and I had no choice but to kill them or risk the hostage being killed, then yes I would kill. As for some petty thug who just stole some money, then no I wouldn't kill them.

i agree with war killer .

More much like:

If you had SUPERPOWERS, would you kill people?

A hero is not the one kills the villains, is the one saves the innocent.

I would not kill, is the real life there is not such thing as a villain, we all are just people, trying to reach only one thing, be happy, so none is evil, we are all just animals with a complex mind.

Depends on the situation. The kid from Chronicle was damn near asking for it.

yeah i changed my mind. i wouldn't kill if i was a superhero. i would would beat them up and send them to jail.

Proportionate to their crime. If they take another human life (or likewise ruined one, like with rape) then they deserve to lose theirs. Bank robbers or whatever can be incarcerated -- but I like to think I could bring myself to do what had to be done if worse punishment was required. I couldn't sit idly by if I had the power to end it.

I would kill some crazy ones that can hurt my family and friends like the Joker but others I'm just going to hurt enough for them to quit.

If I felt it was necessary to do so.

More much like:

If you had SUPERPOWERS, would you kill people?

A hero is not the one kills the villains, is the one saves the innocent.

I would not kill, is the real life there is not such thing as a villain, we all are just people, trying to reach only one thing, be happy, so none is evil, we are all just animals with a complex mind.

@FadeToBlackBolt said:

I like your last point about heroes and anti-heroes.

Thanks

BUT there are villains in our world. Hitler, Mau, Pot, Stalin, etc...

Those people were doing what they thought that is the right thing, or well, they were doing what suits them, in other words they were doing what they needed to do to survive, at the end they were just animals, if we kill them, we would be the same as them, animals, because we would be destroying what we don't want, like any other animal would do.

Such thing as evil is a human conception to understand, but that concept is no longer applicable, because no one is evil because yes, they do wrong things to a purpose, to survive.

Also, Hitler had regrets, at the end of his life he knew what he was doing was wrong, it was too late.

@Deadcool said:

Also, Hitler had regrets, at the end of his life he knew what he was doing was wrong, it was too late.

What...? I doubt this very much.

@royale_with_cheese said:

@Deadcool said:

Also, Hitler had regrets, at the end of his life he knew what he was doing was wrong, it was too late.

What...? I doubt this very much.

I watched it in History Channel =P

You don't have to believe it...

@Deadcool said:

@royale_with_cheese said:

@Deadcool said:

Also, Hitler had regrets, at the end of his life he knew what he was doing was wrong, it was too late.

What...? I doubt this very much.

I saw it in History Channel =P

You don't have to believe it...

Meh..

Back to the topic at hand. The Punisher code of conduct has always appealed to me, if super heroes were to run rampant in the real world.

@royale_with_cheese said:

Meh..

... =3=

Back to the topic at hand. The Punisher code of conduct has always appealed to me, if super heroes were to run rampant in the real world.

A couple or years ago I could have been agree with you, but no, evil doesn't exist, the people deserve a trial, and a chance to fix their behavior.

@Deadcool said:

@royale_with_cheese said:

Meh..

... =3=

Back to the topic at hand. The Punisher code of conduct has always appealed to me, if super heroes were to run rampant in the real world.

A couple or years ago I could have been agree with you, but no, evil doesn't exist, the people deserve a trial, and a chance to fix their behavior.

What, and end up as repeat offenders? The Punisher sets an example for all those would-be criminals.

Never liked the general notion of superheroes not killing villains especially those that pose a great threat to innocent people or continually harm or kill because of some moral code or whatever. If I had superpowers I would kill when deemed necessary such as with murderers, rapists and those that are likely to recommit such acts.

If I were a superhero, yes I would.

Rapist, mass murderers, drug dealers and Joker-esque villains who like to "set the world on fire and watch it burn"? Definitely. We saw it numerous times, they always find a way to cheat a system.

Depends

@royale_with_cheese said:

What, and end up as repeat offenders? The Punisher sets an example for all those would-be criminals.

"If we had a better education we wouldn't need jails"...

Being an atihero is something that I am completely against, evil doesn't exist, people can change.

The Punisher is just a crazy maniac.

@Deadcool said:

@royale_with_cheese said:

What, and end up as repeat offenders? The Punisher sets an example for all those would-be criminals.

"If we had a better education we wouldn't need jails"...

Being an atihero is something that I am completely against, evil doesn't exist, people can change.

The Punisher is just a crazy maniac.

That quote would only work on a purely theoretical basis. People commit crimes for numerous reasons, that are not attributed to education. E.g. necessity, greed, duress, etc.

Yes, Frank is crazy, but he's not a maniac. He does show discretion in cases where the punishment don't fit the crime. He looks out for the little people, that the "super" heroes tend to forget while fighting intergalactic conquerors and such. I'd rather have someone like the Punisher guarding the streets, as opposed to say, Batman, who's strict no-kill code makes him equally responsible for all the blood that the Joker has shed for every time he escapes the Arkham Asylum.

Yes. Some people just need killing.

I'm not The Punisher, but I'm not going to screw around either. There are people that aren't beyond redemption, because I believe that no one is beyond redemption. But you know what the thing about redemption is? You have to want to be redeemed. There are unrepentant monsters in the world and I'm vicious enough that I know I'd end up hurting some of them pretty badly and I wouldn't cry myself to sleep over it.

The world doesn't need to be a bloodbath, but being afraid to kill is selfish in my view because there are times when you're just allowing the status quo and the status quo sometimes is genocide, murder, victimization, and horror.

@royale_with_cheese said:

That quote would only work on a purely theoretical basis. People commit crimes for numerous reasons, that are not attributed to education. E.g. necessity, greed, duress, etc.

Think about it, if we had a better society, people would need to comit crimes, the society is there to survive and have a good life as a whole, but people is unable to be completely happy, in our society there is a huge amout of suffering, people need crime to survive, in a world where there are more poor people than rich people, crime is the logical response to that, we need to change people mind, we need more education.

Yes, Frank is crazy, but he's not a maniac. He does show discretion in cases where the punishment don't fit the crime. He looks out for the little people, that the "super" heroes tend to forget while fighting intergalactic conquerors and such.

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?! The real world is nothing like a comicbook world...

I'd rather have someone like the Punisher guarding the streets, as opposed to say, Batman, who's strict no-kill code makes him equally responsible for all the blood that the Joker has shed for every time he escapes the Arkham Asylum.

Criminals like the Joker doesn't exist!!! He is just a crap of character...

@Soulstealer said:

Yes. Some people just need killing.

I'm not The Punisher, but I'm not going to screw around either. There are people that aren't beyond redemption, because I believe that no one is beyond redemption. But you know what the thing about redemption is? You have to want to be redeemed. There are unrepentant monsters in the world and I'm vicious enough that I know I'd end up hurting some of them pretty badly and I wouldn't cry myself to sleep over it.

The world doesn't need to be a bloodbath, but being afraid to kill is selfish in my view because there are times when you're just allowing the status quo and the status quo sometimes is genocide, murder, victimization, and horror.

They don't exist...