IS killing really immoral for heroes?

Heroes never kill because its not right, but is that really the truth? If you stop a villain and they get locked up then break out and continue their crime spree killing lots of innocent people. That blood is on the heroes hands because they could have stop it from happening, but let the glory of being a hero stop them. Now lets say the villain does not get out and he/she has a long sentence say life or 30+ years. Wouldn't killing seem more humane than letting someone waste their life in prison? Or is it that heroes are more sadistic than we realize and prefer them to riot than accept deaths sweet release?

Depends on the situation.

punisher would argue its necessary

Well, its sort of similar to how some people think its morally wrong to kill people convicted of murder. I think the whole 'heroes can't kill under any circumstances' was more a by product of the comics code authority coming into creation in the mid 50's due to comics coming under heavy scrutiny by congress and certain sjw's of the day. So comics became very leave it to beaverish in terms of what they could show and how heroes behaved which after a few decades became a part of who they were and what they stood for. I think without the cca and the bad publicity comics were getting back then you may have seen more heroes willing to kill but at the same time once a villain is killed it becomes harder to bring them back so it doesn't always serve a comic well to keep killing off villains.

It is.

I don't know if it'd be immoral in certain circumstances but it generally isn't morally righteous either.

Sadly its because major comic book companies can't create new exciting villains, so the won't allow heroes to kill major villains.

Look at dc

Red hood kills but you can't name one notable person he's killed.

Same thing with punisher, name one notable villain he's killed that hasn't been brought back to life.

The trick is balance you killing every shop lifter or pick pocket would be extreme. But killing serial killing villains like the joker is nessary unless you want the blood of hundreds on your hands.

There's only so many times you can have a random planet level threat jump on the doorstep though. With people who are bigger names, or those who are so powerful that they shouldn't have to kill, it makes sense for them not to kill their opponents. If Superman killed every adversary, we'd very quickly run out of areas to randomly draw people from until we at some point start repeating. If that's the case, why kill the original villain?

Furthermore, only having the villain be "1 of a kind" so to speak prevents the question of "where was this dude when superman fought his brother/Comrade 2 months ago?" Not killing actually saves more trouble in the long run IMO

Ghost rider kills a lot of people.

Oh this question was just for comic book heroes but all heroes in any media. I am also not saying they should kill every villain, but willing to do what is necessary for the greater good, and there are multiple ways to have the major threat villains to escape death.

You evaluate the situation and act with split second decision making. It isn't always the right answer, but it isn't always the wrong one either. Real life or fiction.

Yes. Definitely in the case of villains who have the capacity or a history of killing people without conventional authorities being able to restrain them for long. Some of the heroes are completely unjustified in their reluctance to confront this question, and I would say most of them are immoral and not heroes. I think the only comicbooks that seriously dealt with this problem were "The Authority", and "The Watchmen" - and both of those are more deconstructions of the genre than part of it.

Depends on the situation.

Also, some people can handle it. Some, like Batman can't.

Not really.

@dratini1331: the universe i a big place the possibility for villains are endless.

@justice_teen:

Heroes shouldn't

Heroes aren't real people they are symbols

Beacons of good etc

Real heroes are like firemen who risk there life, there job is about saving other people at the possible expense of there own

Superheroes are this magnified

They are an unreachable standard

They aren't set in logical world's where end justify the means

A superhero doesn't kill because they are simply better than that

@serpinethegreen: golden age would like to have a word with you

@serpinethegreen: @gjgp27: agreed Need I mention that batman killed when he first came to the scene and decades later he killed Ra's Al ghul father by tackling him into the fountain of youth.

Depends on the hero. Punisher kills, Batman doesn't. The reasons for both characters are integral to them. Then you have the inbetweens, like Captain America through to Daredevil who grapple with the taking of lives due to their own sense of morality and principles. All reasons to love/hate/empathise/despise heroes.

hhhhmmmm

Depends, Captain America killed some Nazis and that makes him a hero.

I think there are valid arguments for both sides, it should really be an individual thing.

Each person has their own sense of morality

@fallschirmjager: Tell that to my brother. He thinks the JL just do whatever Batman says.

Yes

@justice_teen: Also didn't Superman kill lots of people back in the day lol.

@micah: Idk but I know his girlfriend did, that's why her rouge gallery so small.

@justice_teen: lol. I just found the article I read about Superman killing XD

http://whatculture.com/comics/10-times-superman-forced-kill.php/7

@micah: Dont forget darkseid

@justice_teen: How could I lol.

Superman and Batman give Wonder Woman so much craps for killing someone when he would have used Superman to kill so many people. Batman didn't kill Joker, but as a results, Joker killed a ton of people as well as crippled and killed many people close to Batman.

Context. Killing is sometimes necessary. Keep in mind there is a difference in the definition between killing and murder.

As it stands, the failing in this example is a failing of the justice system, and not the hero.

With that said, I don't think it would be wrong for the hero to break the villains head off the third time the justice system failed.

No.

for the same reason god doesn't kill the devil...

a hero needs a villain or he is basically useless...you take out the villains and you either need to create new ones or the hero will no longer be necessary

Heroes that don't kill are b!tch made. X-Men and Punisher have been catchin' bodies for decades; they get stuff done.

depending on the character, but heroes like Thor, Wonder Woman, only use it as a last resource, but people like Superman, Batman, Hyperion, Sentry (the original) considered a method that they don't wanna cross since they think is what differs them from being commune criminals, yet even in manga there is a few character who doesn't actually care about killing or not, even the good guys, hell two examples of that would be Sasuke and Kenpachi, besides being heroes and having different personalities they way of thinking is usually this:

No it's not. People like the Joker deserve to get killed.

It depends, but most of the time, yes.

The end justifies the means.

Ethics and morals are subjective. Man is the measure of all things. However, I would beg you consider this: if your heroes are people who are above the law, have the power to save many lives, and conceal their identities and motives for their own reasons, why don't you believe in your federal government?

Killing is not bad but murdering certainly is.