Off THEIR Minds: Should Superheroes Form a Union?

Posted by | May. 15, 2013 9:19pm

We ask Kyle Higgins, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jim McCann, John Layman, Chris Burnham, James Tynion IV, Franco and Art Baltazar what they think.

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35 Comments
Posted by RedheadedAtrocitus

Palmiotti's answer I wholeheartedly agree with. Right on!

Edited by DH69

"Anybody can be batman" wow...thats just dangerous to say...

Posted by roboadmiral

Well, being a superhero is more of a hobby than a profession. They don't make any money, they just do it because they want to for the most part. That would be like having a model-ship collectors' union. The only ones who could unionize, since it's actually a job, would be the SHIELD stooges, since they're already government employees.

Posted by Cavemold

No ... Whos going pay for it?

Edited by bigboi100000

Comic creators forming a union. Get on that Jimbo

Posted by sinestro_GL

For what? To negotiate working hours?

:P

Posted by dngn4774

Well, being a superhero is more of a hobby than a profession. They don't make any money, they just do it because they want to for the most part. That would be like having a model-ship collectors' union. The only ones who could unionize, since it's actually a job, would be the SHIELD stooges, since they're already government employees.

this.

Posted by BlueLantern1995

No. As one of the writers said, it involves knowing your secret identity and you know how they like that!

Posted by Cap10nate

No they should not. Then the best super heroes would have to reduce their quality and efficiency so the lesser super heroes would not look bad.

Edited by Rich711

Wow, so now we can watch Superheroes sit around and do nothing at tax payers expense. Sounds exciting, where do I pay $3.99 to read about THAT!?

Posted by Mucklefluga

Aw man every time Franco cracks me up. "I'm gonna change my answer and say..."

Posted by blackkitty

Exactly. Unions had their reason for being and back in the days of Rockerfeller and Carnagie I can see how they were vital. Even through the civil rights acts etc, but in this day and age I almost feel Unions do more harm than good. They've become political entities and makes getting bad workers almost impossible to remove from companies. I guess that could be funny, could have a slacker hero in there doing nothing and the heroes are unable to get rid of him. But no, no unions.

Posted by G-Man

Aw man every time Franco cracks me up. "I'm gonna change my answer and say..."

I seriously think I have to do a 'best of' video with all their clips in one vid. I was actually holding the camera for them and was worried it'd be all shaky from laughing so much. There's two more questions/videos coming. We'll have to see how they answer them!

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Posted by evilvegeta74

It would lead to Civil War all over again.

Posted by Mucklefluga

@g_man said:

@mucklefluga said:

Aw man every time Franco cracks me up. "I'm gonna change my answer and say..."

I seriously think I have to do a 'best of' video with all their clips in one vid. I was actually holding the camera for them and was worried it'd be all shaky from laughing so much. There's two more questions/videos coming. We'll have to see how they answer them!

They are brilliant. A 'best of' video would so cool and hilarious!

Posted by SolthesunGod

I just watched this. I have a game show on in the background called Pointless and just after the video finished they announched next catergory and it was about trade unions. Creepy.

Posted by G-Man

@solthesungod: IT's all connected. We are all part of the Matrix.

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Posted by PhoenixoftheTides

Well, being a superhero is more of a hobby than a profession. They don't make any money, they just do it because they want to for the most part. That would be like having a model-ship collectors' union. The only ones who could unionize, since it's actually a job, would be the SHIELD stooges, since they're already government employees.

Agree w/this.

Posted by PhoenixoftheTides

@cavemold said:

No ... Whos going pay for it?

The taxpayers. Just kidding.

Posted by Hermatt

Superhero unions would eventually lead to superhero strikes. so no

but picture that:

"Help The Skrulls are attacking!!"

"Sorry we're on strike to get health insurance and I'm not going to be a scab"

Posted by chasereis

Superhero unions? Who's gonna run it the Illuminati? The Kingpin? Hey Daredevil you didnt pay for your haircut. Luke cage you owe some dues... Spidey them tights ain't regulation. Whoops accident at Stark industries every body take a month off with pay. Oooo let's go on strike until people gives us more money. Or maybe we can influence government regulations to our benefits? Yea more like convincing short term heroes to become long term villains.

Posted by AskaniSon295

Union was already formed by image comics under the the homage imprint.

Posted by vesavius

An official body that could lobby on behalf of an established group in society, protecting their ability to do their jobs? Providing health care and training to it's members? Protecting them from proven ongoing abuse from their own government and corperate sector? That would communicate on their behalf to the public so that situations and motivations were clearly understood? Yeah, why not? I am suprised that something like The FF dosen't operate like this already tbh. A way of identifying themselves could be used that didn't compromise secret I.Ds... I have a feeling all the guys saying 'no' here would have been on Stark's side in the Civil War ;)

Posted by Racob7

Occupy Metropolis.

Edited by redhood21

@cavemold said:

No ... Whos going pay for it?

@blackkitty said:

Exactly. Unions had their reason for being and back in the days of Rockerfeller and Carnagie I can see how they were vital. Even through the civil rights acts etc, but in this day and age I almost feel Unions do more harm than good. They've become political entities and makes getting bad workers almost impossible to remove from companies. I guess that could be funny, could have a slacker hero in there doing nothing and the heroes are unable to get rid of him. But no, no unions.

these! Nowadays unions mostly bully new workers into joining or quitting and send union dues to political groups you may not necessarily like or agree with. Join the avengers or dont be a hero at all!!!!

Posted by fps_dean

I don't think say Batwing deserves the same pay as Superman, so I guess that makes me anti-Union.

Posted by BlueLantern1995

@hermatt said:

Superhero unions would eventually lead to superhero strikes. so no

but picture that:

"Help The Skrulls are attacking!!"

"Sorry we're on strike to get health insurance and I'm not going to be a scab"

LOL! Hadn't thought of that! That's perfect! I LOVE IT!

Posted by molotovzav

Unions usually lead to people being overpaid for something that's not even worth the price. But in the case of superheroes you can't really put a price tag on what they're doing, I mean you can but it will be hard and even then you're underselling em. So would a union even work towards superheroes getting paid, and if superheroes are paid, doesn't that kind of ruin their heroicness?

Posted by isaac_clarke

I was under the impression most superhero teams are more or less unions.

Posted by RayOlight

Wow, there's so much anti-union sentiment here, and also a lot of misunderstanding

Superhero teams like the Justice League or the Avengers are essentially superhero unions. When a threat appears that's too big for just one hero to take on, then the team comes into play, combining their skills and powers for the greater good. Also if a hero was targeted by a villain then the team would be there to back them up, a form of collective security. It doesn't have to be about pay.

Everyone's ranting about how terrible unions are, but when they're gone (which is likely to happen) everyone will realise how valuable they really were, unions aren't about inflating pay, they're about worker's representation, about collective security, 10, 000 voices will always be more powerful than 1 lone voice. Union's are a vanguard of human rights, and the right wing media's crusade against them is a form of oppression, don't be fooled.

Posted by capfan80

Generally speaking, if you have skill sets that are difficult or impossible for most of the work force to obtain, and the demand for your skills far outstrips its availability, you do not need a union. So, NO!

Edited by dngn4774

@capfan80: That's great if you're the one extremely skilled worker, what about all of the others? Unions exist to protect workers rights for employees who can be replaced. It doesn't mean union workers are incompetent at their jobs, it's just to secure some basic collective bargaining rights without immediately being fired. I'm not pro-union, almost all of the arguments I've heard against them on this thread are valid, but they are a necessary evil. If you get rid of unions we might as well go back to Feudalism.

Edited by Squares

To answer the title, no.

Edited by Agypt2020

A Super Heroes Union is not a bad thing as registration act, their secret identities should be protected to protect the innocents that bad people may use to get to heroes.

A union is a democratic organization of employees in a workplace who choose to join together to achieve common goals. By forming unions, employees can work collectively to improve working conditions, including wages and benefits, hours and job safety, to resolve disagreements of employees and employers and to find the best ways to get the work done.Unions also represent members and all people who work by advocating working family-friendly laws and policies through legislative and political action.

Who do heroes work for? The General Public as servants and Good Samaritans, so yes if heroes can be publicly sponsored without divulging secret identities, it would show a level of appreciation as heroes not by their secret identities.

Posted by deadpool25mm

@dh69 said:

"Anybody can be batman" wow...thats just dangerous to say...

^ This

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