Broken Frontier

Last week, Library of Babble discussed superheroes and morality with Pete Coogan, an expert in the study of the superhero genre.  In addition to authoring the recent publication Superhero: The Secret Origin of a Genre (Austin, TX: MonkeyBrain Books, 2006), Dr. Coogan is a writing specialist at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, Missouri. This week, in the third of our four-part series on the myths behind the superheroes, Library of Babble continues its discussion with Dr. Coogan, this time on the question of evil.

BROKEN FRONTIER:  How is evil defined in stories about superheroes?  Is it supernatural?  Is it a principle?  Is it an essence?  Can villains change?

PETER COOGAN:  One of the problems I had when coming up with the definition of the superhero is how to explain the superhero’s mission. At first I had “fight evil,” but I was unable to come up with a satisfactory explanation of what “evil” meant.  A natural disaster, like a volcano or a hurricane, is not evil, and yet superheroes often combat them, or they rescue people from burning buildings or from the effects of industrial accidents, or other situations in which there is no motive behind the force that is harming people. The same is true of superheroes who fight monsters.  A giant ape or dinosaur can be quite destructive but is not evil. Thus I developed “pro-social and selfless“ to define the superhero’s mission.

But this statement of mission can be a useful lens to examine evil. Villains’ missions are anti-social and selfish.  Supervillains are evil primarily by being selfish.  They pursue their interests at the legal, economic, or moral expense of others. The supervillain has a selfish, anti-social mission.  The supervillain seeks something—typically wealth or power, but often fame or infamy in addition—that will serve his interests and not those of others or the larger culture.  He works at cross purposes to contemporary society.  The villain is often blind to the consequences of his actions. 

So, “evil” in the superhero genre might be defined as “harmful selfishness.”  As such it is not supernatural, though there are supernatural villains like Loki or Mephisto. It is not a defining essence, except in those villains like Mephisto or Darkseid who are intended as cognates for Satan.  Villains can and do change, often becoming heroes. 

BF:  What is the relationship between evil and power?

PC:  Evil arises from the corruption of power—the turning of power from a selfless use to a selfish use. This is the lesson of Lord of the Rings—power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. The only way Superman can remain a hero is to avoid the moral shortcuts that ordinary mortals take every day.  If he uses his power to serve himself, whether to impose his vision of society or morality on humanity or to enrich himself, he abuses his power and becomes evil. This is why he cannot act on the larger political structure of the planet.  If he overthrows dictators, he must become a dictator, and ultimately that use of power will corrupt him, and he will become evil.

BF:  Is confrontation the only valid response to evil, and if so, why?

PC:  The superhero formula holds that the community is at peace until it is disturbed by an outside evil.  By definition, the criminals are outsiders and are therefore not elements of the status quo; either they are monsters or abnormally motivated products of society, outsiders in either case.  They usually attack the city, symbol of modernity and order, through power gained by going beyond the proper boundaries of science.  Their attack causes the superhero to abandon normality, as represented by his secret identity, in order to defend the normal and everyday, which he enshrines as the locus of positive values.  Only after the menace is defeated can the superhero retreat back into the protective guise of his secret identity.  Only then can he be normal again, normalcy being a state his superhuman powers or abilities inherently deny him.  Thus, fighting crime is his method of claiming a share on normalcy and on belonging to the community.

BF:  Do you think the concept of evil in superhero comics has any relevance to the real world?  If so, what do you think the message to readers is?

PC:  Only a metaphorical relevance.  Hero stories are primarily stories of adolescence, in which the boy becomes the man and learns to put his power in service to the community.  Boys who grow up to be irresponsible men are one of the most dangerous forces on the planet—as can be witnessed in any failed state where sixteen-year-olds roam armed with AK-47s. So, hero narratives teach that evil emerges from a selfish, anti-social use of power instead of a selfless, prosocial use.  If literature can teach, then repeatedly reading hero stories should teach selfless, prosocial use of power.  Whether or not this happens is a larger social issue that I do not have an answer for, but I like to believe that they have this effect.

Commercial artist Arlen Schumer, author of The Silver Age of Comic Book Art (2003), told me several years ago that comics writer Alan Moore said that he learned his morals from Superman.  Superman presents right and wrong very clearly and distinctly.  He uses his powers to help others and to stand up against powerful, selfish forces.  Schumer felt that he too had imbibed this view of the world and that it had served him well throughout his life.  I had the same experience and agree with Moore and Schumer.  Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's original vision of a heroic Superman has held true throughout the character's evolution.

Next week: we conclude our four-part series on the myth of the superhero with a consideration of the meaning of life.