The Morality of Superheroes - Captain America, Judge Dredd and Batman

In a short space of time I recently watched Dredd, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Dark Knight, a set of superhero films with very different morals. I have never been a huge fan of comic books and graphic novels, but I have read things The Walking Dead, Red Son, The Dark Knight Returns and, of course, Watchmen. Of these Watchmen is the classic graphic novel, a brilliant interpretation of the Superhero world, full of darkness, betrayal and failure. It is a world of extremely complicated morality, my favourite character is Dr. Manhattan, a scientist transformed into an almost godlike being, but with those powers he becomes distant from mankind. Red Son is a very interesting work, the idea being that instead of Superman's spaceship crashing in Kansas he lands in the Soviet Union; he is still a hero, still a good man, but with an entirely different, communist, world view.


CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
I have never read anything from Captain America, who always seemed one of the least interesting comic book heroes. I've never found patriotism particularly appealing, it seems willing to overlook all manner of crimes and immoral behaviour when committed by your country. So a superhero who seems designed to act as a patriot mascot was a little unsettling. The first Captain America film was a poor film which did nothing to change my opinion and I was disappointed with the Avengers film. As such I had no real desire to see The Winter Soldier, however, upon seeing the trailer I was surprised to see Robert Redford in it. Redford is a classic Hollywood actor and this alone was almost enough for me. Redford's inclusion suggested there was perhaps something a bit more going on in this Captain America film. Indeed, the rest of the trailer did raise my hopes.

While not a fan of Avengers I have been watching Agents of Shield, which can be a bit mixed but overall is a very enjoyable show, but one of my biggest problems with was their power. I don't mean superpowers or firepower but they seem to just do pretty much anything they want, there are no warrants, or evidence, no lawyers, no human rights, they just act. The Winter Soldier addresses this, early in the film Captain America comments on Shield's new hi-tech weapons, saying they are "fear, not freedom" and when Nick Fury states how they will eliminate targets before they become dangerous Captain America is appalled at the lack of due process. This was very refreshing for a superhero, most of whom have little conception of the law and what it means, usually seeing it as something that protects the criminals more than the innocent. Nolan's Batman films portray a justice system infested with corruption, Tony Stark couldn't care less what the government thinks of vast arsenal of weapons and would rather kill warlords than hand them over to Hague.

Most superheroes aren't really fighting for anything, often they are fighting to save the city or world, or save lives, but there are no principles at stake. In The Winter Soldier Captain America is fighting for something he believes in more than just saving lives.


DREDD
Until recently my only real experience of the character Judge Dredd was the Sylvester Stallone film, something which seemingly everyone agrees was a terrible mistake. I had no knowledge of the character and had little to lose, but still I thought it was really poor. Subsequently I have learned more about Judge Dredd; it features in British sci-fi comic anthology 2000AD, in the future most of the world is a nuclear wasteland with only a few "megacities" remaining, overcrowded with millions and millions. In this hard, brutal world law is enforced by Judges, police officers with the power to sentence criminals and execute them if deemed necessary. One of the most notable things about the comic book Dredd is the fact his face is never seen, he always wear his helmet or his face is obscured in some way (this was one of the main criticisms of the Stallone film, as you saw his face for most of the film). Dredd did please fans of the comic book far more than the first film, Karl Urban (a man approaching a singularity for geek acting roles) is an excellent Dredd, tough, brutal but truly believing in justice. The basic plot is Dredd and a rookie are sent into a huge apartment block to investigate a crime, the block is ran by the villain Ma-Ma and worried that the Judges will find out too much seals the block and demands her criminal tenants eliminate the judges. Dredd is a very interesting character that could so easily spill over into a crazed fascist, delighting in his power over life and death, but in Dredd it strikes a more interesting balance. Dredd holds the lives of civilians and bystanders as important factors, to justify the maximum penalty of death he needs to be 100% sure of guilt and has a deep sense of responsibility. While obviously such law enforcement seems appalling to us, in this harder world of the future it is felt that it is only the Judges who manage to maintain order, without them it would be chaos. It is interesting to think of what mankind itself has done when faced with tough times, or unusual circumstances, the Wild West of America seems like a lawless wasteland with pockets of civilisation, relying on a few lawmen, where people could be very distant from other authority figures.

The Dark Knight
I have watched this film quite a few times and think it is brilliant from start to finish. Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy has been an amazing achievement and seemed to entirely reinvent the superhero genre and I certainly think of his work as the true cinematic Batman rather than Tim Burton's (the other Batman films aren't worth talking about). Having used the lesser known villains of Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins in The Dark Knight he moves onto the most recognisable one; The Joker. Jack Nicholson's performance as the Joker in The Batman is fantastic, and it would be understandable if actors were reluctant to compete, or were overshadowed by him. Heath Ledger's Joker is better.

The plot of The Dark Knight is that after saving the city in Batman Begins, Batman is actually quite a well-liked figure, the police secretly cooperate with him, vigilantes dress up as him in cheap costumes to fight crime and the criminal underworld lives in fear of him. The organised criminals of Gotham are on the run and becoming desperate. Out of this seemingly improving world comes two people, first Heath Ledger's Joker, a mysterious man in a garish purple suit, over the top makeup with rather brutal scars around his mouth (the Joker gives various explanations of the origins of his scars throughout the film). The second is Harvey Dent, the crusading new District Attorney, a seemingly incorruptible lawyer fearlessly taking on criminals and approving of the Batman for taking on the crime that they had let take over. Interestingly Harvey Dent in the comics is an established villain, Two Face, but the vast majority of this film is a good guy, so good that Bruce Wayne thinks Dent is the man who can take on Batman's mantle of fighting for the people of Gotham. There are so many brilliant things about this film, the amazing attack the Joker launches on the police convoy, the taut stretched out sound that accompanies the Joker's crazier moments, the discussion of Roman history between some of the characters (a particular love of mine). I think it is the high point of Nolan's trilogy, a man who is yet to make a bad film. The morality shown in this film is complicated, first there is the Joker, a man who claims to believe in chaos, who thinks the criminals of Gotham have let their city down by their half-hearted evilness, culminating in the bizarre social experiment the Joker designs for the end of the film. As for Batman/Wayne - the Joker starts killing people, stating that he will continue to kill people until Batman reveals who he really is, so what does he do? Should he give in the Joker to save people, and if does, what then? Would the Joker stop killing people? Throughout the film it is discussed how the Joker is a reaction to Batman, how his actions, his success, has thrown up someone as bad as the Joker.

Finally there is Dent, a man willing to risk his life in pursuit of justice, a man who seems to most despise the corrupt police officers of the city, a man who is willing to sacrifice himself.  Returning to my ultra-liberalism I am of course interested in a brave lawyer, fighting for justice through the legal system, in many ways it is more impressive than Batman's heroics. Dent accepts that as District Attorney people will try and kill him, but he continues to do his job as normal, no weapons, no armour, no gadgets.

Looking at the three films there does seem to be a recurring theme; chaos and order. In Captain America [spoiler alert] the plan of villain will create a much more ordered world at the cost of freedom and the deaths of those people would fight back, Dredd and the other judges are given tremendous authority to stop their cities sliding into chaos and, of course, the Joker is all about chaos.