"Can Superman Get Sued for Trashing Metropolis?" Topic

"The upcoming trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice reveals that collateral damage from Superman's fight with General Zod in Man of Steel really ticked off Batman, but Superman may have an even bigger problem on his hands: lawsuits. James Daily, co-creator of Law and the Multiverse and co-author of The Law of Superheroes, thinks it would be tough for Superman to defend himself in court, given that he could easily have chosen a less populated venue to confront Zod.

"I don't recall any particularly good reason why it needed to happen there, and why it couldn't have happened in, say, Antarctica," Daily says in Episode 161 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Of course people have the legal right to defend themselves, but they're still required to exercise a reasonable level of care when it comes to those caught in the crossfire.

"What you can't necessarily do is take a machine gun and just spray bullets wildly into a crowd in an effort to strike the person who's threatening you," says Daily…"
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Amicalement
Armand

This is why secret identities are important. Issues of this nature played a role in the movie "Hancock."

Anyone can sue.

Winning and collecting are other matters.

They had a Marvel comic that dealt with this. It was a trial or something of the Silver Surfer after his fight with Terrax. He basically zipped up through the inside of an apartment building with the mad herald and some people got hurt or killed or something. I don't remember the name of the comic but it was a pretty good issue.

The basis behind "The Incredibles", the Supers had to "retire" because the government got tired paying the increasing number of civil suits.

At the end of "The Avengers" there was a city councilman calling for them to appear and answer for the damage caused in New York City.

Interesting web comic based on insuring buildings around superheroes. amandagreensia.com

Actually, Asgard should pay for damages in 'The Avengers' and use their technology to facilitate cleanup and repair.

Sure he can. Now try collecting! Put him in jail? No prison cell can hold him!

there is this trick with coal and pressure…

Always an interesting question in super-settings. In my own setting the USA, and several other countries, have laws that help protect costumed vigilantes from these sort of lawsuits provided that they exercise 'due caution' while apprehending meta-talented criminals. So there's still legal complications possible but there's a legal framework for dealing with them.

-Will

Various companies have dealt with the repercussions of superhero battles. Marvel had Damage Control, a firm specailising in 'cleaning-up' after the battles, but this was more tongue-in-cheek. Dai Thomas' hatred of superheroes (from the Captain Britain strip) was due to his wife being killed during a superhero battle. And The Boys (from the comic of the same name) were formed to curb the excesses of the super-powered elite.

I've introduced a character into my superhero universe who specifically exists to take down rogue 'heroes' and she just had to be named…Delilah.

In the real world New York or Metropolis would be ruins decades after the event due to litigations, sueing, counter-sueing and appeals slowing down any chance of rebuilding promptly.

I chanced upon a story about a single superhero in the real world a few years ago. A woman gained the same powers as Wonder Woman complete with golden lasso and bracelets after getting a magical wish.

The reality would be that she would be sued by everyone, hounded by the media, blamed beyond excess for failure and even any success would be utterly minimized and criticized in the same measure. Her actions would be a political bomb for intervening in foreign affairs, denied entry in countries like Russia, China and Iran, accused of subversion. Not to mention a glut of conspiracy theories as well as a huge movement to uncover her secret idenity forcing her and all her friends and relatives to go into hiding.

Life as a superhero is hard if there are no villains to justify your existence. You end up being a glorified bulldozer suffering from PTSD from the endless tragic cortege of dead bodies.

On top of it all she got sued by DC and banned from using the Wonder Woman name (she did use another name, but the media kept calling her WW) and from using her copyrighted powers.

In the end she just gave up as the world litterally set her up to fail on every level, hate campaigns were set up worldwide and the little good she managed to do was swept under the rug, it ends with the news that a giant comet will hit the earth soon and amid a collective cry for help she walks away giving the world the finger.

So, Superman the nice hero that he is, pleads guilty to all charges and also agrees to pay all damages in full…amounting to tens of billions of dollars(or more with pain and suffering or wrongful death suits)
Using his super strength, drills a hole deep into the earth and removes…(XXX)….diamonds, gold, platinum, whatever….and when he presents the large amount of (XXX) to pay his debt, the monetary system of the world collapses and initiates WWIII
Which now the whole world would blame on Superman….

Quite interesting Patrick.!

Amicalement
Armand

Patrick, do you remember what/where that story was?

Using his super strength, drills a hole deep into the earth and removes…(XXX)….diamonds, gold, platinum, whatever…

I thought he could crush raw carbon into diamonds.

The issue has been dealt with in tons of comics, most notably, IMHO, when we asked "Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?"

"I don't recall any particularly good reason why it needed to happen there, and why it couldn't have happened in, say, Antarctica," Daily says in Episode 161 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

In that case, it wasn't Superman choosing the location. Go stand around and wait in Antarctica by yourself? In most cases, the heroes are not the ones choosing the location for the battle. In a lot of them, the villains' choice is focused on killing a lot of civilians.

In terms of lawsuits, probably the first one would go through. Being a superhero doesn't obligate you to defend people (well, some parts of it does … morality and all that bunk). Just announce that unless you are willing to pass an indemnity law for your location, you can deal with the meteor on your own. And, by the way, as the first trial progresses, how do you think the jurists start to feel about their safety and that of their families and friends, let alone their livelihood, if heroes decide not to defend a jurisdiction that awards against them?

"Make me" is for grade-schoolers.

In my own setting the USA, and several other countries, have laws that help protect costumed vigilantes from these sort of lawsuits provided that they exercise 'due caution' while apprehending meta-talented criminals.

This is great and it highlights the fundamental problem with dealing with the issue in a real context – exactly what weighting factor do you assign to the total destruction or complete subjugation of an entire city, let alone all humanity?

Spiderman probably has the most vulnerability as he still does substantive property damage while fighting villains with lower level objectives.