Superpowers are useless
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Well, I'd argue there is one point to this: will, discipline, and integrity are some of the real super-powers that actually make anything else worth having. A useless shmuck with super-speed would probably go around doing party tricks and running fast for delivery. But then again, if he's lazy, he may just drive a car because it's easier.
A hero is not what powers he has, but who he is as a person.
Unfortunately, since Alan Moore is a degenerate communist, he doesn't believe that people can be heroic at a deep and fundamental level because of how shit of a person he is, which informs how shitty he thinks everyone else is.
An easy way to test this is to point out a hero that seems like a joke, Aquaman being a classic, and then see who treats it as a joke versus who finds it terrifying. Because they are both revealing their own creativity in how they'd use it with their reaction.
There’s room for a story where an evil Aquaman learns how to command bacteria and viruses.
It was a stretch, but he was able to induce a STROKE in someone by doing this.
Fucking hell, brain eating amoebas under his control would be a gruesome interrogation technique.
Whenever Batman gets someone else's powers, he becomes 1000% scarier.
Meanwhile, Batman also notes that Plastic Man may be the most dangerous mutant on Earth, he just doesn't realize it because he's a goof-ball. Also, Booster Gold has literal future tech, but isn't actually that great, and is kind of a bumbling egomaniac.
Frank Miller, of all people, was one of the only people who truly GOT how deadly Plastic Man could really be.
The one good line in All-Star Batman and Robin:
"If he wanted to, he could kill us all."
Not to mention that one Elseworlds story where Batman got a Green Lantern ring...
Well, you won't find me disagreeing. And, as someone else said, we that's why we have super hero stories, not super power stories.
But Moore's statement that powers - i.e. enhanced abilities or potential - are useless is still nonsense. Sure, a loser could waste those powers...but would still be vastly more powerful than a loser without powers. It's still what you do with them at the end of the day but, dang, super powers would never be anything to sneeze at, especially if most people don't have them. A unique, powerful loser is still going to have a huge leg up on even a dedicated, disciplined non-powered person...at least in specific fields. Now, that's not to say they'd win - the Punisher, Iron Man, Batman, and other non-powered characters are popular for a reason - but they'd still have a technical advantage.
Again, agreed. Again, Moore was talking about the powers themselves though. Heroes are great, but this topic seems to be about dissecting the powers themselves, which are unrelated to how heroic someone is.
Yes, but I think the issue here is just general smug, and Subverting Expectations™. I'm not sure he's even thought through the argument logically or ideologically. He's basically just being edgy. Everyone likes the idea of super powers, so Moore wants to shit on them. Pretty funny, really.
It's definitely that.
Say what you will about My Hero Academia, but I have always loved All Might for this reason.
He is a prime example of upholding the ideals of Superman.
It helps that All Might is more proudly American - despite being Japanese both in- and out-of-universe - than characters written in modern American stories.
From what I have seen, it is because All Might is how most Japanese people see Americans: Big, loud, obnoxious, and in your face. But when the chips are down and you need a hero, they will bulldoze over everyone in their path to be the hero and save the day. And quite frankly, they are sadder when they arent like that.
On a strange note, I saw the same thing with the pokemon "Braviary"
I haven't seen Pokemon, so I'm not familiar - is it just the bald eagle resemblance, or is there more to it?