Would the real world be as accepting of a superhero?

Besides a few cranky buttholes, Superman seems pretty loved in the DCU but how do you think our world would react to a real life Superman/Wonder Woman flying around, fighting crime and keeping people safe?

I think he/she would have plenty of fans, but I feel as though he/she would have just as many haters as well. There would be people saying this person is doing other peoples jobs, or not like him/her because this person would technically be a vigilante, or (In the case of a real life Superman) people might hate because he is an illegal immigrant (I think?)

What do you think?

Governments will definitely intervene and get their hands dirty. They'll start off by blackmailing any hero whenever possible to do their jobs.

No. Initially. We are too genre savvy to trust any of them at first sight. And so are they.

Depending on how they were brought up and how long have they been helping us, maybe.

I believe people in general would be ok with it. It would mostly be governments, other people in power, and those who dislike anyone having power would be against it.

It'd probably be like the Ultimate universe. Every government and their mother trying to weaponize anything they can.

Jason Todd in real life would be great. Just imagine Jason killing dirty politicians.

It depends on the the tier of the character.

have you not learned anything from the xmen??!?!

Real humans are already gods, because God in Judeo-Christian sense allowed we the human to have freewill, not to be bind like fictional superheroes into slavery of defeating "fictional evil".

Beside, we already accepted a superhero.

JESUS CHRIST

The registration act would happen, day one.

The day a real superhero shows up no matter how benevolent that hero is most world governments is going to hit the drawing boards on a way to put him down.

@tularianroman: SATAN

Lol, for one guy.

plus this

Is what I think would happen. The world I too cynical/ untrusting to accept someone like Supes helping with no strings attached. They accept the help while working out how to kill/ clone them.

.....ummmm

......ok?

@regiebravo: Only for the NWO guys, and the Antichrist as well as most of comic book creators.

Wanna find out how the real world would treat superheroes? Read an X-Men comic.

Serious answer: It really depends on how powerful the hero is. I think society wouldn't mind street level heroes like Batman or Spider-Man too much. But people on Superman or Shazams level are definitely gonna rustle some jimmies.

Doubt it.

@cave_duck: this is pretty much a theme in the Superman Earth1 Series.

Yes. Obviously the government would want in, but honestly, I'm pretty sure.

I mean look at half of the freak shows in hollywood and in our lives that we've learned to accept and just leave be.

Yep. Never underestimate someone who is power, the need to remain in power.

Any modern superhero would be spied upon until enough evidence/blackmail happened and they signed up for whatever the government had in store for them. And this is from a Libertarian.

Depends on how powerful he is. If he is like a god to us then there is nothing we can really do about it, we might as well accept him.

The FBI would be trying to find out who they were if they had a secret identity.

Lawsuits. Lots and lotsa lawsuits.

I don't think anyone would really want to be a super hero irl. Knowing how the world is it would be too much of a hassle.

Not likely.

Agreed, if there was any kind of street-level hero once they hit the front page the media would devote tall heir time to finding out who they were, and why they do it. That's even before the police get involved over any bent or broken laws.

Living in the information age nobody likes secrets, so a secret identity of any hero? Not much chance it'd last.

The governments would hate it and would probably get the FBI to uncover his or her identity.... Especially if that individual has "powers"... They would turn him or her into a lab experiment....

If they don't have powers and are street level heroes or something... Then the FBI would try to get them "registered" or something...

If there will be villains then they will be.

All the nerds and geeks would

I think if they worked as part of search and rescue or police task forces from the get go they would have the public support, kind of like how the royals in England work.

Personally I think it is wrong for a superhero to hide his identity in the real world, because unlike in comic books prisons aren't made of cardboard and we wouldn't have archenemies gunning for their families. Justice should not be something you can escape by putting on a mask, it is hypocritical to protect yourself in such a fashion.

People like The Punisher would be killed immediately and rightly so, they have no right to kill, but maybe the marketable heroes would be allowed if they endorse Coke or Pepsi or something, they'd be untouchable.

I'll go with this. There is already now a distrust of the law enforcement. Just think how people would react to those who take the law into their own hand and do it behid a mask. Of course we're talking about trust and distrust. Reading years of comics books the amount of property damage would be trillions of dollars due to all these battles. I would guarantee that insurance companies would be hard pressed to insure anything, especially in the big cities. Add to that the number of people who are killed by the super-villians or even the Joker. I lost count at the body count just in one year.

The side effect of this are all the legal issues and battles that would go on in the courts. To understand all this I usually go to The Law and Multiverse website (http://lawandthemultiverse.com/).

You mean like Capt. Amazing from "Mystery Men"? LOL

People like in Kickass already exist. They're mostly ignored.

Anyone with superpowers is going to attacked by the public and governments until they stop or get captured.

@sbyrstall Never seem the movie but from his pictures yeah, sure why not? Imagine if someone with the 'impressive proportion' of Wonder Woman or Power Girl emerged and wanted to fight crime while endorsing toothpaste or reality magazines or marbles or whatever it is people buy. Everyone would go gaga.

People would get dumber, since heroes would solve everything for them.

Wait, so that means Kevin Nash its the AntiChrist!!!

Also, keep Jesus out of this, he deserves more respect that some random trolls online.

He did something great of his life, so go and follow his example and do something of yours.

Go for both of you!!!

It would highly depend on how and where he would use his powers.

A vigilante would be taken out by army of SWAT teams really fast, a super genius would be hired in record time to research for one of the biggest companies in the field of the SH's expertise or enlisted for one or the other country's national research-group, and those who would have not quite "useful" skill-sets would be nabbed by show business pretty damn fast or at least offered exclusive deals... Most assuredly such individual would have to be very careful with whom he'd associate and even with the right people he'd have to be on his toes at all times to avoid being made into a pawn. Such an unique individual is simply too valuable to not become used by the powers that be.

Also QFT.

@deathpoolthet1000: Amen!

I really wouldn't want superheroes to exist for that reason. I agree with Lex Luthor's philosophy on that end.

Think the government would have more problems with a real superhero compared to a civilian. Got to be honest most civilians would love a Punisher character killing off crime bosses from around the world.

The world already is:

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixjonesseattle

You can be damn sure that the countries army's would always be fully mobilized and waiting for anything to go wrong. Superman earth one had a brilliant part were different countries refused superman's entry into the country because they thought he was a american war machine. That and super heroes would be expected to end their villains as fast as possible especially if they were on superman's level and threatened a city or even country's safety.

@street_level_hero said:

The world already has:

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixjonesseattle

...and I'm definitely taking him seriously right now! You can be assured I am certainly not laughing my head off at him!

@deathpoolthet1000: I am not saying all of them, but there are some of them.

No, I do not believe the general public would accept a super powered human. Surely there would be some that embrace a person with powers, but the public as a whole, it is highly unlikely. John Arcudi actually addressed this issue in " A God Somewhere". The thought of anyone having that amount of power would worry and scare most people; humans are hard wired to fear that which is different.

I hope you understand the distrust in law enforcement has been created by the individuals of law enforcement, not the inherent power in the positions. Let us look at the news headlines over the last several months, in how many places do we see episodes of police brutality, overreach of individual officers, profiling within law enforcement agencies and a chain of command that is allowing this activity to persist? What underlines much of this is the idea that with a badge a person is above the law. What is worse judges and politicians are acquitting those who have perpetrated such acts. So this has subsequently led to a distrust of law enforcement and public officials.

I do think it would be the vigilante spirit that would resonate with many people and give them a trust in a super hero, masked or not. I do think this sentiment would be more prevalent in the USA than other countries, we love outlaws and rebels in this country; think western gunslingers and even the founding fathers. However most of these same people who would support the actions of a super hero would not want them living in their neighborhood due to collateral damage and general fear of someone who is different.

@cave_duck said:

@street_level_hero said:

The world already has:

https://www.facebook.com/phoenixjonesseattle

...and I'm definitely taking him seriously right now! You can be assured I am certainly not laughing my head off at him!

If you actually researched him you would not be laughing. He is a semi-pro MMA fighter who has stopped many crimes and has actually made the Seattle police force better because of his efforts, and he and his wife fight domestic abuse and racism, volunteer, donate, and do everything they can to make the world a better place. What have you done to live your dream or make this word a better place to live in?

I think (depending on how powerful the hero I guess) there would be all kinds of religous reprocusions like people saying he's the Messiah and such...

@street_level_hero:

You mean when I get out of my mum's basement once a fortnight??

He's wearing a gimp mask and carrying an umbrella for an old lady.

I've done plenty to change a hell of a lot of people's lives, so lets keep the personal attacks to a minimum ok?

(If you are actually Mr Gimp mask umbrella man, I apologise for my comment.)

He's actually is pretty legit, as far as the whole "Real life hero" thing goes. He's street level of course, closer to it than yourself, Mr. "Street_level_hero" lol.

@kingwillie:

What exactly have I done that requires you to take a shot at me? I stand by my comment that Phoenix Jones looks like a clown. He may have helped a lot of people out, but he could have done that without the mask and outfit.

I never claimed to be a "street level hero" all I did was respond to an attack regarding how much I've given back to society. I've given back enough that I'm now on a disability pension due to the injuries sustained during my service to my country.

If you still think that's funny, let me know ok?

It would be a disaster. Pandemonium and chaos.