"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. [EDIT: I SCREWED UP! This was created in 2019 by the guy who runs the Midnighter-Core page on Facebook, and Joey just reposted it!]

So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe is fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/

- Midnighter-Core, 2019

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A.I. generated Midnighter by supernal-studios

The Authority by Brett Booth.

Homage after Jim Lee

Art by Jason Johnson

Colors by Thomas Mason.

Some Midnighter love from Instagram.

The Authority: Prime

Art by Darick Robertson.

After reading Batman/ Superman & The Authority Special i got a suspicion confirmed. When Superman told his new team they weren't allowed to kill, i guessed that, contrary to popular conception, it would be Apollo, not Midnighter, the one who would find it hard to follow.

Apollo's main character trait and distinction to Superman is (aside from his sexual orientation) his habit of killing and specially not pulling his punches.

Apollo, as a pastiche of Superman, sets himself apart from the original by usually attacking at full power, showing his destructive potential. For this same reason, he usually kills his opponents.

But when he takes a life, he doesn't enjoy it. As a soldier, he sees killing a a necessity and does it in the quickest way possible, in opposition of his significant other.

The Midnighter is sadistic by nature. He enjoys killing and also causing pain. It's just that he has enough of a moral compass to apply it to those he sees as deserving of it. And that's why he can follow Superman's rule better than Apollo. In his eyes, killing a person is not the worst he can do to someone. In his first appearance, in Stormwatch vol. 2 Issue 4 he gets information from a man not by threatening to kill him but to make his life worse than death.

Also, on the original Authority, once he was the only member of the team to let an enemy alive. Again not because he was merciful, but because he enjoyed the man's suffering.

So, if Superman tells them they shall not kill, Midnighter can do it better than Apollo.

Before it becomes a sign of poor taste, let's remember that time when Midnighter punched Mitch McConnell in the face.

The Authority: Revolution #1 (2004)

Hulk vs Captain America, The Ultimates (2002).

Regis vs Midnighter, The Authority (1999).

Midnighter being himself.

Midnighter by David Finch

Midnighter by  Gleb Melnikov