Superheroes are iconic cultural figures that embody values of order, fairness, justice, and retribution

Batman [DC comics 1939]

I will argue that Superheroes embody the western values of order, fairness and justice, especially during the time when the most iconic and celebrated Superheroes first appeared (such as Superman, Batman and Spiderman). This is because the Superheroes clearly demonstrate the willingness to fight someone that is causing trouble such as a criminal or villain, often without the help of police, law enforcement or military support. But it wasn’t until recently and the reboot of many of the comic books that the characters have more complex personal moral issues, personal retribution and personal justice.

Many of the well known Superheroes such as Batman started just before the war and might of been influenced by it. Batman was originally called “the Bat-Man” and it had the same types of criminal activities typical of the time, for example robbing of secret documents. Even with the original comic book you can find the typical Superhero ideologies of order and justice. You are also already seeing the stereotypical American Superhero and villain. Just like Batman's well known enemy, the Joker. He fits the stereotypical American villain of being erratic, disruptive and a causing all round panic. With Batman you normally didn't have any criminal activities involving race, ethnicity or class. You had a rich, white male, who had mastered martial arts whilst the the villain was also male and rich but often foreign.

In 1939 “the Bat-Man” comic book the hero was always more clever, quicker, stronger and better equipped than the villain. Also he would capture the villain by himself. With exception of the appearance of Robin, also known as also known as Boy Wonder and the spin off comic books afterwards. The police would even congratulate “the Bat-Man’s” efforts. This changes with Frank Miller’s version of Batman which started with The Dark Knight Returns. He still has the sense of justice and retribution but often has complex moral issues which he is often distracted by the implications that may occur from the situation he is in or yet to come. There more complex moral issues are also seen across many comic Superheroes in both DC’s and Marvel’s most popular comic book heroes.

Spider-Man [Amazing Fantasy/Marvel 1962]

Alongside the comic book Superhero values of order, fairness, justice and retribution I believe that they also have the value of individualism as described by Terrence Wandtke. He talks about how Superheroes, especially from the comic book provider Marvel, “present interior life, suggesting a more literate sense of self-consciousness”. The idea of individualism is well demonstrated from a quote in the comic Spiderman when Peter Parker (aka. Spiderman) is talking about his uncle and aunt where he says “They're the only ones who've never been kind to me! I'll see to it they're always happy, but the rest of the world can go hang for all I care.”.

They are isolated from other people and do not trust or attempt to be better than the law enforcement because they feel that they have been betrayed by them, and they feel that they are undervalued by there peer group or people within similar social circles. Similarly, the movies Spiderman and The Amazing Spiderman demonstrate clearly that he only works by himself. Superheroes are also typically unsocial people which adds to their feeling of being undervalued and betrayal.

Watchmen [DC comic 2004]

Comic book Superheroes also raise questions on what is just and fair. This is most apparent in the graphic novel Watchmen. Rorschach's idea of what is just and fair is different from Doctor Manhattan's view of what is fair and just. Rorschach's idea of fair and just is to punish the people that believes have done the worst criminal act that hasn’t been discovered by any law enforcement. He punishes them they way that he deems fit to him; this normally ends with violence. On the other hand, Doctor Manhattan is detached from humans because everything that he thinks about is scientific. He doesn’t punish people that have done wrong because he sees that life and death are just different states of molecules. He doesn’t see that the earth should be any different than planet Mars.

It brings up questions of who's says what is fair? Who's says what has been done is just? With Rorschach you will find that he view towards justice, order and fairness changes when he is faced with a highly emotional situation. He thought that at first he was too soft on criminals and the people that are involved with the criminals when he discovered what happened to the child that he was trying to find. This makes you have to question if what he did was the right thing to do? Was it just to kill the person that killed the child the way that Rorschach did?

On the other hand Doctor Manhattan saw things from a physics point of view and cared less about the values of order and retribution. He didn't care if the human race would have been wiped out but the nuclear bombs during the hight of the Cold War. To him it wouldn't have changed anything that matters in the universe if the planet Earth had no living things. This view changes at the end of the novel but he is put into a situation where he has to leave the earth to save it.

Alongside with the value of fairness, order, justice and retribution there is a strong sense that most Superheroes also have a of heteronormative value towards sexuality. I believe that the Superheroes have this value because the male Superheroes are always fighting, chasing women and enjoying a variety of technologies. This is most noticeable with Batman from the comic book Multiverse where he is often seen chasing after Catwoman, has a large archive of high tech gadgets and he gets into a lot of fights. But you do get women Superheroes having the same enjoyment with technologies and getting into fights, like Catwoman. This does follow a more modern view of women's roles and nature but they are still sexualised, very feminine and in the case of Catwoman is stereotyped as woman unable to resist the allure of jewellery.

You can also see this heteronormative value in Spiderman and Watchmen, which drives most of their values by, especially the values of order and justice, whilst the value of retribution is usually fuelled by a family loss or they viewed or were involved in a highly emotional criminal act. These are the most popular reasons that the Superhero fights crime, but it reinforces the insecurity that a lot of the Superheroes have.

With the heteronormative values, Superheroes often show a sign of enjoyment with finding and catching the criminals. They also have an obsessiveness of retribution and justice, they are constantly looking for the next big crime. Not just obsessed with finding crime but doing right for themselves and impressing their love interest, even when their love interest doesn’t know who they are.

In conclusion Superheroes do embody the values of order, justice and fairness but they also have values of isolation, obsession and heteronormativity. Like Spiderman's view towards people which is a clear representation of his isolation.

Even with the questions that are raised with the comic book heroes like those in Watchmen, between the different views of what is just and fair, the iconic Superheroes still hold the same values. During the time a lot of iconic Superheroes were created, it was believed that people (the readers) needed the values of order, justice and fairness. In Watchmen there are conflicting views on what is just and fair with all the characters. The biggest difference is between Doctor Manhattan and Rorschach.

Finally Superheroes are seen as an idolised super human attempting to create a utopia and to correct personal wrong doings. There are the Superheroes which challenge the meaning of justice and order, such as the characters from Watchmen which may be seen as the antiheroes and are focused more on retribution and the heteronormative values but they still have these values to justify what they are doing. Batman and Spiderman still raise the similar kind of questions but are less rough and dark and enforces more on the iconic view of justice, order and fairness.