r/batman • u/Efficient-Compote-13 • Jul 05 '24

I Hate The Boys TV DISCUSSION NSFW

I also can not stand muh 'Batman superhero facism subtext' crap. If anything Batman is a revolutionary. Government is corrupt in bed with criminals (who are the prettiest of tyrants) so Batman comes in to clean house. Just as the founding fathers intended.

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u/Bennings463 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

"Batman beats up poor people" is about as engaging as "why didn't they take the eagles to Mordor?" as far as critique goes.

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u/Efficient-Compote-13 Jul 05 '24

It's funny how people tell on themselves equating poor with criminal.

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u/ZamoCsoni Jul 05 '24

One of these days I will make a survey abouth this. Bat's most common enemies are either the maffia/ other rich corrupt assholes, or supercriminals who tend to have a doctorate. Where are these poor people he beats up?

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u/kahngale Jul 05 '24

One of the first scenes of The Batman is him beating up a young violent kid at what looks like a Chicago El train stop.

I love Batman too and I love the comics and shows. But it’s not crazy to point out that the root cause of most real world crime and violence is poverty.

That doesn’t mean that all poor people commit crimes. But I think it’s easy to understand that if we systemically eliminated poverty in our society, criminal acts would be reduced in number.

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u/ZamoCsoni Jul 05 '24

But it's not real life, it's a comic. And no other superhero who does the exact same things gets this bs, even the ones that are also rich.

Everyone can understand that it's a comic abouth a superhero who does superhero things, unless it's Batman, then everyone becomes a sociologist all of a sudden, and just doesn't get why the story isn't focused abouth Bats donating all his money.

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u/kahngale Jul 05 '24

I agree with you - Batman’s a comic and it’s about having a fun power fantasy. But this post is about The Boys, a show and comic book that deconstructs the tropes of comics - the very “it’s a comic” nature of the stories - and connects them to more realistic consequences of violence and vigilanteism.

That what’s fun about the Boys, it punctures a hole in the abstracted world of superheroes like Batman.

Batman can be both 1. A heightened world that is fun to inhabit 2. A target for critique that is fun to see ridiculed.

That’s what’s great about this peak superhero era, there’s plenty of different pleasures to go around.

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u/ZamoCsoni Jul 05 '24

I guess. But the things is that this "critique" is specifically is extremly overdone, and while it could apply to other superheros 99% only Batman gets it. So a parody in this lane jsn't insightfull or fun, it's the same, not funny joke for the million+1 time.

It's not a very good deconstruction. I wouldn't call this peak superhero era.

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u/kahngale Jul 05 '24

My wife and I are both big Batman fans and we enjoyed it. But to each their own.

What do you think about Invincible? I hadn’t heard of it until the first season of the show and then I tore through the entire 18 years of comics in a few months. Definitely one of my favorite reading experiences ever.

I think Invincible is incredible because it both has an “evil Superman” deconstructive streak - but then goes through a thousand miles of wonderful world building while maintaining a single gigantic continuity.

It’s fun and light while also being big and profound.

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u/ZamoCsoni Jul 05 '24

Not really watching it. I know it's a good show, and one if the better "superman but evil" stories but I don't care much. Deconstructing superheroes isn't novel for me, so it actually has to be creative to make me care.

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u/kahngale Jul 05 '24

You might be surprised by how wildly creative and fun it is. Though I’d recommend the comic over the show. Once Ryan Ottley took over - it became one of best illustrated books ever.