All right, YOU have Super Powers. Are you a Hero or a Vigilante?

Let's say that you, yes you, at the computer reading forums, wind up with the super power and super smarts to be a "Cape". Like DareDevil, Spiderman, or Batman, your identity is constantly sought, but you're so cool that no one can figure you out. Yes, this puts you above the law.

My question: Do you, like Superman, bind yourself by the moral code and legal system of your city like a Hero? You set an example and are the ideal citizen, but your unwillingness to cross the line restricts you from many many methods of information gathering and arrest. As a result, you remain a virtuous ambition of many, but less criminals are caught. (Edit: An explanation of your power level.)

Or do you, like the Punisher or Rorschach, put vengeance and justice above needless laws and don the title of Vigilante? You are feared and reviled by citizens. You sail blind without a moral compass, and you have few allies. As a result, however, you are able to drop the crime rate significantly. Edit: (Of note: SpittingTrashcan's rebuttal to my theorized "Vigilante Trade-Off".)

I guess my question is: How much can one stretch their moral code in the name of stopping crime before it's unacceptable? And if the answer is "Quite a bit", could it then be argued that Vigilantes are better heroes than Heroes?

Annnnd go.

(Disclaimer: There is no "right" answer. If there was, there'd be an ideal legal system that no one questions. Please respect others' views and refrain from ad hominem attacks. Thanks! )

Me? If -I- ever got powers, I'd think I'd be too much of a wimp per say to become a vigilante. It's all good in-game but I don't think I'd be able to handle losing some of my morality by becoming someone akin to Rorschach (who's a fave 'hero' of mine). I'd probably discreetly cheer any vigilante on for doing what I couldn't though.

I'm a Vigilante. What system would I uphold? AMERICAN Justice? Don't make me laugh. I'd be using my powers to unravel the world's political theater and see the truth for myself... by any means necessary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus This entire post should receive some kind of award for being both hysterical and fantastic. Well done.

Oh, I don't have anything against Vigilantes, and I tried not to write it that way. (Guess I failed)It's sort of hard to explain, but what I mean is while I might not be able to kill that supervillian becuase of my morals, I would congratulate the vigilante who did.

Hero all the way, yo. I could never go out of my way to kill someone, no matter what they did, for two reasons. One, I'd be just as bad as the criminal if I went around killing peeps, and two, it'd be too easy of an out for certain horrible people. The absolutely terrible people can go to prison and run into the booty bandit, becoming his play thing for years.

Also, yeah, I'd love to be an icon for others that don't have that hero to look up to. Sometimes that's all someone needs. Plus I'd be more prone to get my own cartoon if I were a hero as opposed to a vigilante XD

Superhero. I'd never be able to deliberately do more as much as I'd like to because I don't trust myself.

I think the shift to vigilantism will be fairly quick. No matter how much of a do gooder I am or wish myself to be, there will be plenty of annoying people that it'd just be a lot less stressful for me if occasional examples are made. Keeping myself to too strict a code of conduct, especially if it is made public, will entice too many people to play and manipulate it for their own purposes. I believe flexibility is key.

Hm. The funny thing with such definitions in real life:

A real life 'hero' would be beholden to societal rules and authorities, to the point that such obligations would almost inevitably either force them to commit wrongful actions for a corrupt/selfish authority, or stand by in inaction due, resigning from hero duties when 'forced' into the former.

A hero that did not stick to the guidlines of the authority, even if the guidlines were unjust, would become a vigilante. Likewise, anything the 'hero' did without authorization would make them a 'vigilante.'

The only allowed 'heroes' then, would have to be in positions correct in the civil structure. To fight crime, you'd have to be a cop pretty much. Even then, there would be times you couldn't do the right thing due to red tape/restrictions.

I think reality would in the end restrict a super-powered individual to being a vigilante, rogue, or villain. Now the spectrum of that is definetly far broader in real circumstances, from the socially conscious vigilante back to the genocidal maniac villain obsessed with all the deviations we see people serving time for.

I'd like to think I'd be a socially conscious vigilante, but I'm sure that with power I'd become guilty of roguish activities, human nature being what it is.

Where's the villain option? Given enough power I'd rule with an iron fist. I've been stocking up on mustache wax for just such a day.

My "moral code" is fuzzy at best, Marcian. I see absolutely nothing wrong with permanently removing problematic individuals from society.

I'm a pure blooded villain.

Edit: note I do not say I would be. My motivation is already villainous

As much as I'd like to believe that I'm altruistic enough that I'd fight crime if I had super powers, I'm not. I'm simply too lazy to fight crime, or cause it, really. Instead, I'd waste my powers doing petty things in a moral grey-zone.

I'd have to hold myself to a rigid moral code(i kind of try to now, being unpowered, but capable in a fight) because i know i would go too far if i let myself go, id go past vigilant into categories of violence that would go to the commonly accepted idea of a villain. we are talking death note level violence if i let myself go and had the capacity. some guilty may go free, but they do now, and that is the price we pay for maintaining safeguards to protect the innocent from false imprisonment, and we dont even get that right consistently.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Vigilante.

Revenge on those that have slighted me, punishment to those the courts have treated lightly and gain for myself and the downtrodden.

Neither. Unless I was a police officer or other law enforcer, I would only use my powers to save people from fires/disasters/etc. I have no right to take the law into my own hands or usurp the role of people trained to enforce the law.

i was grinning about what constituted "problematic individuals" Shall we bet on the number of posts to a godwin?

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

I am that I am. All I can say is that some people need saving, while others need dying. I'd like to be the one to flip the switch.