Why are there so few truly working class superheroes? Superman is practically crying out for an Elseworlds where he grew up poor with Pa breaking his back for LexCorps and getting killed in a Union Strike, inspiring Clark to become a symbol of hope for the downtrodden.
I mean, Green Arrow flirts with poverty from time to time, but he always has his Justice League communicator on him, you know?
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Spider-Man was that way at the start, but he hasn't been "working class" since like the 70s.
Wasn't there a Batman elseworlds with something like that?
because the execus at DC nad Marvel are rich greedy fuckers and dont want working class stories
>Why are there so few truly working class superheroes?
Probably the same reason why we see so few shows focus on working-class families. No working-class writers working on comics or TV.
Yeah, Golden Streets of Gotham
it's good shit ?
This, obviously. (Corporate) ideology reinforces itself. Golden age Superman would dismantle the billionaire heads of AT&T.
And he’s do it with his own two hands while verbally berating them for treating their employees the way they do.
malcolm in the middle and shameless were stong show
one was fun, the other had tiddy
I keep meaning to read it. Batman’s a straight up Robin Hood anarchist that fights strike breakers. Pic related is a century old Anarchist symbol for worker espionage called Sabbo-Tabby. I need to read this book.
Yeah, Pete’s been pretty gainfully employed for awhile now.
Well, there's always The Pro
What's wrong with Hawkeye, OP?
Though, I think the problem is that Superheroics are a hobby that requires an income, or a job that somebody like SHIELD/Stark Industries will pay you a salary for.
That’s another reason why I think Superman would be a great vehicle for an Elseworld’s where he grew up dirt poor, but still received the same love as in the regular continuity. Have him fight a Metallo made from non-union labor while Luther lays billions to kill regulations that prevent him from dumping into Metropolis’ bay.
They don't do that because being working-class is boring as shit.
>get up at 6:30
>spend 2 or 3 hours a day commuting to a job you hate
>work simple tasks, always the same thing every day
>go home and eat some poorfag meal or yesterday's leftovers because you're too tired to cook properly
>fall asleep around 10PM
>repeat every day until you're 70
being middle-class or self-employed is where it's at, you get enough free time to actually do something interesting.
There is already a story where Supes is a commie.
Most American poor people are bootlicking chuds, user. Jist a thoroughly broken people
Nevertheless, a story where a hero has to decide between saving the world and getting food for tomorrow, and is constantly sleep deprived, might be interesting. Think a superhero version of Fiona from Shameless.
Green Arrow was a rich mayor fighting crime to protect his city.
DC working class heroes are Superman, Captain Marvel, Static Shock, Wildcat, and Black Canary.
Or shit, just imagine Bruce Wayne if he had to work a regular nine to five. Even if it was something in an office with an easy commute, he still wouldn’t have Alfred, rent in Gotham is probably fucking ridiculous and he’d have to machine all of his equipment by hand, while also swinging two car payments (one for work and one for play). He’d probably only really be able to be Batman on the weekends, and he’d have relatively low tech solutions to shit like the Riddler and Mr. Freeze, and the best martial arts training from various shopping center dojos around town.
How Batman would balance all of that without self destructing would be a super fascinating read.
Superman is the closest thing to a working class hero DC has. He's literally a small town farmboy who earns his living working a 9 to 5 job as a report for newspaper.
A commie handpicked and groomed by Stalin, who then become the ruler of most of the world. That's not working class.
A lot of comic book writers on comics and entertainment were working class.
Rich execs and spoiled kid editors.
In Gods and Monsters he was adopted by poor Mexican immigrants. Does that count?
I feel like that's a fine Elseworld Batman (and it's been done a couple times), but it's too far removed from the core concept to really be THE Batman. Could be a cool direction to take Red Hood or Signal or someone, though.
I mean writers not editors shit
Super Hombre was so boss.
I want a Gods and Monsters sequel so bad
Wasn’t it a Zod that landed, and not an El?
Zod cucked El, but it was through a sciene DNA combiner thing right before Kypton exploded. My memory is shit I forget exactly how it worked. Then he landed on the Mexican border as a family was trying to cross it illegally. I can't remember how much they went into his childhood.
Nah, keep his origin the same, but with some tweaks. Like, his parents were middle class, his dad was like, a pediatrician and his mom’s a teacher, something like that. They still work long, hard hours, but still give Bruce his “eight years of perfect happiness,” until they take him out to see Zorro when they finally both have a night off. Martha’s pearls are an heirloom that Thomas take her into respite them being so ritzy, etc. Bruce is taken in by Jake Kane, who doesn’t have the Kane fortune as in the regular continuity either, maybe have him enroll into West Point with Kate, something like that.
Yeah. Since his records of Krypton were damaged, he grew up thinking he was Jor-El's son, but Luthor discovered that General Zod had placed his DNA in the birthing matrix instead. They hid this from their world's Superman because they feared only the positive example of his Kryptonian parents was motivating his (admittedly brutal) heroism, and that he might go full dictator if he found out his dad was an authoritarian brute.
Turns out Superman's morality comes from his working-class human family, whether they're Kansas farmers or Mexican migrant workers. Learning the dark truth of his paternity just leads him to actually reform his ways and to become LESS brutal at the end, more like mainstream Superman, so he DOESN'T turn out like Zod.
I want a sequel to this so much. People can say what they like about Dini, but he really gets these characters. Like, as you said, Superman, no matter his paternity, gets his values from his working class parents and not from anything having to do with Krypton.
I guess you could keep Alfred if you made the Waynes HEREDITARILY wealthy, but down-on-their-luck? Like, maybe they fell prey to an Enron-style scandal shortly after Bruce was born? Or maybe we keep the "Martha Arkham" maiden name angle from Year Zero, and Thomas got removed from his parents' will for marrying a family of such ill-repute?
Alfred could be the family butler, who was always sympathetic to Thomas and Martha, and who they make Bruce's godfather in their own will? Maybe he could even still work for whoever current runs Wayne Enterprises, or the conglomerate that abrobed it, but just making a normal wage that he has to try to raise Bruce on?
He could even smuggle a few prototype out of the corporation, for Bruce to modify into Bat-gadgets and then reverse engineer and improve upon.
Because people with superpowers could just use them to make cash if they were that hard up for money, plus Clark can make diamonds and his one of his best friends is rich.
You could just drop the Butler angle and have Alfred be a family friend who became Bruce's guardian after the Wayne's death.
Just make Alfred a friend of Bruce's parents or an Uncle who becomes Bruce's primary guardian. Maybe he could be a car guy who runs an auto repair so that plus Bruce's obsessions is where he gets the skills to invent and modify a Batmobile.
>Pennyworth Used Cars & Auto Repairs
Great name for a business of that nature, desu.
And Alfred’s shop can be the place that Bruce runs off to whenever he can’t stand being around Jake Kane, cause he’s got a twelve foot pole perennially shoved up his ass. And that can be how Bruce becomes adept with machines and throw in that Alfred has the right tools to make his own parts and you have him on his way to becoming a mechanical genius.
Because Americans don't like poor people.
>farmer
>not working class
Fucking city folk
He was raised working class, and now he has a penthouse apartment in Metropolis, several Pulitzers and at least a bachelor’s degree in journalism (it feels funny to think that he ONLY has a BFA). Sure, he still has to earn a paycheck, but the Kent household is very comfortably upper middle class at least.
>Fucking City Slickers
ftfy
>the character meant to represent American values achieved the American dream
How shocking
Real Answer: A lot of heroes tend to be super scientists or gods who make more than enough money to live comfortably while fighting crime.
Only Rorschach, Night Owl, Peter Parker, Superman, Billy Batson, and Captain America count as working class heroes.
Yes, I know. And I love that about him, especially the all American success story angle of the small town boy going to the big city college and landing a dream job at one of the biggest papers in the world. I love all that. All I’m saying is that he was ‘born’ working class, was raised working class, and is no longer working class anymore. That’s literally all I’m saying.
Because comics are all written by upper-middle class types who have never done a hard day's labor in their life. Its not so much a bias against the idea, they dont even know the concept exists with their blinders on.
Its not left-right politics. Its largely a class difference with a bit of urban-rural divide tossed in the mix.
Then why did you use Superman as your example in the OP?
That only happened recently. Before, many comic book artists died penniless or dirt poor because they couldn't get royalties from the characters they created. Rocket Racoon's creator is a literal invalid at the moment.
Cause that’s a classic pose of the working man, giving everything he has against a world pressing down on him. It’s iconic as fuck. That and I love the t-shirt and jeans with steel toed Docs from Morrison’s run so very much, and I miss that as his costume. If I had the opportunity to do the Superman Elseworlds I have in my head, that’s what he would be wearing.
Superman is solid working class. It's just that he got his degree before the economy went to shit, and rust belt decay set in.
Poor fuckin Ditko was in and out of shelters for a piece and he made Spider-Man and Dr. Strange!
If he lost his job and the Fortress, he and Lois would be just fine, cause they both have a very solid work ethic. They’d probably move back upstate, she’d write and he’d work the land. Now that I say that, I really wouldn’t mind if they did that, though I’d really miss the Daily Planet staff.
Lots of jobs nowadays outsource their work to computers, or would rather pay illegal immigrants less money to cut down on costs than hire a reporter like Clark.
Plus, Farmers are getting fucked by corporations, and corn subside growing fucks.
not really, unless their actions directly kill somebody or promote war.
Goku and Naruto are solid working class heroes, and people love them.
Golden Age Superman fought sleazy landlords and strikebreakers. He would absolutely fuck with modern american CEOs.
DC has a fair share of working-class heroes.
Marvel has none. Their heroes don't even have jobs.
Marvel has devolved into using wunderkids and super scientists, and all female heroes to promote their lineup at the expense of their working class heroes.
Looking for a hero of the proletariat against bourgeois exploitation?
Even if they weren’t turning a profit on the farm, they’d still be able to put food on the table. Lois could write long-form investigative novels like she has in the past. They usually sell well, and guarantee speaking engagements, lecturing opportunities, etc. Lois Lane could be professionally barred from every newspaper in the world and she’d still make a very good living as an independent journalist. I mean, she’s Lois Lane.
So, even if Lois was paying the bills, Clark would still be putting food on the table while also doing work he’s proud of and mixing with the common people like he’s always loved.
I liked everyone losing their shit over Morrison’s AC#1, with him dangling that CEO off the balcony of his building and calling the one percenters a bunch of rats, but like...Golden Age Superman literally trapped union busting employers in the coal mine they owned, gave them helmets, shovels and picks and told them to dig out. Golden Age Supes is the hero we need right now.
Like everyone else, Russian Superman was afraid of angering Stalin and being sent to the gulags.
Goku married money, his childhood friend is the richest person in the world, his son married money, and they have magic wishing balls to fulfill material needs.
Naruto was the orphan from the ruling class, and ended up back in the ruling class.
Man, now I'm just missing when he was living out on a farm while Jon was growing up. It might not have been the best book, but it was a great setting for him
Not to mention he was raised by the USSR the second that he was discovered with the serfs. Red Son Supes is definitely not a hero of the proletariat.
If it wasn’t for the loss of the Daily Planet staff, I would’ve been totally fine if that was the status quo going forward. People can bitch about how chill Bruce and Damian were at the farm, but all of that felt like a good direction for the Kents. Ah well.
Hernan Guerrera, Kal Zod, Superman.
Raised by illegal immigrant mexican.
Goku is literally the bastard son of a space mercenary who grew up a country bumpkin till some fancy city girl like Bulma showed up to steal his family heirloom. His appetite was strong enough to blow thru Chi Chi's family fortunes and his tournament money.
Gohan worked hard to marry into money, he was attracted to Videl because she's physically strong.
That kind of thing would be bound to piss off the usual faggots complaining about comics having an agenda.
And I can't say I'm opposed to it
Marvel created Iron Man, a pro-capitalist propaganda, it's really that surprising.
DC is too bitchmade to have Mexican Superman go up against the cartels.
>he was attracted to Videl because she's physically strong.
Was. Was physically strong
They were living off Ox King until Super. When another fire finally destroyed his treasure.
Hercule and Videl are about as strong as early DB Villains. They're about weaker than Mercenary Tao.
Cause every time Superman’s involved himself in shit like that, it doesn’t work out and usually just makes everything better. GaM Superman would intrinsically understand that, seeing as how he was brought up in that world and wouldn’t touch any of that shit. Not his job.
Videl hasn't been a fighter since before Beerus turned up
Battle of Gods takes place only a few months after the Buu Saga. ROF takes place a Year, and every other arc happens a few months.
I guess getting her ass beat by that bald guy really did a number on her psyche then
The Drug Cartels are literally Lex Luthor tier Supervillains.
the batman inc characters could be used for this
Really? Where's their power armour?
Exactly, where is Boston-Man when you need him?
No, they aren’t. They’re criminals that exist due to systemic, political issues. They’re symptoms of problems that can’t be solved by a superhero in any way. The only way that the cartels go away is if the members have the options and the ability to access better lives in legitimate ways, while also putting the cartels out of business through controlled substance treatment reform.
It’s nothing that can be solved by punching it, and Superman, no matter from which Earth, knows that. Shit, Calvin Ellis’ metanarrative is how dangerous it is to have a Superman that involves himself in world affairs. This is old ground that’s been discussed in Superman comics, with African warlords, with Middle-Eastern terrorism, etc. It doesn’t work out well for anyone, and just leaves Superman feeling like shit.
I swear to god, totalitarian communism was far and away the worst, and I mean THE WORST thing that ever happened to the working class left. Before the cancer called the USSR came along there were all kinds of socialist and even communist strains floating around in various circles which respected democracy and the rights of the worker, human rights in general and so on.
And then this checkist, peasant-uprising-crushing, Kronstadt-rebellion-defeating motherfucker came along. I wish he'd been at ground zero during the Tunguska event. The world would undoubtedly be a better place.
THIS X1000. And Superman would absolutely have to operate in secret because his #1 enemy would be the three letter agencies operated by "our" corporate-owned government.
too busy fighting the beavers and tree huggin' fuckin' faggots
>The only way that the cartels go away is if the members have the options and the ability to access better lives in legitimate ways,
+5 husband points
>Why are there so few truly working class superheroes?
Because there's few working class authors and writers.
Didn't Iron Man ultimately have to learn the evils of corporate military-industrial capitalism and turn his life towards a great not-for-profit crusade to redeem himself?
Also, Spider-Man still exists. And if we count the MCU, Lang's Ant-Man is a working class schlub.
Tony Stark killed working class labor in New York, which turned Vulture to a life of crime, dumped dangerous garbage off the coast of Africa and stole intellectual property from his employees. Even if he stopped with the weapons manufacturing, he’s still scum.
The actions of all billionaires directly kill people and promote war.
>The only way that the cartels go away is if the members have the options and the ability to access better lives in legitimate ways, while also putting the cartels out of business through controlled substance treatment reform.
I prefer the chinese method. Kill them all.
How many jobs would allow for a person to just run off at anytime? Not many.
Most part time or low wage jobs will flat out fire your ass and replace you for a no call no show.
They would have to make ethical sacrifices of allowing crime to happen and only fight on their off hours. And god help them if they don't have a set schedule.
literally Red Son, at least for the origin part, before Superman turns into a dictator and goes from 0 to 1984 at the speed of light.
Being a true member of the working class doesn't leave you a lot of time for super heroing and keeping up any sort of normal social life
This
Storytiming for lack of anything better to do
This is based on a real life tragedy, which played out almost exactly like this: en.wikipedia.org
And yeah, the sweatshop's owner got away with it, just like here. Just another atrocity against people trying to earn an honest day's pay for an honest day's work.
Are there any of the top of your head? Or any ideas on how to fix this?
Before it became safe to organize for labor rights, and before government started stepping in to regulate business for worker safety, work place disasters were commonplace. Working people regularly died from unsafe working conditions.
>Only Rorschach Billy Batson count as working class heroes.
I think you have to have an actual job to count as a working class hero.
There are more than that though and then you have weirder situations, like Dick Grayson has a working class job, but also has one of the richest Dads on the planet so does that count?
Superman would literally straight up go after The Drug Cartels, African Warlords, and Middle Eastern Terrorists. Comic Book writers are just too retarded to understand that Clark requires a lot of imagination, wit, and creativity to use.
Scabs rarely, if ever, know the intricacies of complicated factory conditions, and would often lead to situations like this. Crossing a strike line is about more than keeping business owners from turning a profit during a work stoppage, it also creates unsafe conditions
AFK for a few.
Rorschach used to design lady's clothes before he became a vigilante.
Billy Batson sold newspapers and did radio.
en.wikipedia.org
Mentioned earlier, but the Cat is a reference to a very old Anarchist symbol, called the sabocat, which stood for worker sabotage.
Also, I'm an idiot
>Joe Chillingham
>Joe Chill
Superman being poor wouldn't make sense. Every labor job would be a piece of cake for him.
Get John Henry irons, atleast he came from a story where he is a working man.
I think this is one of the only times I don't mind Bruce/Babs.
Can I get a bump, please?
...
For three reasons:
Being a superhero is only possible if you have one of these three things:
Powers
Impossible/Marvelous Tech
Training and JamesBond-esque level tech
And there's only three ways you can get those things:
Granted by higher force/destiny/freak accident
Genius-level intellect
Organization behind
In those cases, only in the first one the hero has to work. That's like 1/3 of all superheroes.
And then, they have superpowers. They can still do great even tired from hours at labor.
The end
That was really good user. Thanks for the storytime.
No sweat. Been meaning to read it, and now was a good time, didn't have anything else to do so roped you all in as well. Really surprised with how strong the pro-union message is, not so surprised that there wasn't a follow-up, even though they set up for more.
Irl, Pa Kent, a farmer from Kansas, would've voted for Trump, and supported big corporations. Working class, my ass.
As someone who was born, raised, and lives in KS, that's not true at all.
What was that GL Elseworld where Alan Scott was a union leader?
Not to be contrarian OP, but you want to look into Gods and monsters then.
The one where Superman was adopted by illegal Mexicans sneaking into the US and thus grew up with a jaded view of the rich and America, and thus was in favor or a "might makes right" philosophy.
This. Remember "Occupy Avengers", which was based upon this entire premise, small problems for small people? Except nobody read it I guess, so they were relegated to a cameo in Avengers No Surrender.
Why are DC trying so hard to destroy the legacy of Superman?
To be fair, this superman was also actually Zod's son.
Plenty of "city folk" are working class.
Ollie loses his money all the damn time
What do you define as working class?
That is even more retarded. They do not want to see Superman succeed as what he is. Superman should fight for truth, justice and American way. He would be stopping illegals from entering America, and not try to break the laws by crossing illegally.
Superhero comics tend towards escalation.
If a character starts out poor or working class there are logically going to be story arcs about them improving their circumstances. Once a character has moved into better circumstances it's quite hard to take them out of them. Lots of readers (sometimes correctly) view attempts to do so as a way of winding back character development. On top of that there are limitations on how many times you can use that kind of story event across an entire line of comics before it starts looking tired and artificial. Or to put it another way - over a long enough period of time most hero's will tend towards a comfortable upper middle class position.
Single family small farms are essentially low income households, particularly a one-child farm. Even if you subscribe to the less common idea that Clark had his powers as a young child, he still wouldn't have been helpful to Jonathan in managing or running the farm until he was at least about Junior High age.
And a farm is about as working class as you can get.
>Clark requires a lot of imagination, wit, and creativity to use
no, what Superman really needs is simple minded writer that doesn't afraid to write him as a boneheaded muscle man (with negative consiquences as well, if needed)
All this "creatvity" nonsence led Action Comics to becoming Wacky Nerd Where Nothing Really Happens Comics
wow, just like ril lyfe