Making Power Accountable: Dawn of Justice and Civil War

It is not often that two blockbuster superhero movies release in a span of two months. DC and Marvel fan fights on social media sites are not uncommon. Both host a range of super humans in different universes. But the beauty of DC’s Dawn of Justice and Marvel’s Civil war lies in the fact that they dealt with the same concept – The tyranny of unaccountable power.

Compared to the previous movies in the DC series the Dawn of Justice had many pitfalls. Though a positive revenue generator it was not good enough to enthuse the fan base for the upcoming series on the Justice League. Nevertheless, it opened up a philosophical dimension on the concept of ‘Super’ man. To quote Batman from the movie, “He has the power to wipe out the entire human race. Even if there is a one percent chance that he is not on our side we must take it as an absolute certainty”. The movie dealt with a reasonable question: Shouldn’t such a powerful man be accountable to law?

The movie had its moments, especially the one when Superman who can drill mountains quietly opens the door to enter the cage of prosecution before the Senator and when he despairs with Lois Lane that he wasn’t ‘looking’ for the bomb when he entered the court – the strange act of a superhero trying to behave normal.

Photo Courtesy: JD Hancock

Marvel’s Civil War, on the other hand, did not disappoint its fans – with the superheroes fighting villains in all their previous outings they were pitted against each other just as DC pitted Batman against Superman. The question as in the Dawn of Justice was being accountable to a larger group of States – the United Nations rather than just the United States. Discrepancies within the team lead to the ever mighty Avengers splitting up – it was definitely hard to see them tear into each other on the screen just like the way in Dawn of Justice.

One doesn’t know whether DC and Marvel agreed to do the same subject at the same time, but in the real world it does throw up many difficult uneasy questions to answer – the prominent being ‘who is a superhuman?’. As I write this, I realize that somewhere someone has died of hunger; many will not have a roof over their head when they sleep tonight, millions live in poverty, more than half the human population does not have access to the internet and the list goes on.

Maybe this is what makes a normal human a superman. When one has access to resources one is empowered – he becomes more independent. But are all we independent humans behave responsibly or be accountable to the ones which do not have these resources which make us powerful? At least in the Comic universe, there is a realization that power must be made accountable because with increasing independence comes more responsibility. We have mechanisms – Nation states, international organizations it is not hard to realize the fact that there are limitations to what they can do.

Photo Courtesy: Johan Soderstrom

But I do realize that it would be a utopian idea to expect each man to realize his power and be accountable to the law and to the human race as Superman did. Because I do agree with the remark by John Dalberg-Acton, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. It is utopian to expect the corrupt to be accountable.  

Photo Courtesy: (External Link)

(1)JD Hancock

(2)Johan Soderstrom