Where did all this “Zod vs. Superman megafight that destroys New York” stuff come from? In this scenario there is us and there is Kent Clark, period.
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Frivolous.
Everyone will expect a Superman to be their personal guardian, and when he doesn’t come through and their cat gets killed by the neighbors schnauzer or the neighbor’s kid scratches their car, they will sue. And it will happen often. Having good legal standing is not a hurdle lawsuits need. All they need to do is to make it cheaper to settle than to fight.
Wildfires in California? Superman should have stopped them. If he doesn’t, sue.
Landslides in Washington? Superman should have stopped them. If he doesn’t, sue.
Tsunami in Japan…Earthquake in Chile…
And if he is the boy scout version, he’ll respond.
He will either ignore these suits for the greater good as he sees it, or he will pay off the suits with ease. He can find lost treasure with ease, locate raw precious metals with ease and create diamonds.
He can’t be sued for things he didn’t do. There would be greedy people who try to sue him for frivolous things, but if he’s truly a good guy the public and media would ridicule and vilify everyone who tried. All he has to do is save a busload of kids from a collapsed bridge or something and he’s gold. He just needs to stay away from politics. If he took a progressive or liberal stance on something, conservatives would pass laws against him.
Well in Superman 4, Quest for Peace, Superman removes all the nuclear devices of the world.
After a number of frivolous lawsuits, the courts would probably raise the bar. This is what happens in real life when a whole spate of frivolous lawsuits pop up. If Exxon could weather the Exxon Valdez affair without being destroyed by individual lawsuits, Superman certainly could.
Most people are smart enough to know that he can’t save everyone.
re government “crash programs” to find his vulnerability, no. That’s stupid. Sure, some military programs would be implemented, at a low level, with a few scientists as advisors. Hell, they studied “remote viewing” so there’s no surprise in them looking for Superman’s “Achilles’ Heel.” But a Manhattan Project? No way.
And if a weapon were devised that could kill him – why would it be used immediately? No government on earth is wise enough to wait until he does something to deserve it? We haven’t even bombed Iran’s or North Korea’s nuclear weapons factories; why would we zap a guy who’s out there catching falling airliners and saving ships from capsizing?
Because a single individual is unpredictable. A Superman-level powered single individual is also uncontrollable. Such a person could, at any time, decide that what you as a government want to do is wrong and put you out of commission. And finally, if you wait until he deserves it you would lose the opportunity to surprise him. Better to take him out when he’s not expecting it. Pre-emptive strike.
No, as soon as a possible means to stop him was found, it would be tried.
Easy, you send him off to deep space to do exploration missions. Problem over
Probably the biggest reason this wouldn’t happen is that Superman/Clark doesn’t have any money. He’s not Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne. He lives in what I assume is as expensive a city as New York on a journalist’s salary.
He leaves the United States, permanently, after about a year of dealing with the crap cited above. The world would be better served by his good works almost anywhere outside of the 1st-world nations, and most of them would be thrilled to have him, unlike the US/NYC.
As I said in post #24, he has access to all the funds he needs.
Just because Superman is a good guy doesn’t mean he would subject himself to the whim of every idiot. In Man of Steel he’s not supposed to knock Predator drones out of the sky either, but he does it. The only reason he submits to capture by the US military is because he’s testing humanity. Superman breaks out of his handcuffs when it suits him.
So I think it’s silly to equate “good guy” with mindlessly submitting yourself to every absurd whim of the human justice system. Superman would do good things, but on his terms. And there’s nothing really anyone can do to stop him. Other than perhaps threaten Lois Lane or his mom, which tends to have predictably disastrous results.