# Who Cleans Up After Superheroes? (Open Spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 21, 2006, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459 "2006-07-21T09:17:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/21 "2006-07-21T17:45:18Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] That site is infamous for the amount of its spyware. Please do not click the link [/QUOTE] Unless you’re on a Mac. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/22 "2006-07-21T18:44:32Z")
Moderator interjecteth: I had disabled the link to the Superdickery, because we were told that it was spy-ware infested. I now see that **Uvula** claims the site is clean – that would be great, because it’s a wonderfully funny site. It’s too late on the earlier link – but I left the URL so you can go there if you want. I guess we’ll say they’re clean, unless someone tells me otherwise. Thanks, **Uvula** , for checking it out. ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/23 "2006-07-21T18:50:10Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] I guess we’ll say they’re clean, unless someone tells me otherwise. Thanks, **Uvula** , for checking it out. [/QUOTE] Better safe than sorry, Dex. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/24 "2006-07-21T19:05:26Z")
Damage Control is visible in Ultimate Spider-Man, during the Silver Sable arc, as well. They appear to be powered. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/25 "2006-07-21T19:07:57Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Damage Control is visible in Ultimate Spider-Man, during the Silver Sable arc, as well. They appear to be powered. [/QUOTE] …by the Ultimate Wrecking Crew, no less. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/26 "2006-07-21T19:14:03Z")
In a possible future _World’s Finest_ movie, I’d like to see Superman as the boy scout who thinks Batman is “cool” because he’s so dark and grim. Batman: I don’t want you in Gotham. Get out. Superman: But why? I can help you. Batman: [sigh] Do you know _why_ Metropolis is “the city of the future”? Because every time you get into one of your stupid battles, you destroy half of it so it’s constantly being rebuilt! I don’t want that to happen to Gotham, so get the hell out! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/27 "2006-07-21T20:41:07Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Why couldn’t Supes just come back after the crisis had past and lift the plane out of the stadium? Maybe they clean up their own messes when they get free time. [/QUOTE] I’ve often seen Superman do that (in comics from the '50s and '60s, anyway). After all, he is the Big Blue Boy Scout. 🙂 He does quite a bit of damage repair. He even rebuilds villages destroyed in some kind of natural disaster. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/28 "2006-07-21T21:23:12Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] There was an old Marvel book, _Damage Control_, about a company set up exactly to deal with this sort of thing. [/quote] At least three limited series, IIRC. The first one was the best, though. There was also a teaser in _Marvel Age_ where one of the Damage Control ad guys approached the Hulk (who was working in Vegas) for a possible advertising tie-in – “If we can clean up the Hulk’s messes, we can clean up yours.” 😃 [QUOTE=Ranchoth] Though, as I recall, it was run entirely by “mundane” humans. [/QUOTE] The cleanup crews were also augmented by super-powered gadgets they picked up during the cleaning sessions. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/29 "2006-07-21T21:32:55Z")
[QUOTE=rjung] The cleanup crews were also augmented by super-powered gadgets they picked up during the cleaning sessions. [/QUOTE] It’s been years since I read the series, but I seem to recall that getting superpowers was kind of an occupational hazard, thanks to all the strange radioactive items and magical artifacts left behind after the battles. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/30 "2006-07-21T22:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] It’s been years since I read the series, but I seem to recall that getting superpowers was kind of an occupational hazard, thanks to all the strange radioactive items and magical artifacts left behind after the battles. [/QUOTE] I remember that. One of the construction workers grabs a glowing orb found in the rubble, transforms into something vaguely hulklike, and flies off to find his destiny. Man that was a good series. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/31 "2006-07-21T23:02:49Z")
Of course, who can forget the destruction placed upon Paris and then upon Cairo by _Team America: World Police_ (OK, not superheroes, but still making fun of the theme, heroes saving the day while leaving a wake of destruction). ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/32 "2006-07-21T23:43:24Z")
Forgot a scene from a Judge Dredd strip, a Judge tells a suicide jumper not to do it, littering _is_ an offence of course! ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459/33 "2006-07-22T01:09:12Z")
A comic that I’ve discovered recently, Powers, is about a division of a city police department tasked with investigating superpower-related crimes. At one point, the two main detectives are walking down the street trying to figure out who they can talk to in order to find out who killed a particularly renowned local superhero. While they are talking, you see someone in the distance fly into the side of a skyscraper, punching a hole in one side. A moment later, you see another someone fly through the hole in the skyscraper, forcing the first guy out the _other_ side of the skyscraper as they fly off. After a moment to reflect on this, the two cops decide to go get a hot dog. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-cleans-up-after-superheroes-open-spoilers/365459.md?page=1)