See, it’s simple. I’d get Cyclops’s inherent understanding of angles and geometry in addition to the invulnerability. I’m assuming invulnerability here is of the “super-hard skin” form; given a choice I’d like flexible organic diamond, please. Or unmelting ice, even better. Rock is just boring.
Then I’d simply deflect my opponent’s attack so that hits him instead. I’d imagine that the first time he accidentally stabs or shoots himself, he’d give up. Then we could have a philosophical discussion about the ultimate self-defeating nature of violence.
I’m dam near invulnerable to the attacks from your average 5 year old, that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to stop one from swinging at me.
Sure you can defend yourself with reasonable force ie stop them from hitting you. If you decide it’s OK to grab them and jump off a skyscraper together you’re reasonable force argument is getting pretty weak though.
Now wait a minute, I think you’ve stumbled on the correct answer.
“Well he attacked me and in the struggle, we fell off the roof, or, stepped in front of a truck, fell off the subway platform, or, set off the explosion, or, sank to the bottom of the lake, etc.” and by some miracle , I survived.
An invulnerable person who was otherwise just like a normal human could easily be killed by suffocation.
That was the method used to kill Peter Dawson in Rising Stars. It was made easier because he had no sense of touch as a side effect of his invulnerability – he had no idea anything was wrong until he woke up duct-taped to his chair with a plastic bag stuck over his head.
Then I think the real answer is that we cannot answer the question. There is an assumption of equality under the law, with only a handful of exceptions. Our laws are predicated that we are interacting as more or less equals, equally able of harming or taking advantage of each other. Yes there are special instances; minors, people of diminished mental capacity, etc. And the relative capabilities of individuals certainly get taken into account when determining intent; a 4’1", 110 lb woman could resort to deadly force to defend herself a lot sooner than a 6’3", 250 lb man could if they were both attacked by a 6 foot plus male assailant.
But I suspect that new laws would need to be written to accommodate individuals in our society with superpowers like invulnerability. If not new laws, then surely the line of cases that established precedent would be hotly contested and I suspect appealed as high as they could go.
In fact would the question of whether the law (specifically the protection of the law, and extension of rights to appear in court at all) applied to this new entity with superpowers. Would they be “a person” under the law, since they are so fundamentally different that the rest of us mere mortals.
If you were making this argument about someone who constantly emitted lethal radiation you might have a point, but any government that would discriminate against someone just because they are unusually durable does not deserve to exist.
Well deserving to exist and actually existing are two different things. We have governments that discriminate against people because of race, sex, religion, ethnicity and politics right now without any super powers in the mix.