Heroes and Justice

We have been working hard on our heroes and

villains, but we haven’t really talked about the
consequences of what superheroes do.

We know that our villains are guilty of

domination, destruction and dastardly deeds,
but what of our heroes? What are the
unintended (or intended) crimes that they are
guilty of?
 p er fe c t,
o bo d y is
N s f or th e
th a t go e
and
e s to o.
hero

When superheroes
fight, they use a lot of
powers and weapons
which cause damage to
their surroundings
Heroes?
 Consequences
You have watched a clip from the film, Hancock
about a hero who causes a lot of damage.

With your partner, discuss how your hero/villain

pairing could cause damage.
 For the villain, this may be deliberate.
 For the hero, it is probably accidental.

What could the hero do about the damage he

causes?
 Can he afford to pay for repairs?
 Does he pitch in to help rebuild?
 Does he keep his real identity secret so he
won’t be held responsible for the damage?

Why does the hero take this option?

Heroes Outside the Law
In our society, there are law-
enforcement agencies who
exist to keep us from harm.
Superheroes take the law into
their own hands, dealing with
criminals themselves.

• One of the main reasons so many heroes keep their

identities secret, is that what they are doing is actually
illegal.
• Superheroes commit violent acts (albeit for good reasons)
in public, cause serious damage to their surroundings, and
actually quite dangerous individuals.
• When someone takes the law into their own hand, like
superheroes do, we call them vigilantes.
 Superheroes: A Menace?
Having watched the Spiderman clip, you can see that
opinion can be divided on the subject of Superheroes.

With your partner, discuss what you know about

superheroes and create two lists:

• One list should contain all of the positive

points about superheroes – why we
would be glad to have them in our
society.

• The other should list the negative points

about superheroes – why we would not
want them in our society.
The problem with superheroes and
villains is, if they do break the law,
what can you do about it? How
accountable are they?

They are stronger, faster and far more

powerful than the average man.

Many of them, if they think they are

going to be caught, could just fly
away.

This makes it very difficult to make

superheroes and villains take
responsibility for their actions.
Task 1
To Catch a Caped Crusader

Imagine you are a police officer trying

to catch your hero/villain. You know
what their powers are and what they
are capable of.

How would you catch them?

Write a short paragraph giving a very

brief outline of the character’s abilities
and then a more detailed explanation
of how you, a regular human, could try
to capture them.