DC Universe: Decisions

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Comments

[capnduckman]

I'm surprised Carter responded with anything but '*Mace to camera* "Any other questions?"

[icon_uk]

Yeah, the miniseries which could have been short circuited if Superman had simply expressed that point clearly in issue 1.

[locuatico]

Don't forget, one of his super powers is super-dickery.

"....It annoys you and that gives me some pleasure."

[7dialsmystery]

Patriotic Super-Dickery!

[q99]

I don't think the writers put in enough thought into who the heroes would support.

Jay is not of the 'big government is bad' era.

A couple clearly-liberal characters are portrayed as weirdly less informed in ish 3 than they were in 2. "Suarez. Suarez or... was there another guy? Suarez then."- multiple characters who should be informed going into an interview.

Though I do find it interesting that they had Batman-via-Wayne come out as a clear strong supporter. I'd figure that he'd have been a character who's opinions they'd cloak more.

This almost feels like Willingham and Winick sat around going, "Oh yea, well if you get X, then I get Y!".


Who won, anyway?

[jlbarnett]

you really think they gave us that answer? And I'm pretty sure you're right on the way who supported who was decided.

I think it's unlikely that Lois is conservative. As major supporter of superheroes she'd be of the opinion little guys sometimes need big guys at their back, plus when battling government corruption, she's never against the agency that's been corrupted, just the people using it wrong

[q99]

Yes. It's like they picked individual aspects ('Military brat!') and overlooked larger ones ('Reporter with a lot of opinions on progressive things!').

[liliaeth]

That and unless the DC version of the republican party is completely and utterly different from the real life version, I just can't imagine her ever supporting the party that consistently votes against women's rights.

[junipepper]

Well, she didn't actually use the word Republican, did she? Maybe they have, like, completely different parties in DCU... or no parties... or... yeah, never mind. There's no way to make right-wing!Lois work for me.

[liliaeth]

I could see it work in a universe, where the republican party actually stands for what they claim (are supposed to) stand for, like, if they dropped all the racists, misogynists and pro-birthers from their party and escaped the grip from the religious fanatics that currently run the party. That and they'd actually have to start believing in science again.

But that's a lot of things that would have to change for me to find it believable, that Lois would ever vote for republicans. (not using right wing, cause honestly, democrats are right wing as well. They're just not as fanatical about it)

[locuatico]

Lex Luthor.

[kamino_neko]

This came in the wake of Lex's impeachment.

[beyondthefringe]

Suarez won.
And after him apparently came Barack Obama.

So yeah, the DCU had a Hispanic President for a few years. I guess after Lex Luthor, they were a lot more open-minded than the real world...

[q99]

-Suarez won.-

Yay, I guess? If they'd established him enough or used him in anything after, it may have mattered.

-And after him apparently came Barack Obama.-

This was published after Obama's run iirc....

[kamino_neko]

Suarez was a standin for Obama in the 2008 election (thus his winning, presumably).

Apparently he declined to go for a second term, and the ACTUAL Obama came next. [Edit...actually, Obama was already supposed to be president by 2011, so I guess Suarez resigned early...given the particularly stressful events of his term, I suppose it's reasonable...though why his VP didn't take over isn't clear. Second Edit, actually, if I remember events correctly, they were worse for her than him, so that would account for that.]

[q99]

Did Suarez actually do much of anything?

It also made DC look a bit... odd, having a non-black standin for a black candidate.

For being sold as politically hard hitting, this really wasn't.

[kamino_neko]

Did Suarez actually do much of anything?

Again assuming I'm remembering correctly, watched his VP get tortured by a villain claiming to be part of an organization that claimed to control the history of the US. That's a bit more than the president usually has to deal with.

(Someone was kidnapped and tortured by the Arcadians. I'm PRETTY sure it was the VP.)

[lucean]

They kind of played around with Wayne endorsement, if I remember correctly they basically stated the reason they had Bruce Wayne endorse the candidate was to have someone close to him in order to combat the assassin or something like that. It's been ages since I read, but yeah I kind of agree that they really shouldn't have been putting one of the Trinity out there expressing a political view in such a manner. Especially since Bruce Wayne's political views are probably one of the more interesting aspects out there, no matter how often people seem to think he is a clear conservative.

The miniseries itself was pretty weird in a lot of ways, at least what I remember, and in retrospect I kind of feel that Willingham was far more willing to push his political ideals in the series than Winick, which led to a lot of the superheroes supporting his side having more clearly argued points.

[q99]

Oh, I *don't* have a problem with a Trinity member doing so, I'm just surprised they did, especially as you say, since Wayne's views are interesting. And I think him not being too open would make more sense since he wants an *in* with everyone, even if he's really supporting X.

Wonder Woman could say, "Well, as a non-US citizen, I can't vote, but I met with X, and their eyes say they believe the truth of what they say."

- and in retrospect I kind of feel that Willingham was far more willing to push his political ideals in the series than Winick, which led to a lot of the superheroes supporting his side having more clearly argued points.-

Yea, definitely.

And ultimately, "Let's pair a conservative and liberal writer,".... sounds like a nicer idea than it is, at least with this pair. You need a writer who understands each, but also can step back.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Eh, as much as I'd like to say 'This hero supports this or that', you'd think that all the things the heroes have seen/fought or heard about would justify damn near any political position. So why bother?

Except Green Arrow, 'cause he's a douche.

[beyondthefringe]

This community is dead-set on revisiting every bad thing Bill Willingham wrote, isn't it. It's too late: you've already crushed my faith. :)

[beyondthefringe]

So I got curious, and started looking back to see just what the Presidency has looked like for the DC Universe.

Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Lex Luthor
Pete Ross (Vice-President, served after Lex's impeachment, quickly resigned)
Jonathan Horne
Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard, masquerading as Henry Knight
Martin Suarez
Barack Obama

So basically, the DCU never had George W. Bush. Instead that period was subject to rapid turnover thanks to supervillains and other factors. It's hard to tell how long any of their tenures lasted--Both Horne and Gonzo debuted in late 2006, so I suspect that Horne finished out the Luthor/Ross term, while after Knight proved to be an evil robot, they had another election which resulted in Suarez...?

Politics and comics don't mix, kids. Don't try this at home.

[kamino_neko]

This series was from 2008, and Suarez was the Obama.

Which leaves us with a gap between Gonzo's incredibly short tenure and when Suarez was elected. I think Horne might have been restored to the office, but I can't remember for sure.

In any case, what would have been Lex's second term had at least 4 people in the office - him, Pete, Horne, and Gonzo-Knight. That was an eventful 4 years....

[q99]

Lesse, other odd aspects: *Four* major candidates? That's quite odd considering it happens approximately never. Even if it started that way, people'd shift over.

Power Girl of all people going for a conservative based on a 'keep us safe' policy? She's a kryptonian, not only does she not have to worry about being personally kept safe, but she has her own means of keeping safe.

Also iirc it was conservatives who forced the JSA into retirement and the military caused a ton of trouble during New Krypton. And she's definitely feminist.

This seems to be a 'well, she's tough, so she'd vote for the tough-guy, right?' choice. Even though I can't really picture why, even *if* she was conservative, she'd be swayed by that particular issue.

[jlbarnett]

maybe Lex's win convinced enough people that someone outside the Dems and Republicans could win if they had enough money or the right backing

[q99]

Hm, maybe a bit like the current situation, where changes in campaign finance laws are why we have 17 candidates... in a single party. And none dropped out even after the first debate.

[jlbarnett]

thinking it over, the concept of a superhero really takes a lot from the time it was created. I kind of feel like most superheroes would be ideologically abandoned in this day and age, as they'd be FDR Democrats