Is it wrong for superheroes to ask for money in exchange for their services?

Is it wrong for superheroes to ask for money in exchange for their services?

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_rescue#Ethical_justifications
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no but i would rather they don't

depends on the hero
one who explicitly works for glory, and will refuse service without pay, even if it results in someone getting hurt, is unlikely to be sympathetic
a hero who only accepts money so that he can quit his day job in order to hero full time, and who will leap into action even with no guarantee of pay, or accepts "symbolic"' payments is a lot more likely to be considered "right"

Yes if theyre cops doctors or real working men/women

I don't see why not.
Spider-Man does it.

I like the tiger and bunny idea, where superheroes have sponsors.

That way they still make money to live but the person in trouble doesn't have to fit the bill.
Plus because they have to answer to their sponsors, they are less likely to go around destroying buildings in a fight.

> where superheroes have sponsors.
Booster Gold

Sort of?
Police have to get payed for food, housing taxes, taking care of family, etc.

If it's someone like Doctor Manhattan who can live their whole life without eating or needing shelter or Batman whose a literal millionaire then no because why even bother at that point.

But if it's the likes of Peter Parker who live in the damn slums, the fact the government doesn't give him and more average Joe's hero's like him no compensation is bullshit. But then I guess this goes under the awkward line of not knowing what a lot of these hero's secret identities and thus having to commission all of them out of fairness.

>I like the tiger and bunny idea, where superheroes have sponsors.

The show literally goes on about how sponsors are a bad idea.

Don't the Avengers get a paycheck?

Isn't it more the dumb hero points thing that is a bad idea?

Depends. If it's considered murder or a crime to allow others to get hurt due to a hero's inaction (refusing to rescue someone if they're not paid) then maybe it's wrong.

Honestly, if I had super powers I would charge people. Depending on the power no one could force me to use them. I wouldn't be a dick though, I don't ask for much.

>"Save her from the burning building? Buy me a Slurpee."

I can almost guarantee it'd throw a lot of people for a loop.

Government tries to petition me or force me to join a super hero team? Nah. I'm content catching a bank robber in exchange for lunch.

Besides, I'm a bartender anyway. Using my powers at work every now and then would probably get me more tips.

It's not wrong if the people you're helping can easily part with what you're asking and if you have a child ask in your stead.

No, why would it be?

Is there some expectation that because what someone is doing is unquestionably making life better for law-abiding citizens, we should not pay them?

I have no idea to what you're referring. I wouldn't even know what to Google to find out myself.

According to one of the annuals, active Avengers make 1K a week.

Luke Cage made a damn career out of it, although it seemed to sometimes be an arbitrary "pay as much as you can" system, since he once took a kid's spare change as payment for fighting Unus the Untouchable.

Most turn that stipend down. Tygra was one of the few that didn't.

No, but at that point, they're mercenaries, not superheroes.

you fool

action is his reward

Only if they ask only when they are doing the rescuing. Heroes for Hire does it right.

I think it's generally common for Avengers to get a salary that's paid for out of a fund that comes from donations. That's probably the best way.

What the Super Hero needs is a patreon.

He'll save people whenever, but if someone wants to donate something to him then that's fine too

Patreon rewards include visiting for birthday parties, autographs and photos.

This is good too.

Is a police officer a mercenary because he gets paid?

Tiger & Bunny, superhero anime, 2 seasons, pretty damn good.

Blue Rose the best girl

He's not a volunteer and he doesn't have any extraordinary traits or powers beyond what the state gives him. Police are paid by the state to do a job. Superheroes are vigilantes who do good of their own free will.

>Patreon rewards include visiting for birthday parties, autographs and photos.

Now I'm picturing some of the pettier villains like Manta or Doom sitting in front of their computers, donating money to a hero to make them show up at a party as part of an evil plan.

It's not wrong but that money better be used to pay for the collateral damage done to the city

>He's not a volunteer and he doesn't have any extraordinary traits or powers beyond what the state gives him. Police are paid by the state to do a job.

The only difference between a volunteer and an employee is the agreement to be paid. And none of those things make a police officer a mercenary.

>Superheroes are vigilantes who do good of their own free will.
Why would money change that? A guy with super strength could just as easily choose a career in IT.

It's part of the package along with fame

Aren't they just called employees at that point?

Heroism isn't a job

I bet a lot of heroes would have Patreon these days

Then is it wrong for people to ask for compensation for property damaged in the hero's battles?

altruism is overrated.

wrong, even.

get out andrew ryan, rapture failed

lmao

their pay is the damages to the city

Are you saying police men can't be heroic?

Nice.

Unless they are working with the government they are vigilantes and are technically criminals themselves, if so they don't deserve money.

Ask the Ghostbusters. They did it just fine.

>lmao let's just waste my life helping strangers

I dont see anything wrong with accepting donations. But if theyre a prick and wont lift a finger without pay, then we can call bullshit. I would think most would go back towards city damages
It was borderline extortion, but its hard to stay mad at them

They can, but then it's just doing their job.

For a hero to be a real hero it has to have no incentive but the good feeling from doing the right thing

>But if theyre a prick and wont lift a finger without pay
what makes you think they shoudl in the first place?

Great power and all that nonsense?

>with great power comes great responsibility
why do you think any word of that is correct? What had it bought peter?

a good hero with pay
>accepting pay is a means to superhero for longer periods
>will do good first, consider payment later
>will not charge beyond the capabilities of the people in question ex: saving a little kid from some hooligans = 1$ or a slice of pizza, saving some asshole hotel manager from extradimensional beings = 5000$
>is willing to go without pay for the greater good
bad hero who accepts pay
>explicitly in it for fame and fortune
>overcharges
>withholds life-saving services because some one did not pay
>generally does not live up to "duty to help" due to not having enough financial reward

Why don't more superheroes just join the police, they get to do what they usually do only they get a good wage and pension.

most common answer:
too much red tape

Well its been said that evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Because then every time Batman or Spiderman or whoever cracked some nignog's skull open, there'd be BLM riots about police brutality and using excessive (super-powered) force and all manner of other bullshit.

I wouldn't want to deal with any of that shit if I was a cop OR a hero.

Still, seems like a handful of superhumans would be lured by the promise of dat pension and triple overtime.

that is a super-vague generalization.

Adn why do you think saving people without any reward in return is the definition of "good"? And what is the "evil" we are talking about here?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_rescue#Ethical_justifications

Some could, sure, but would the police force be willing to put up with them and the liabilities they'd bring?

Actually fact is no one does anything without some reward, the satisfaction just varies. The purest saint does what he does because in the end it gives him gratification. And I know the term evil gets thrown around, because it comes in all different shades, but when you start regulating different levels of evil you slowly start to accept it. People like Superman or Spider Man are owed an unpayable debt every day, and in a perfect world they would be showered with rewards, but in those cases they do it out of obligation and its their choice.

>Would the police for be willing to put up with indestructible, super fast, super strong officers that could stop a car chase by running right up to the car and picking it up
The pros seem to outweigh the cons quite a bit

>superhero is also a cop
i think you're talking about robocop
youtube.com/watch?v=U00p0LNZOpw

>nitpicked wikipedia article

the rest of the article is simply a list of countries which do or do not have a law

the moral justifications are very pertinent

>the moral justifications are very pertinent
One talks about the "common humanity" (WTF?) and the other about saving a drowning child.

Both are stupid.

First off, just because you are human does not bind you to other humans morally or physically.

Also,saving someone who's drowning is wayyyy harder than it looks. Unless it's in a five foot deep pool, don't even try because if you can't swim well and if you aren't strong enough,you're going to drown, too, or come out of the water without the kid ( and drown him in the process).

Tony Stark generally pays for that, from what I recall. Some of them don't seem to need it, though. Steve Rogers, for example, probably has a lot worked up in back pay (or retirement, depending on whether he's considered on active duty or not), plus his SHIELD status on and off.

Some superheroes are officially deputised, others aren't.

Superman, for example, is deputised by the Metropolis PD, has governmental security clearances + UN status, honourary citizenship in almost every country on the planet (or at least in the western world), and is just a general nice guy who could frankly crash the diamond market any time he felt like it.

I always had this amusing idea about de Beers and other diamond cartels sending Superman regular checks in the mail, just to try and make sure he doesn't ruin their business.

Their services should be free, but they could ask for donations, I think.

Nobody wants a competent hero to starve so he can't stop the Rhino.

I could see this working well for Spider-Man, if he wasn't all about suffering.

ITT : COMMUNISM

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"

What if they can't be a hero when they need to be a hero because they're too busy behind the counter at burger clown, for the purpose of paying their rent?

So, only the independantly wealthy can be heroes?

Heroes can only operate for two to three hours a day between their work hours and sleep?

Seems like Superman wouldn't accept those, given the whole blood diamond issue.

like a patreon for superheros?

Superhero genre is fascinated with vigilantism, with guys and gals who don't answer to anyone and motivated by nothing but vaguely defined "goodness".

If superheroes are paid, they now have bosses and bosses hold power of purse over them. This is the different kind of story.

And yet everyone is fine with their hero status but Peter who has to keep delivering those pizzas.

How can you fail at swiming? What shitty country must you be from.

Swimming solo and while holding another person's head above the water are two VERY different things.

Yes, if they get paid somebody is going to charge them for property damage. Its better for the hero to save the day and gtfo before the cops come.

What are you talking about, heroes getting paid is pure capitalism, exchanging money for a service.

>Asteroid headed towards earth
$1 billion
>Alien invasion
$10 billion

If you want to work with my competitors that's fine, but just so you know we've fixed all the prices, and we're the only "save the world" game in town.

JL and Avengers are monopolies in the same way Time Warner and Comcast are, they have no compete contracts with other teams, and alliance clauses.

Everyone is gettin paid.

I would like to see a metahuman using their powers to do regular work with their powers. Something like a super speed courier or a super strong construction worker.

>exchanging money for a service.
who the fuck is paying them?

Governments, most likely, the UN, etc.

How much money would a state put out to have the Avengers HQ there? This is like tax breaks for big corporations, except the product is safety from natural disasters and alien invasions and violent uprising, and super villains, etc.

>Governments, most likely, the UN, etc.
I need a source for this.

Also, not paying money =/= earning it

>not paying superheroes to save you

literally communism

Because if you became a policeman, a firefighter or a soldier, you are an employee of the state, which means you are also govt property.

Which means you local govt can legally sedate, abduct and experiment on you to replicate your powers, find your weakness, clone you, or dismember your abilities.

Another issue.

Let's say you got all the powers of Superman. Let's say you're also a good guy beforehand, so the obvious choice is to become a superhero and help the innocent in ways no one else can. So you take care of Islamic State., stop or kill off all the African warlords and their armies, and save an entire city of people from a flood, and get paid by the White House or the UN. Awesome, right?

That's how it starts. They keep making you do save-the-day stuff that makes you feel good and make people love you. Then, the politicians decide to make you their game-breaking hit man, fight their oil-driven wars single-handedly, push Native Americans or Amazonians out of their land for a valuable resource, slaughter an entire African village because the airborne bioweapon the CIA created is too potent, or, hell, kill the dictator of any country who isn't willing to lower their nuke count. If you don't like it; well, that's okay, buddy! We'll just kill your friends, family and your neighbors! See what your selfish attitude is getting you? Now, chin up and drop this captured North Korean nuke on Moscow so NK and Russia can kill each other in a nuclear holocaust!

Would you still want to become a superhero cop?

>if you work for the government you automatically lose all human rights

i dont think that's how that works

This is the fictional idea of super heroes being paid for their services. The JLA acting like a corporation.

If you want a real world equivalent. Who do you think pays Blackwater and other for profit "security companies"? Protip:. You do, your taxes pay for them.

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/30/AR2007093001352.html

Maybe if Spider-Man acted like a spider more often and accepted who he is, he wouldn't have this problem. He should be catching tons of insects to eat with his webs. He should be crawling around buildings for warmth instead of getting a house. But noooooooo, he decides to put the "Man" before the "Spider".

>This is the fictional idea of super heroes being paid for their services. The JLA acting like a corporation.
LMAO
Nobody pays the avengers or the JL or any other minor factions. heroes for Hire are the only ones that I can think of that accept payments. The entire idea is about Altruism.

>If you want a real world equivalent. Who do you think pays Blackwater and other for profit "security companies"? Protip:. You do, your taxes pay for them.

First, involuntary taxation is theft. Second, blackwater is not a fucking superhero agency, it's like SHIELD.

I feel like a patreon-ish system for heroes is a good idea on paper, but it would open the door for people who want to get into Heroism as a business or road to fame and forcus on that more than actually trying to make the world a better or safer place. And yeah, no fucking sponsors; sooner or later, they'd make demands of the heroes or treat the enterprise as a business.

Look at how fucked up the medical/pharmaceutical world in reality is because of treating healing people as just another business. I don't want someone capable of punching out meteor crab monsters invading earth get wrapped up in the bureaucratic anti-altruism that shit represents. Sure we have police/military/firefighter/municipal services and by God, give them money, but at some point, there's a divergent between doing that, and being a cape-hero.

Only if it's wrong for policemen and firemen to ask for money in exchange for their services.