Heroes do the same things. They make the world safer, reduce crime, and use their powers to protect those who can’t protect themselves. In order to make these things happen they sometimes find that a teammate is necessary.
Many heroes have sidekicks. Others join teams of supers to accomplish a larger task. Even the most super of characters is paired with others at times. Some heroes prefer working alone but realize the value of a team now and then. Just because Batman, Green Lantern, Jessica Jones, or Wolverine can be successful on their own, doesn’t mean that they should remain that way. Comparative advantage explains why no person, country, or hero is better off doing everything for themselves. It is more beneficial to find what you can do at a relatively lower cost than anyone else and concentrate your efforts on that.14
Once you figure this out, specializing in what you do well means work is done more efficiently. Tasks are broken down into smaller bits and someone, or some group, focuses their attention on completing that single task. As a result, they get really good at that task and then take advantage of the gains by trading that specially-developed talent to the team. It’s the teamwork that gets the job done because each hero is a cog in the bigger machine. Recall that Batman made a pledge on the grave of his parents to “rid this city of the evil that took their lives” (Loeb and Lee, 2002). Teaming up with Robin helps him fulfill that promise. But as the old saying goes, you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. In the next chapter we are going to see how heroes sometimes have to deal with dissention in the ranks.
Endnotes
1. Gene Kelly and Roy Rogers were the pinnacle of singing cowboy stardom from the mid-1930s through to the mid-1950s.
2. This is a bit of an exaggeration. Sonny ran for mayor of Palm Springs in 1988, thirteen years and two marriages after his divorce from Cher. He won a seat to the U.S. Congress in 1995.
3. This, too, is the case with many musical groups. According to most accounts, Simon and Garfunkel couldn’t stand each other, neither could the members of Guns and Roses, Pink Floyd, Brian Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, or Don and Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers—and yes, they really were brothers. The brothers broke up when Phil stopped playing and walked off stage in the middle of a concert!
4. It was presumed that Batman was killed in a battle with Darkseid in Final Crisis #6 (Morrison and Jones, 2009).
5. There was one other female Robin. Carrie Kelley appeared as Robin in the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns (Miller, 2016) but is not considered part of the actual DC continuity. Her only appearance as Robin was in this graphic novel by Frank Miller, although she did appear as Catgirl in Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again (Miller, 2001–2002).
6. The source material for all things Robin comes from Beedle, 2015.
7. If you recall from Chapter 2, Adam Smith is the spiritual godfather of economics. Sadly, he left this world in 1790.
8. Such a thing does not even exist but Batman probably has it!
9. In the Justice League of America #9 backstory issue, the team is cleaning the secret cave hideout and Aquaman notes that they all take their cues from Wonder Woman. She distributes the resources and everyone has a task. While it is certainly efficient to divide up the tasks, it is also extraordinarily sexist to presume Wonder Woman knows the best way to clean, especially as she is regularly left at home during missions.
10. This is determined by taking what you give up and dividing it by what you get. Batman has to give up five hacks if he focuses on the break-ins but he can investigate ten of those. Thus, if you take five hacks divided by ten break-ins you get a ratio of one hack to two break-ins, or one half of a hack to one break-in.
11. Possibly the most disturbing sidekick scenario involves Roy Harper, aka Speedy, the ally of Green Arrow. At one point, Roy gets hooked on heroine. Green Arrow walks in on him as he is shooting up, smacks him around, and kicks him to the curb. Roy’s rationale for the drugs is that he needs them to keep up with Arrow. Of course, Arrow immediately questions his own actions but then absolves himself by thinking that Roy is old enough to know better (O’Neil, Adams, and Giordano, 1971).
12. The Enchantress is June Moone, a freelance artist and psychology teacher who was given magical powers after falling into a secret chamber in a haunted castle. After Supergirl kept her from gaining omnipotent powers, she turned to a life of villainy.
13. The entire preposterous list of Robin’s holy this or that can be found at https://www.66batmania.com/trivia/robins-holy/.
14. That being said, while groups almost always get things done more quickly and efficiently, it is possible that if the players don’t see it this way then their ability to stop the ne’er-do-wells will be curtailed. Some heroes just can’t work well with others and it makes them somewhat less successful. For instance, the Punisher is too willing to kill people and the Hulk is too often out of control. He might defeat the bad guy and then turn on you.
References
Barr, M. and Bingham, J. (1987). Batman: Son of the Demon. DC Comics.
Bat-Mania. (n.d.) Robin’s “Holy”. [Online] Available at https://www.66batmania.com/trivia/robins-holy/ [Accessed August 14, 2018].
Beedle, T. (2015). Robin 101: One Name, Many Heroes. [Online] DC Comics. Available at: http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2015/06/24/robin-101-one-name-many-heroes [Accessed April 4, 2018].
Finger, B. and Kane, B. (1940). Detective Comics, #38. DC Comics.
Fox, G. and Sekowsky, M. (1962). Justice League of America, #9. DC Comics.
Johns, J. and Lee, J. (2011). Justice League, #1–6. DC Comics.
Lee, S. and Heck, D. (1964). The Avengers, #9. Marvel Comics.
Lee, S. and Kirby, J. (1963). The Avengers, #1. Marvel Comics.
Lee, S. and Kirby, J. (1964). The Avengers, #4. Marvel Comics.
Loeb, J. and Lee, J. (2002). Batman, #608. DC Comics.
Miller, F. (2001–2002). Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. DC Comics.
Miller, F. (2016). Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, 30th Anniversary Edition. Burbank, CA: DC Comics.
Morrison, G. and Jones, J. (2009). Final Crisis, #6. DC Comics.
O’Neil, D., Adams, N., and Giordano, D. (1971). Green Lantern, #86. DC Comics.
Ricardo, D. (1996). Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. New York: Prometheus Books (Originally published in 1817).
Smith, A. (1994). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. New York: Random House (Originally published in 1776).
Willingham, B. and Scott, D. (2004a). Robin, #126. DC Comics.
Willingham, B. and Scott, D. (2004b). Robin, #128. DC Comics.
4
But Your Enemies Closer…Why Do Superheroes Fight Each Other?
Heroes are typically thought of as the good guys. Superman is out to protect “truth, justice and the American way.” Surely he wouldn’t do anything to hurt the people around him? Spider-Man is friendly and he’s from the neighborhood. His webs evaporate after a few hours so he isn’t leaving a mess behind as he swings from building to building. Even the X-Men are sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them (Claremont and Cockrum, 1975). Nevertheless, what makes a hero isn’t easy to identify. It’s similar to the United States Supreme Court’s definition of pornography…you know it when you see it.1 Heroes have evolved over time as consumer tastes have changed, but even the anti-heroes, Deadpool, Wolverine, Elecktra, Rorschach, and The Punisher, among others, are battling for good, even if their methods might be less than savory.
The expectations we have for heroes makes this chapter a bit more difficult to compose. The good guys fighting the bad guys is an easy trope. It’s what all the hero stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter portray. At some point along the line, authors decided that audiences preferred the versions where the good guys win, and the more improbable the win, the better. Underdog stories fill us with hope. Redemption stories similarly lift our spirits. T
he little guy outsmarts the big corporation. The small-town team pulls off the inconceivable victory. The hero wins while the villain fails. All is right with the world.
These are the stories we expect but that theme can wear out its welcome. Even the villains get tired of the repetition. In Injustice: Gods Among Us (Taylor et al., 2016), the story is launched by the Joker leaving his normal haunt of Gotham for Metropolis because “every time you [Batman] and I play, I lose. I was getting a bit bored of always losing” (p. 34). Other characters have switched sides entirely. Lex Luthor and Catwoman are two of the more iconic criminals to turn over a new leaf, but there are others. Rogue and Magneto in the X-Men universe were once evildoers. Hawkeye, Sandman, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch are off-again on-again members of the Avengers, despite battling them in the past. Plastic Man was a petty criminal prior to gaining his powers.2
So, heroes battling villains gets old at some point. What about heroes fighting heroes? Curiously, superheroes, despite their attitudes of being above the fray and notwithstanding their attempts to maintain peace, don’t always play well with others. Maybe it is the power going to their head, or an alpha dog mentality, or just general frustration with the poor efforts on the part of criminals, but sometimes heroes need to release their frustrations and other heroes can just end up getting in the way. For readers, such stories are incredibly intriguing. They help address questions of supremacy in the hero world and engage fantasies about who might be more powerful than whom. That all aside, there is actually an economic explanation for this behavior as well. It is found in a set of tools known as game theory. Game theory is an extremely powerful assortment of kit that can explain a range of behaviors and outcomes beyond the scope of normal economic models. Game theory can help us answer one of the most perplexing questions in all the comics: Why do heroes fight each other?
Heroes Fighting Heroes
One of the more significant instances of heroes fighting appears in the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns.3 Batman and Superman battle over a philosophical difference regarding how to prosecute the war on crime. The President of the United States calls on Superman to take out Batman and, ever the company man, Supes complies, or at least tries to. This epic storyline of its most fabled characters battling each other isn’t unique to DC Comics. It also appears in the Marvel universe, in Civil War in particular, where heroes of all stripes sign up to fight other heroes on teams led by Iron Man and Captain America. For those who haven’t grown up reading comics, this is downright weird. Weren’t they the Super Friends on Saturday morning cartoons? Spider-Man’s witticisms were on display as he and his Amazing Friends were embroiled with all manner of villainous chicanery.4 What has changed that prevents heroes from getting along these days? Is it just a symptom of the vitriolic mood in America and the divisions that run deep? The answer to that is no. It’s actually been that way for a long time, it’s just that those stories are now making their way to the big screen.
It is amazing that that these characters who are so devoted to protecting the public good can so often go off the rails. Weldon (2016) provides a nice synopsis of the reasons why heroes often come to blows. His nine “conflict catalysts” provide some contextual rationale for why heroes forego their own advice of talking it out and resort to letting their fists speak for them. It is worth mentioning a few of the things on the list to set the stage for the economic angle to this chapter.
One reason to fight is called “the elaborate ruse”. In the silver age of comics (1950s and 60s), putting characters into bizarre scenarios out of which they had to escape was commonplace. The story ended with a predictably zany explanation of why there was conflict between the paragons of virtue. These stories put the “ugh” in skullduggery.5 Heroes might fight but it was all to trick some villain into thinking he had a chance to defeat the Super Friends who would never turn on each other.
Another explanation for why heroes fight is the doppelganger. This is perhaps the easiest explanatory tool available to writers, in part because there are so many duplicates, clones, and robots, as well as other universes, floating around in the world of comics. Nearly every major character has at some point been impersonated by a calumniator who is trying to besmirch the name of the good guy. For example, in 2017 Marvel put Captain America in the incredibly awkward position of being a Hydra agent (Spencer and McNiven, 2017).6 After decades of anti-Nazi activity, Cap was shown as a member of the cabal he most hated. Immediately readers began posing theories of why. Turns out, it wasn’t Captain America at all—just a duplicate.
Of course, sometimes the reason heroes fight each other is because they aren’t in their right minds. Maybe even easier than the duplicitous duplicate is the hero who is under the power of mind control. With aliens, villains, and mystics possessing the ability to telepathically control others, it isn’t a surprise that they often put heroes under a spell to get them to do their bidding. An example of this occurred when Jessica Jones was basically bewitched by the heinous villain Killgrave. He sent her on a mission to kill Daredevil, which almost cost Jessica her life (Bendis and Gaydos, 2003).
Then there is the old green-eyed monster, jealousy. Heroes are not immune to resentfulness and it can lead to famously tension-filled conflict. Mr Fantastic, aka Reed Richards, is married to Sue, but Namor the Sub-Mariner has the hots for her. If Mr Fantastic and Namor are in the same room it is almost certain that there will be a fight in the next panel.
These are just some of the ways in which heroes end up at each other’s throats. While you might be familiar with the Batman versus Superman story, or the movie Avengers: Civil War, the stimuli for hero on hero violence has led to a number of other altercations throughout the years. Wolverine and Cyclops have never liked each other, based on a mutual attraction to Jean Grey, and have fought innumerable times. Similarly, Wolverine hates Deadpool. The problem with their fights is that both have incredible healing powers. A winner can be declared but no lasting damage will occur. These guys just like to fight. Superman and Wonder Woman have had their titanic clashes as well. The typical reason is mind control (see Englehart and Dillin, 1977; Rucka et al., 2005; and Tomasi, Mahnke, and Benes, 2015), although in Injustice there is some trickery involved (Buccellato and Miller, 2015). The Hulk and the Thing have battled multiple times for supremacy as the strongest of the strong. Their first bout was in 1964 (Lee and Kirby, 1964).
All of this adds to the point that heroes fighting each other isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s been going on for a long, long time. Here, however, let’s put away the more mundane reasons heroes don’t get along and examine a more encompassing and palpable set of disagreements. Sometimes heroes fight because they don’t see any other way around a conflict. Just because heroes are always fighting for good, doesn’t mean that they will agree on what good means or looks like. Heroes often have to deal with issues of extreme significance. Defending the world or making it safe for everyone often involves making choices on a grand scale, a scale that would have more universal ramifications than deciding what color socks to wear. The battle in Marvel’s Civil War is a fight over how much government oversight to accept. Similarly, Batman and Superman fight over whether Batman should have free reign to conduct his war on crime. In Injustice, tensions escalate in the DC Universe over whether Superman should be allowed to become the ruler of Earth, and super-powered people are forced to take sides. These are momentous issues of social and political import. It is understandable why the heroes do not come to an easy agreement. There are enough people involved in debating the issues at hand that the elaborate ruse, doppelgangers, mind control, and jealousy do not explain the strife. Hero discord is a result of a more fundamental contention. It is the stuff of geopolitics. In these cases, there are vastly different worldviews on how heroes should do their jobs and what the job description looks like. If we want to understand why they fight, we need a different set of tools. It is now time to introduce ourselves to game theory.
Game Theory: The Basics
That being said, some game theory is quite manageable for those who do not possess the superpower of computing integrals in their heads. It does require some concentration to work through games but the results can be rewarding, and helpful in understanding certain outcomes. While game theory is math, it has been co-opted by economists to analyze behavior in certain kinds of settings. To understand this better, think about the different types of games in the world. There are certainly games that rely upon chance, such as playing the slots. A slot machine, if calibrated correctly, will take your money a vast majority of the time. Occasionally you will win, but those occasions are purely random. Slots are a mindless game.7 Put money in, pull the handle (or press the button), watch the wheels spin, see the one-armed bandit take your money. Over at the poker table, however, there are people playing hands of cards who are considering all kinds of facets of probability and manipulation. Yes, there is an element of chance in poker—the dealer needs to get you the best cards and that is supposed to be a random occurrence—however, there are strategies that players adopt to affect the way their competitors behave. For example, how much do you bet if you are dealt a full house? You want to draw out the betting to extract as much as possible from your competitors because you believe no one will have a higher hand than you. If you go all-in right away, everyone at the table folds and your take will be small. To be a good poker player it helps to be lucky, but you need to know the odds and you need to have a strategy when you bet. Game theory is like poker in that regard. It involves using mathematics to explain strategic actions taken by economic agents.
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