> One of the most popular entries in the Marvel universe was about a moral argument between Captain America and Iron Man regarding the appropriate use of power, and the limits of personal autonomy versus international law.
An extremely shallow moral argument on those subjects. They weren't really explored much, beyond Captain America saying "I think X" and Iron Man saying "No, I think Y."
(And then of course the argument was resolved not by having these two characters actually argue their points, but by having them punch each other a lot.)
> To this day you can find people who agree with either side.
My sense of this is that you don't so much find people who agree with a particular side as you find people who identify with a character aligned with a particular side. The agreement isn't grounded in a philosophical position, it's grounded in whether you're a fan of Captain America or Iron Man.
Which is exactly the kind of downside to superhero storytelling that Moore is on about. When the only solution available for any problem in a story is to find the right übermensch to throw at it, people are naturally going to start sorting themselves according to which übermensch they think is the idealübermensch.
An extremely shallow moral argument on those subjects. They weren't really explored much, beyond Captain America saying "I think X" and Iron Man saying "No, I think Y."
(And then of course the argument was resolved not by having these two characters actually argue their points, but by having them punch each other a lot.)
> To this day you can find people who agree with either side.
My sense of this is that you don't so much find people who agree with a particular side as you find people who identify with a character aligned with a particular side. The agreement isn't grounded in a philosophical position, it's grounded in whether you're a fan of Captain America or Iron Man.
Which is exactly the kind of downside to superhero storytelling that Moore is on about. When the only solution available for any problem in a story is to find the right übermensch to throw at it, people are naturally going to start sorting themselves according to which übermensch they think is the ideal übermensch.