Crime Fighting Superheroes

[....]

I was thinking about Superheroes today, about how theres this trend in comics (not all that new, Watchmen did it years ago) about how costumed superheroes are vigilanties, yatta yatta yatta.

But I started thinking. How many costumed superheroes do cops jobs for them?

Of the 'big names' in comics, the only ones I can think of are Spiderman, The Punisher, Daredevil, and Batman (with sidekicks).

Most of the others are fighting alien planet-devourers, godlike beings from other dimensions, evil groups of mutants/cutists/terrorists/ect...

So what comicbook superheroes spend the majority of their time fighting regular crime? I suppose we can let really low-grade supervillains like Shocker and Mysterio count as regular criminals, but you'll notice both are Spiderman villains, who was the first regular crime-fighting superhero I thought of.

[Xyk]

Green Lantern fights normal crime most of the time.

[Beleriphon]

Green Lantern fights normal crime most of the time.

Boost Gold, Plastic Man, The Flash, The Question and the Blue Beetle all come to mind as fighting regular crime.

[FoE]

Add the Green Arrow and Luke Cage to that list.

[Beleriphon]

Add the Green Arrow and Luke Cage to that list.

Heroes for Hire, right. Iron Fist then as well.

[Finn Solomon]

Green Lantern fights normal crime most of the time.

Which is rather silly considering his powers and his job. Green Lantern can go off and defend the world against slavering aliens from the Dungeon Dimensions all he wants, leave the crime fighting to regular Joes.

[T.Titan]

Which is rather silly considering his powers and his job. Green Lantern can go off and defend the world against slavering aliens from the Dungeon Dimensions all he wants, leave the crime fighting to regular Joes.

Hell yeah, otherwise my taxes get wasted paying their salaries... the very least they could do is risk their lives for that minimum wage.

[....]

Green Lantern fights normal crime most of the time.

Isn't he supposed to defend an entire quadrant of the galaxy?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Maybe Earth's just the planet in his quadrant with the highest crime rate.

EDIT: Or anything interesting at all. Earth's the center of the Multiverse after all.

[Tirian]

Isn't he supposed to defend an entire quadrant of the galaxy?

Um, yeah, except that it usually comes around to the fact that someone has to teach the Guardians that the greatest threats to the universe are poverty and racism.

Which I don't mind, all things considered. You give a guy without fear a tool that runs on willpower, and the comic is going to be boring unless he is taking on challenges that cannot be won by superior willpower. There's a fine line between having real-world relevance and being an After-School Special, but that's more daring than squashing Ultrabeasts from Planet X.

[Beleriphon]

Which is rather silly considering his powers and his job. Green Lantern can go off and defend the world against slavering aliens from the Dungeon Dimensions all he wants, leave the crime fighting to regular Joes.

I think its a function of which Green Lantern. Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern and powered by the Star Heart, fights regular crime or at least he did. In fact he was the original protector of Gotham City. If you mean the Guardians of Oa Green Lantern Corps then yeah, they really do have better things to do than fight regular crime.

[Ash Williams]

How can you guys forget Casey Jones?

[Logic]

I was thinking about Superheroes today, about how theres this trend in comics (not all that new, Watchmen did it years ago) about how costumed superheroes are vigilanties, yatta yatta yatta.

But I started thinking. How many costumed superheroes do cops jobs for them?

Of the 'big names' in comics, the only ones I can think of are Spiderman, The Punisher, Daredevil, and Batman (with sidekicks).
I disagree with the Punisher doing the job of cops. He may do the job of judge, jury & executioner, but not really a cop.

How can you guys forget Casey Jones?

I thought that Casey Jones was a character invented for the cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was he actually in the comics as well?

[Xyk]

Yeah i was pretty sure he was ninja turtles only. Ninja turtles also usually work in that category by the way. they only sometimes fight intergalactic enemies.

[Logic]

Yeah i was pretty sure he was ninja turtles only. Ninja turtles also usually work in that category by the way. they only sometimes fight intergalactic enemies.

To the best of my knowledge, the character has never appeared in anything other that TMNT television shows, or the movies based off of said shows. The TMNT had a comic book for quite some time before becoming the TV show most of us remember from back in the 80s.

EDIT: Wiki fixed me good! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones_%28TMNT%29)

[horseboy]

I disagree with the punisher doing the job of cops. He may do the job of judge, jury & executioner, but not really a cop.

Hunting down mafia Dons requires a lot of detective work. :smallamused:

[Logic]

Hunting down mafia Dons requires a lot of detective work. :smallamused:
I don't regret that you logically proved me wrong, I regret that you successfully quoted me where I failed to capitalize "the Punisher."

[Hawriel]

The Tick :smallbiggrin:

[Scorpina]

Birds of Prey, and associated bods. Sometimes.

[Dalenthas]

Moon Knight.
Captain America et. al. depending if you count Hydra as crime or terrorism.
Superman fights quite a bit of street-level crime.

[....]

Moon Knight.
Captain America et. al. depending if you count Hydra as crime or terrorism.
Superman fights quite a bit of street-level crime.

I'd say HYDRA is not 'regular crime'.

I'm not talking terrorists. I'm talking purse-snatchers, bank robbers, kitten kickers, that sort of thing.

[Bluelantern]

Which is rather silly considering his powers and his job. Green Lantern can go off and defend the world against slavering aliens from the Dungeon Dimensions all he wants, leave the crime fighting to regular Joes.

I always thought silly to place ONE person to guard not just a planet but a entire sector of the universe.

[Scorpina]

...sometimes there are two Lanterns for that sector.

Besides, I'm sure the Guardians have noticed how many defenders Earth has.

[Dalenthas]

I'd say HYDRA is not 'regular crime'.

I'm not talking terrorists. I'm talking purse-snatchers, bank robbers, kitten kickers, that sort of thing.

Well, as reacently as Vol 5 #12, Cap stops a mugging while on the move. He didn't stop, just chucked his shield and kept going. It was kinda funny actually.

[....]

Well, as reacently as Vol 5 #12, Cap stops a mugging while on the move. He didn't stop, just chucked his shield and kept going. It was kinda funny actually.

That is pretty gnarly, and definatly counts.

Imagine the mugger.

"Gimme the cash!...Whats that star thi-" *BOOONG*

[Beleriphon]

That is pretty gnarly, and definatly counts.

Imagine the mugger.

"Gimme the cash!...Whats that star thi-" *BOOONG*

I think it would be more like this.

Cap chases Red Skull down the street, without missing a beat he hurls his shield at a mugger ahead of him. Catching the shield as he passes the nice old lady he does a quick salute and simply utters, "Ma'am".

Cap kicks ass.

[Scorpina]

...gah, I always knew there was a reason I didn't like Captain America. Lame.

[Dalenthas]

Actually, the mugger never saw the shield coming (it hit him in the back of the head) and the 'victim' was like "What just happend?" It was quite funny. Cap was out on a run to work off some steam, but you know him, if he sees someone in trouble he just has to help...

[....]

I think it would be more like this.

Cap chases Red Skull down the street, without missing a beat he hurls his shield at a mugger ahead of him. Catching the shield as he passes the nice old lady he does a quick salute and simply utters, "Ma'am".

Cap kicks ass.

You forgot the part where he catches the purse as the perp goes down and tosses it to her.

And yes, he does kick ass.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think they all do, but the giht-level ones aren't shown doing it much. It's not a challenge, therefore not interesting.

I've seen Superman, Green Lantern, the JSA...

[goat]

Moon Knight should probably be a bit more towards the Punisher end of the scale than the Spider-man.

Bishop pretty much IS a cop, or he's working with the police half the time anyway.

X-factor do a lot of "minor" power level things.

Errrrm... Cable tried to create a low-crime rate utopia, does that count?

[GnollLord]

Wolverine frequently goes after various criminals, some of them not super powered as do many of the other X men.

You could also count Toxin