Lorendiac
04-04-2006, 05:46 PM
I'm looking for cases where a DC superhero let a known criminal, probably with outstanding warrants on him, walk away free so that he could commit his crimes again in the future if he happened to feel like it.
I want stories that were "in continuity" when they came out -- even if they later got retconned. For instance, if someone can think of a good example from the Earth-1, Pre-Crisis Superman's continuity, then let me hear about it! :) On the other hand, I'm not really interested in anything that was presented from the start as being part of an Elseworlds or "Imaginary Story."
I'm not interested in cases where a hero failed to catch the villain -- but had made a sincere effort. I want cases where he did catch the villain (or obviously could have) but then basically shrugged and let the guy run off. Maybe because he felt sorry for him, maybe as part of a "deal," maybe for no reason that actually makes sense when you think about it for more than two seconds. I'll take whatever I can get! :)
Two Examples
1. Adventures of Superman #590. At President Lex Luthor's request, Superman flies to Bialya to rescue an American journalist, Andrew Finch, whom the dictator of Bialya has tossed into a cell on charges of being an assassin sent to kill the dictator himself (Colonel Ehad Rajak). At one point, Supes, Finch, and Rajak are all in the same room, and Finch suddenly grabs a gun and tries to blow Rajak away. With his super-reflexes, Superman easily catches the bullets in midair and finally, belatedly, realizes that sometimes U.S. citizens who end up charged with crimes in a Third World dictatorship really are guilty of the crimes in question! It wasn't just slanderous propaganda on Bialya's part!
Superman carries Finch back home to the USA and leaves him on the front lawn of the White House, thereby helping an attempted murderer make a clean getaway from the nation in which he had just attempted to commit murder in front of witnesses. (Strongly implied is that this guy was a secret agent on special orders from President Luthor.)
I personally would have expected Superman to shake his head sadly after the shooting and say to Finch, "You idiot! I was giving you the full benefit of the doubt -- but after you just tried to commit murder right in front of me, I think it's time for me to shut up and let Bialya handle its own law enforcement. Any fool can see you're guilty of attempted murder! I think their local justice system can handle such an open-and-shut case just fine!"
2. I'm not absolutely clear on the timing here, but I have the impression that sometime between Catwoman #96 (the final issue of the previous series) and Catwoman #1 (the first issue of the current series), Selina Kyle apparently cut some sort of deal with Batman in which she assured him she had turned over a new leaf and wasn't going to support herself as a jewel thief anymore. So he decided to tolerate her declaring one portion of Gotham City as her own turf where she would be the primary costumed crimefighter. (I think. Bear with me - it's been a long time since I read the first six or eight issues of her current title.)
To the best of my knowledge, she did not offer to return previously stolen property to the owners (or to the insurance companies that had already reimbursed the owners, or whatever). Nor have I heard that the zillions of outstanding criminal charges against her, in various jurisdictions, have been dropped. (If I'm wrong, and most or all of the old charges against her were officially dropped for some odd reason, someone please tell me! :))
So Batman basically knows she has committed zillions of burglaries and other crimes in the past, and those charges have never been "resolved" (such as her standing trial and being declared guilty and serving out a prison sentence?), but on his own initiative he decided to just snap his fingers and tell her he wouldn't even try to arrest her anymore.
To do Batman justice, I should mention that if I've got the timing right, then at the time he first agreed to let Selina run loose as a "crimefighter" or whatever she called herself, they weren't actually dating. So that wasn't his reason for going easy on her.
NOTE: A few weeks ago I asked this same question about past occasions in Marvel continuity. Now I'm asking about DCU continuity. (And after this, I may actually write my intended Superhero Panel Discussion about when it is a good idea to do this.)
I want stories that were "in continuity" when they came out -- even if they later got retconned. For instance, if someone can think of a good example from the Earth-1, Pre-Crisis Superman's continuity, then let me hear about it! :) On the other hand, I'm not really interested in anything that was presented from the start as being part of an Elseworlds or "Imaginary Story."
I'm not interested in cases where a hero failed to catch the villain -- but had made a sincere effort. I want cases where he did catch the villain (or obviously could have) but then basically shrugged and let the guy run off. Maybe because he felt sorry for him, maybe as part of a "deal," maybe for no reason that actually makes sense when you think about it for more than two seconds. I'll take whatever I can get! :)
Two Examples
1. Adventures of Superman #590. At President Lex Luthor's request, Superman flies to Bialya to rescue an American journalist, Andrew Finch, whom the dictator of Bialya has tossed into a cell on charges of being an assassin sent to kill the dictator himself (Colonel Ehad Rajak). At one point, Supes, Finch, and Rajak are all in the same room, and Finch suddenly grabs a gun and tries to blow Rajak away. With his super-reflexes, Superman easily catches the bullets in midair and finally, belatedly, realizes that sometimes U.S. citizens who end up charged with crimes in a Third World dictatorship really are guilty of the crimes in question! It wasn't just slanderous propaganda on Bialya's part!
Superman carries Finch back home to the USA and leaves him on the front lawn of the White House, thereby helping an attempted murderer make a clean getaway from the nation in which he had just attempted to commit murder in front of witnesses. (Strongly implied is that this guy was a secret agent on special orders from President Luthor.)
I personally would have expected Superman to shake his head sadly after the shooting and say to Finch, "You idiot! I was giving you the full benefit of the doubt -- but after you just tried to commit murder right in front of me, I think it's time for me to shut up and let Bialya handle its own law enforcement. Any fool can see you're guilty of attempted murder! I think their local justice system can handle such an open-and-shut case just fine!"
2. I'm not absolutely clear on the timing here, but I have the impression that sometime between Catwoman #96 (the final issue of the previous series) and Catwoman #1 (the first issue of the current series), Selina Kyle apparently cut some sort of deal with Batman in which she assured him she had turned over a new leaf and wasn't going to support herself as a jewel thief anymore. So he decided to tolerate her declaring one portion of Gotham City as her own turf where she would be the primary costumed crimefighter. (I think. Bear with me - it's been a long time since I read the first six or eight issues of her current title.)
To the best of my knowledge, she did not offer to return previously stolen property to the owners (or to the insurance companies that had already reimbursed the owners, or whatever). Nor have I heard that the zillions of outstanding criminal charges against her, in various jurisdictions, have been dropped. (If I'm wrong, and most or all of the old charges against her were officially dropped for some odd reason, someone please tell me! :))
So Batman basically knows she has committed zillions of burglaries and other crimes in the past, and those charges have never been "resolved" (such as her standing trial and being declared guilty and serving out a prison sentence?), but on his own initiative he decided to just snap his fingers and tell her he wouldn't even try to arrest her anymore.
To do Batman justice, I should mention that if I've got the timing right, then at the time he first agreed to let Selina run loose as a "crimefighter" or whatever she called herself, they weren't actually dating. So that wasn't his reason for going easy on her.
NOTE: A few weeks ago I asked this same question about past occasions in Marvel continuity. Now I'm asking about DCU continuity. (And after this, I may actually write my intended Superhero Panel Discussion about when it is a good idea to do this.)