Why doesn't the Spectre just kill all villains?

[ryerye17]

I always knew the Spectre was like powerful. But it only hit me watching the latest episode of B:TB&TB. He turned a guy to cheese. That's like....awesome!

So why doesn't he just combat all threats, make every bad thing go away? He has a justification for murder (gods right hand) Remember he went after Dr. Light and Black Hand. So question is, what prevents the Spectre from doing EXACTLY the same to Luther and Joker? (ie, Spectre would go to Joker and literally drive him insane, killing him, or going to Luther and bury him a pile of money?)

I am reimagining all the JLA stories with the Spectre in them.

I WANT MORE SPECTRE AWESOMENESS!!!!

[Free-Man]

Because DC won't allow it. It's that simple.

There are a few characters that Spectre cannot kill (Libra, Xombi, and Nekron for instance), but within the story, the Spectre would've likely offed someone like Poison Ivy or the Joker a LONG time ago.

[Darrell D.]

You should hunt down the Ostrander/Mandrake Spectre run from the 90s. That has a really interesting take on that very question.

[Apathy Lad]

Hal!Spectre tried to kill The Joker back in his Joker's Last Laugh tie-in, he couldn't do it because The Joker was so crazy he could not be held responsible for his actions.

[jsf]

Hal!Spectre tried to kill The Joker back in his Joker's Last Laugh tie-in, he couldn't do it because The Joker was so crazy he could not be held responsible for his actions.

Which was something Ostrander/Mandrake touched on in a much better way.

Honestly, anyone who's interested in the Spectre at all has to read their series. It's definitive.

[Shellhead]

The Spectre works for God. So the real question worth asking is: Why doesn't God immediately punish all villains?

Then take a step back and ask yourself another question: If the Spectre (or God) immediately punished all the villains, what would DC heroes do next issue? And the one after that?

[Thok]

So why doesn't he just combat all threats, make every bad thing go away?

Because he likes seeing Zatanna say POTS?

[Michael P]

Metatextual reasons aside, it's not like getting rid of all the criminals would remove the potentiality of other people becoming criminals. The only way to do that would be to get rid of everybody.

[Shellhead]

This thread reminds me of the song, "The Day Ted Nugent Killed All the Animals."

Here's just the chorus:

"He killed them all, big and small
So he could put their heads up on his wall.
It was the day Ted Nugent killed all the animals."

[Captain Smith]

Whom he kills is part of God's plan - which is definitional mysterious.

Obviously, the Almighty could take all of DCU's villians and zap them and cure cancer and stop floods. Thus, we get into the great debate of why good things happen to bad people and vice versa. Or what is free will?

Spectre is best in the Ostrander series when he meanders around doing in evil doers as compared to being a superhero - who then has to be reined in using PIS.

[IvCNuB4]

The Spectre works for God. So the real question worth asking is: Why doesn't God immediately punish all villains?

Then take a step back and ask yourself another question: If the Spectre (or God) immediately punished all the villains, what would DC heroes do next issue? And the one after that?

Wasn't that one of the plot-points of Kingdom Come ? IIRC, there was a lack of crime. The new generation of heroes soon became bored, and reckless, and started fighting eachother.

[doctormistermaster]

I have always assumed that the Spectre is just a conduit of gods vengeance and therefore is not representative of our views of morality.

[Alex L]

The universe is a really big place, not to mention the threats that come here from the multiverse and the space in between and various magical dimensions -- I kinda figured Spectre goes where he's needed when he's needed and Joker just ain't all that important in the grand cosmic scheme of things.

[Buried Alien]

Related question: how much free will does the Spectre have? In the past, the Spectre has done some things that have hacked off the Presence, but to do that, the Spectre would need to have some measure of free will.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Mat001]

I think it depends on how closely his boss pays attention.

[Apathy Lad]

It could also be related to the host himself, recall how Hal Jordan twisted the goal of The Spectre into the Spirit of Redemption.

Goddamn that series was good.

[AdamYJ]

Because the Wrath of God works in mysterious ways. :biggrin:

[Slam_Bradley]

Because then there'd be no more funny books.

[vitruvian]

The universe is a really big place, not to mention the threats that come here from the multiverse and the space in between and various magical dimensions -- I kinda figured Spectre goes where he's needed when he's needed and Joker just ain't all that important in the grand cosmic scheme of things.

It's not significance of the crime, because historically the Spectre has spent a considerable portion of his career offing really petty thugs and murderers in offbeat ways, rather than dealing with any supervillains or alien conquerors at all.

[Buried Alien]

It's not significance of the crime, because historically the Spectre has spent a considerable portion of his career offing really petty thugs and murderers in offbeat ways, rather than dealing with any supervillains or alien conquerors at all.

I'm probably hallucinating it, but didn't the Spectre once turn a child into a piece of meat for refusing to eat her vegetables?

For some reason, I have a vague recollection of the Spectre doing something horribly cruel to a child simply for being...bratty.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lunar Archivist]

Metatextual reasons aside, it's not like getting rid of all the criminals would remove the potentiality of other people becoming criminals. The only way to do that would be to get rid of everybody.

Didn't he do exactly that when he destroyed Count Vertigo's home country?

[Vaal]

People like the Joker and Luthorare needed to keep people like Batman and Superman both active and in clear view of humanity, whose spirits are inspired by them, doing far more of the Lord's work than petty murder.

[Munkiman]

Man do I wish the Spectre series was collected. I have Crime and Punishment and I loved it but my funds are limited and I'm not thrilled at the idea of hunting down all those back-issues.

Anyway, my interpretation of the Spectre based on that story was that he can't just detect when anything evil happens (which he could annoyingly do in GL: Rebirth, apparently, when he instantly knew that some guy in Italy had run over a kid in a car by accident, but for some reason he couldn't just kill all murderers right after they killed? PLOT HOLE). A good Spectre story is a detective story, like the arc in Crime and Punishment or the excellent animated short that came with JL: Crisis on Two Earths. The Spectre needs to find out about a criminal, and then he needs to track them down and kill them. While the insanity defense probably keeps him from cleaning out Arkham Asylum, I can't imagine what's kept him away from Stryker's all this time, or Blackgate.

[Retro315]

This thread is so eerily similar to "If the Eagles could save Frodo from Mount Doom, why didn't they just fly the ring to Mordor?"

A. God-awful, terrible story possibilities. Why deny yourself heroes and villains?
B. Maybe they just don't give a damn (Eagles or Spectre).
C. Not all villains are irredeemable. In fact, even hardened psychos like Batman's enemies must be redeemable, or else he wouldn't be capturing them alive, staying stoic and heroic, and letting them get put into an insane asylum.

But tons of the villains are plenty redeemable - especially in the eyes of God, since technically, even pretty vile criminals believe in God and will theoretically get in a prayer on their death bed and use their "Get out of Hell free card". Thanks Jesus!

(Speaking of "Get out of Hell free cards", there really was one in Secret Six, and yet the silly villains murdering for it never even thought to themselves "hold on ... I can just ask for forgiveness")