"Here's a small charge for stopping that meteor."

[deird_lj]

So, I've been watching Lois&Clark, and just got to the episode where the guy gets Superman's powers and starts using them irresponsibly.
(...which isn't really specific enough. Uh, the episode in the second season when that happens.)

And Superman sits him down and gives him a stern talking-to about "right and wrong", which in this case basically means "Do not charge people $37.50 every time you save their life!"

Question for people reading this: is it okay to charge people for doing the superhero thing?

On the one hand, you have Clark Kent, and Buffy Summers, who'd be appalled at the idea.
Then there are people like Angel, who does that every week.
And then there's Peter Parker, who doesn't exactly charge any money, but still uses his superhero identity as a great way to make extra cash, by selling photos of Spiderman.

...I can't really decide who I agree with.

So, what do people think?

Comments

[powerofthebook.livejournal.com]

That's a difficult question! I'm trying to translate it into more human terms...an ER doctor saves lives every day. They, however, have to charge, through their organization, in order to keep functioning. A policeman or firefighter saves lives, but they're paid through taxpayer dollars in order to keep functioning.

It's a definite problem. Batman was loaded, so he was A-okay on that front. Buffy Summers wasn't, and therefore struggled. When she finally had a bit of funding, however, (in the comics, anyway), she ended up stealing to get more. And then there's Angel, who saw the extra funding from an evil source and believed he could take it and take down the beast from inside. Since what Angel does could be construed as a public service in some ways, if he went public, he'd certainly be a good candidate for a government contract. Unfortunately, I think he'd chafe at the number of restrictions and regulations that would be placed upon him, and the insurance against collateral damage would be fairly large...

I think it depends on circumstances, in some ways. If someone comes searching for Angel's help to hunt down a pack of vampires, I would think he'd be within his rights to charge something. If Angel was out patrolling, however, and saved a hapless teen from being chomped on by a vampire, he'd have no real basis to charge.

Again, it's a difficult question. On the one hand, a world needs heroes. On the other hand, those heroes need to eat and pay their rent.