With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Yargoth]

An energy field is not matter...

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That barrier is explicitly shown to have a molecular structure. Energy is not composed of molecules.

 

[john doe 777]

huh I guess if Superman is not a patriot to the government of America he definitely is one of the most true patriots ever to the IDEA of America. Ie America's ideals. So his blood would do the tree of liberty a lot of good

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Which we find out wasn't what actually happened when the Phantom Stranger physically pulls Hal out from inside of his ring with his magic. (Justice #8 to be exact.)

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Yes, the Stranger used his power to undo it, but that doesn't change the fact that when Hal first converted himself into energy, he did that without the Stranger's help. And again, it involved him literally converting his own physical body from solid matter into energy.

That's cellular manipulation, not matter transmutation.

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It's technically both, because to undo these changes, he would have had to re-write his own DNA molecules to restore his human body, meaning that he would have needed to manipulate his own genetic molecular makeup. You see, that's the funny thing about biology and physics: Fundamentally, the deeper you dive into either, the more one becomes like the other, and if you deep dive enough, the line between organic and inorganic matter becomes superflous. Organic and inorganic matter are both made of atoms and molecules if you dive deep into them enough.

An energy field is not matter...

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Yes, and in turn, energy is not supposed to have molecules in the first place, so the barrier clearly wasn't just an energy field. It was a force field that was half-matter and half-energy. And again, whether it counts as energy or matter is relevant, because it had molecules, and Hal successfully manipulated those molecules by altering their very nature and shape. Matter is made of molecules. Thus, if Hal can alter molecules, then he can alter matter. It's simple math.

Your link literally says Atom's own size changer did it, it was just supercharged by Hal's ring.

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Yes, and like I said, stuff like this is actually consistent with Green Lantern's other feats, because Green Lanterns dimensionally compress and shrink objects to make them fit into their ring all the time. In fact, Hal has found himself shrunk and trapped within his own ring, sometimes even BY his own ring.

Or he piggybacked his construct on the physically existing copper line, there's nothing specifying in that.

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That's a possibility, yes. But even if that was the case, Hal would still need to possess both the knowledge and the skill to convert his construct into a form that could pass through the copper line, and then make it turn right back into solid matter WITHOUT being able to see it, or the person he was poking with his hand construct. Remember: A Lantern's constructs are fueled by the ringbearer's knowledge and imagination as well as their willpower.

Dead link.

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Oops, my bad! I'll fetch a working one. Here, try this one:

https://imgur.com/a/pushes-hector-hammond-out-of-his-mind-PYpW159

Does it work for you?

Just as a point, if that weapon actually worked how you described he would have been dead the second he was shot.

In actually it was a magic raygun that turned people into conscious water that was destroyed before it could finish it's job.

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Yes, I know it's weird. But regardless of whether it would have killed Adam or not, that doesn't change the fact that Hal not only saved Adam from becoming a puddle by using his ring on him, but he also restored his clothes and his guns (that were clearly shown to be melting into goo in the previous panels), and in the next panels, they looked exactly as they were before they started melting into water. Thus, it still counts as matter manipulation, since Hal literally stopped Adam from melting, and restored his clothes and weapons that were turning into water. Reminder: Water molecules are VASTLY different from the molecules that make up our clothes and bodies, so even if the weapon is magic, it would still have to alter a target at the molecular level to convert all molecules in the person or object into water molecules. And we know that the process isn't completely magical, because otherwise, Hal wouldn't have been able to undo the melting process with his ring alone.

*points at batman and wonder woman reacting*

Zoom wasn't going that fast.

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He's still a Flash, and the average Flash's reflexes are fast enough to react to lightspeed attacks and beyond. Thus, even if he was going "slow" by speedster standards, he wouldn't have been caught by Hal's attack unless Hal was moving much, MUCH faster than the speed of light.

There is literally nothing in that allows for quantification of how fast they were traveling.

And "The Flash's" full speed varies depending on any number of factors making his actual speed in those comics pages unknown.

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While you are correct when you say that we cannot calculate the *exact* speed, we can say that Barry was definitely going as fast as he could, because again, it would be extremely out-of-character for Barry to not go extremely fast when saving civilians. Yes, he holds back when he's in action or when he's fighting villains, but NOT when he's saving civilians.

Those comics show them only "keeping up" with him once he exists the atmosphere.

Also as a point, light speed is 299,792 kilometers per second, so that "approaching" part of "approaching light speed" is doing a lot of heavy lifting given the pair are able to have a verbal conversation and stop to repair a damaged utility tower.

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Yes, but keep in mind, they wouldn't have been able to keep up with Airwave in the first place if they couldn't move *at least* as fast as him, which they were clearly shown to do throughout the sequence. Otherwise, they would have lost Airwave's trail before they exited the atmosphere, because Airwave would have left them in the dust.

It took an annoying amount of time to track this one down to make sure I wasn't missing some context that wasn't visible in that single page. (DC First: Green Lantern/Green Lantern if anyone was wondering.)

But no, that's literally it, so all right, lets do some work.

A charitable maximum reading for that's about five seconds, so assuming he instantly accelerated to maximum non FTL velocity upon exiting the atmosphere, that would mean it would have taken him roughly 3.6 seconds to exit Earth's atmosphere. (since the moon is 384,400 kilometer from Earth)

So, assuming "start of the exosphere" for full speed his in atmosphere maximum would be about 111 kilometers per second.

Assuming instead "end of exosphere" for full speed would get us a maximum of about 2,777 kilometers per second.

And while both are "fast" neither of them are teleport fast. (And lanterns moving those speeds are still subject to the laws of size and momentum.)

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Five seconds might be too big of an estimate. Hal literally cut himself off from his own sentence (which he was still speaking on Earth) and went "Scott?" nearly immediately, meaning that he must have noticed that Scott was gone less than a second after he left Earth, because otherwise, he would have continued that sentence for a bit longer. I know I'm being nitpicky here, but it's just that Hal seems really casual there, considering that he's having a conversation with Alan and would most likely be flying much, MUCH faster if this was an emergency.

But fine, leaving aside the fact that he's clearly having a casual conversation with Alan and is clearly not flying at top speed, let's go with five seconds for the sake of argument. How do you then explain Hal being able to keep up in flight speed on Earth with characters like Superman or Wonder Woman? Even if we assume that you're right about Green Lanterns being restricted by how fast they can fly on Earth, Superman, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman have no such exceptions, yet we see Green Lanterns being able to keep up with them in movement all the time. Sure, we could argue that they're not going at full speed either, but let's be real here, when it comes to these three, their version of "slow" is still hundreds of times faster than light anyway. And Hal fights both alongside them, and against enemies who keep up with them all the time.

Also, even if Hal did have such a restriction with his ring put in there by the Guardians, we've already seen that he is capable of hijacking the restrictions that the ring's makers have placed on GL through sheer willpower (like that one time when he overrode the ring's directive to never harm a Guardian through sheer will, and then used it to kill Krona). So even if the Guardians did indeed make the rings with a built-in restriction to never be able to fly FTL within the Earth's atmosphere, what makes you think Hal wouldn't be able to override such a speed restriction too, just by willing it hard enough? After all, he overrode an even more powerful directive than that, so overriding this one should be child's play. See here for what I'm talking about: https://imgur.com/a/kills-krona-overriding-rings-programming-zTpWVnR

 

[Mr Zoat]

12th October 2013
17:55 GMT -5

Kal-El blinks. "Excuse me?"

"It's not a complicated idea, son. Washington and Lincoln both exercised extraordinary power during times of crisis. Hell, that's why we have an executive; someone's got to make a decision."

"Are you.. saying that you want me to become President? Because-" He slowly shakes his head. "-that can't happen."

"The Hell it can't. According to the original Constitution, the runner up became Vice President. You came third."

"That was changed a long time ago."

"Clark, if there-" Kal-El can't quite stop himself reacting. "-was an election today, between you, Knight, and… Horne, or Suarez, or whoever else the Democrats put up, who would win?"

"I… Don't have a party supporting me. I wouldn't have.. the organisation."

"Phooey. Between your fan club and all the people you've helped out over the years, you could get one if you needed it and I don't think you would."

"I wouldn't have support in the House-."

I choke-laugh.

"… Orange Lantern?"

"Sir… No one is politically suicidal enough to say 'I voted against Superman'. If it happens, all you'd have to do is publically announce how sorry you were that the people on this list, from these constituencies, didn't feel able to support your reconstruction efforts, and they'd all be hit by recall elections before the news spot ended. There are good reasons for not doing this, but 'it wouldn't work' isn't one of them."

"We're not due another Presidential Election for three years, and by then the situation won't be the same."

"So get the Vice President to resign, have Knight nominate you and then resign himself."

Kal-El shakes his head, looking away from his interrogator. Unfortunately, his wandering eyes alight upon me, and I'm clearly looking like I think it's a decent idea.

"Okay, it-. It would make it harder for me to work with other countries if I was formally representing America, and I'm not eligible. I wasn't born in this country. I was born on Krypton, and I don't want to have to confirm my exact age."

Because while Kryptonian society appears to be fairly John Byrne, infant Kal-El was born on Krypton and came to Earth in a spaceship, rather than having his parents' genetic material loading into a hyperspace-capable artificial womb.

"And who else knows that?"

"My parents, most of the Justice League… Ah… Lex Luthor almost certainly knows. And I can't stand as Clark Kent either, for the exact same reasons. Look, I'm not going to pretend that I don't see an argument in favour of having a strong focal government figure during a time of national crisis, but doing that would completely undermine democracy, the rule of law… America."

"We… Could…" Zatanna looks nervous. "Try and get a constitutional amendment passed?"

Kal-El shakes his head. "That would be incredibly self-serving. I'm not-."

"No it would not. It would only be self-serving if you wanted it. You becoming President would make the office of President relevant again. Because right now, the highest authority in America is you, and the government is doing sweet Fanny Adams to help you out."

"I know it's not ideal, but we can't afford to step back yet."

"And I don't want you to. I want you to use the mechanisms of state that exist to handle these eventualities."

"Ah, if I may?"

Kal-El gives me an uncomfortable nod.

"The age thing is manageable. We can find a parallel universe where time moves at a different rate, you can take a two year holiday, won't even be a lie. But we can't do anything about 'natural born citizen' that doesn't involve lying. Which we can do, I can fabricate evidence pretty well, but I understand that you don't want to, and… Uncle Sam? I've beaten my head against this wall before. Kal-El isn't interested in becoming optimally efficient. He has red lines, and they're not moving. Lying to the American public to achieve public office appears to be one of those lines."

Uncle Sam sighs. "I respect your convictions, but I need you to understand that this is going to fray the fabric of American society in a way that's going to take decades to repair."

"I thought they'd handle it through devolution. Though if it really bothers you, why not run yourself? You're over thirty-five, and you were definitionally born in the United States."

"Because scarcely anyone remembers when I was a superhero. I don't have the personal renown to overcome the limits of the party political system. Can I at least be assured that you don't think that Knight is fit for office?"

"That's… Not my decision."

"On the contrary, 'President' is an elected office. It's everyone's decision."

"He… Hasn't recovered well."

"The nation needs dynamic, forceful leadership and it's stuck with an empty vessel who repeats back what the last person he spoke to told him. I don't hate Knight, there are plenty worse, but he should not be in office, and the only ones who can remove him are the members of the Justice League."

"We felt that backing him was the right thing to do."

"Being wrong isn't a crime. Not fixing it is making the entire population of the United States of America decide that their federal government isn't worth a wooden n-."

"How about Nathaniel Adams?"

They both look at me.

"I mean, I'm told it wasn't official, but he was the man we put in charge of the U.S. when the entire federal government was Anti-Lifed. He's well known, doesn't have a secret identity, he's over thirty-five as a matter of public record, he was born in the United States… I mean, it's him or Green Arrow, and Green Arrow isn't actually all that well known in his public identity."

Uncle Sam mulls it over. "He's not the man I want. He doesn't have the same degree of acclaim, and wouldn't really be much better than an actual politician. But he could do the job required."

Kal-El shakes his head. "I can't agree to something like that. But.. I'll.. bring it up at the next Justice League meeting."

Uncle Sam nods. "You do that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tree to water."

He turns away and ambles back into the shed, while Kal-El looks like he doesn't know what to make of what just happened.

"You know, we could just make you king."

"Orange Lantern, it's still not the time."

"Alright. But can you bring up the idea of leaning on people about the Eye Drive? I'm used to government inefficiency, but not being able to fix Alzheimer's now that I know I can is going to wear at me."

"I'm sure Batman has a plan for that. Let's…" He sighs. "Let's just get out of here."

 

[Cool10007]

Poor Clark

 

[Darko]

"Okay, it-. It would make it harder for me to work with other countries if I was formally representing America

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I mean, not really.

If anything they may become more cooperative since you can bring the force of a nation behind you.

I wasn't born in this country. I was born on Krypton, and I don't want to have to confirm my exact age."

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Sam: Boy, I am this country. If I say you can do it, then you can.

"Because scarcely anyone remembers when I was a superhero. I don't have the personal renown to overcome the limits of the party political system

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And even if you have some spiritual influence over people, that could count as mind control.

Poor Clark

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He usually has to deal with this crap when Paul's involved.

 

[Ngamer11]

"Phoey. Between your fan club and all the people you've helped out over the years, you could get one if you needed it and I don't think you would."

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That should say 'Phooey'.

"Being wrong isn't a crime. Not fixing it is making the entire population of the United States of America decide that their federal government isn't work a wooden n-."

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I think that should say 'worth'?

"How about Nathaniel Adams?"

They both look at me.

"I mean, I'm told it wasn't official, but he was the man we put in charge of the U.S. when the entire federal government was Anti-Lifed. He's well known, doesn't have a secret identity, he's over thirty-five as a matter of public record, he was born in the United States… I mean, it's him or Green Arrow, and Green Arrow isn't actually all that well known in his public identity."

Uncle Sam mulls it over. "He's not the man I want. He doesn't have the same degree of acclaim, and wouldn't really be much better than an actual politician. But he could do the job required."

Kal-El shakes his head. "I can't agree to something like that. But.. I'll.. bring it up at the next Justice League meeting."

Uncle Sam nods. "You do that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tree to water."

He turns away and ambles back into the shed, while Kal-El looks like he doesn't know what to make of what just happened.

"You know, we could just make you king."

"Orange Lantern, it's still not the time."

"Alright. But can you bring up the idea of leaning on people about the Eye Drive? I'm used to government inefficiency, but not being able to fix Alzheimer's now that I know I can is going to wear at me."

"I'm sure Batman has a plan for that. Let's…" He sighs. "Let's just get out of here."

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I didn't expect this turn, though I do hope we do get President Adams, as that seems like the best compromise here.

 

[BR549]

decide that their federal government isn't work a wooden n-."

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'worth'

 

[NightmareWarden]

I'm going to assume the concentrated hope medication isn't enough to fix Knight? We have three lanterns to futz about with Knight's avarice, will, and hope, but he's still not... Well, I know Paul is the only one who can leave a lasting Avarice modification, but... I'm just curious if Knight got the personal attention of Mannheimside or something?

Wait. I suggested Vincent Edge might still be working for Darkseid or the ideals of "The Lord" he so feared. Maybe he's been using Knight or... No, surely the Justice League and Uncle Sam would have caught him. Paul's been helping Earth for half a year!

Hmm. Is this plan just setting up for future events, or has something crucial been missed? I guess the conspiracy against the Justice League will take action due to this.


Wait. Wait. NASA is doing poorly right now. How many films and books have pictured a future unified Earth with an American culture shining through its best and brightest scifi heroes?

I think Uncle Sam had a few goals here, folks. I think we've failed to determine which USA spiritual representative (the true or false one) would support Waller's suicide squad and similar horrors. Dang, Sam, I think Mr Zoat planted a lot of seeds here. I wonder if Lady Liberty will succeed at her scheme(s).

 

[Mr Zoat]

That should say 'Phooey'.
I think that should say 'worth'?

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

12th October 2013
17:55 GMT -5

Kal-El blinks. "Excuse me?"

"It's not a complicated idea, son. Washington and Lincoln both exercised extraordinary power during times of crisis. Hell, that's why we have an executive; someone's got to make a decision."

Click to shrink...

Yeah, and most of the time the powers used were put back in the emergency box afterwards, as I understand. And while it's not 100% back to normal, I don't think you could play the 'time of crisis' card as DC America is now.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

"Are you.. saying that you want me to become President? Because-" He slowly shakes his head. "-that can't happen."

"The Hell it can't. According to the original Constitution, the runner up became Vice President. You came third."

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Only by write-in. He wasn't even running for office.

"That was changed a long time ago."

"Clark, if there-" Kal-El can't quite stop himself reacting. "-was an election today, between you, Knight, and… Horne, or Suarez, or whoever else the Democrats put up, who would win?"

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I don't think anyone's real identity isn't known to Sam. Being the embodiment of America and all that, any American Leaguer would be an open book to him.

"I… Don't have a party supporting me. I wouldn't have.. the organisation."

"Phoey. Between your fan club and all the people you've helped out over the years, you could get one if you needed it and I don't think you would."

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Any politician with a whit of sense would be trying to hitch himself to freaking Superman.

"I wouldn't have support in the House-."

I choke-laugh.

"… Orange Lantern?"

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Support isn't going to be an issue for you, Supes.

"Sir… No one is politically suicidal enough to say 'I voted against Superman'. If it happens, all you'd have to do is publically announce how sorry you were that the people on this list, from these constituencies, didn't feel able to support your reconstruction efforts, and they'd all be hit by recall elections before the news spot ended. There are good reasons for not doing this, but 'it wouldn't work' isn't one of them."

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I mean, he's not wrong, most people would fall in line with him on sheer presence. And not doing so would be political suicide.

"We're not due another Presidential Election for three years, and by then the situation won't be the same."

"So get the Vice President to resign, have Knight nominate you and then resign himself."

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That's all kinds of iffy. I'm not sure it'd hold up in any court.

Kal-El shakes his head, looking away from his interrogator. Unfortunately, his wandering eyes alight upon me, and I'm clearly looking like I think it's a decent idea.

"Okay, it-. It would make it harder for me to work with other countries if I was formally representing America, and I'm not eligible. I wasn't born in this country. I was born on Krypton, and I don't want to have to confirm my exact age."

Click to shrink...

Canny reporters would follow the trail of clues, yes.

Because while Kryptonian society appears to be fairly John Byrne, infant Kal-El was born on Krypton and came to Earth in a spaceship, rather than having his parents' genetic material loading into a hyperspace-capable artificial womb.

"And who else knows that?"

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Probably still better than 'Man of Steel' where Kal's birth was the first old-fashioned natural birth in over a thousand years or so.

"My parents, most of the Justice League… Ah… Lex Luthor almost certainly knows. And I can't stand as Clark Kent either, for the exact same reasons. Look, I'm not going to pretend that I don't see an argument in favour of having a strong focal government figure during a time of national crisis, but doing that would completely undermine democracy, the rule of law… America."

Click to shrink...

...At least you wouldn't have to spend too much on bodyguards? Not that the Secret Service would have to stop existing, it has plenty of jobs besides that.

"We… Could…" Zatanna looks nervous. "Try and get a constitutional amendment passed?"

Kal-El shakes his head. "That would be incredibly self-serving. I'm not-."

Click to shrink...

Everyone completely choosing to not take the hint that he's not that into this plan...

"No it would not. It would only be self-serving if you wanted it. You becoming President would make the office of President relevant again. Because right now, the highest authority in America is you, and the government is doing sweet Fanny Adams to help you out."

"I know it's not ideal, but we can't afford to step back yet."

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So it's not being shored up as fast as Sam wants it to be? That's the issue?

"And I don't want you to. I want you to use the mechanisms of state that exist to handle these eventualities."

"Ah, if I may?"

Kal-El gives me an uncomfortable nod.

Click to shrink...

A rare moment where he's hoping OL can save him from this crazy scenario.

"The age thing is manageable. We can find a parallel universe where time moves at a different rate, you can take a two year holiday, won't even be a lie. But we can't do anything about 'natural born citizen' that doesn't involve lying. Which we can do, I can fabricate evidence pretty well, but I understand that you don't want to, and… Uncle Sam? I've beaten my head against this wall before. Kal-El isn't interested in becoming optimally efficient. He has red lines, and they're not moving. Lying to the American public to achieve public office appears to be one of those lines."

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And don't even get OL started on the red trunks. But seriously, that's why Superman is the man he is. Much like Cap's speech from the first Civil War comic, Supes is the guy willing to plant himself besides the river of Truth, Justice and Liberty and say 'No, you move.'

Uncle Sam sighs. "I respect your convictions, but I need you to understand that this is going to fray the fabric of American society in a way that's going to take decades to repair."

"I thought they'd handle it through devolution. Though if it really bothers you, why not run yourself? You're over thirty-five, and you were definitionally born in the United States."

Click to shrink...

President Sam? What would his last name in office be? Columbia? Everyman? (And yes, I know that he sometimes used the name Wilson...)

"Because scarcely anyone remembers when I was a superhero. I don't have the personal renown to overcome the limits of the party political system. Can I at least be assured that you don't think that Knight is fit for office?"

"That's… Not my decision."

Click to shrink...

But it's pretty clear you do think that.

"On the contrary, 'President' is an elected office. It's everyone's decision."

"He… Hasn't recovered well."

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That's putting it mildly, isn't it? Like saying a typhoon is a 'little blowy'...

"The nation needs dynamic, forceful leadership and it's stuck with an empty vessel who repeats back what the last person he spoke to told him. I don't hate Knight, there are plenty worse, but he should not be in office, and the only ones who can remove him are the members of the Justice League."

Click to shrink...

...Suspicious. I wonder if that Earth 50 thing with the robot imposter president (that the Renegade busted up) happened here and the duplicate is stuck in a default loop.

"We felt that backing him was the right thing to do."

"Being wrong isn't a crime. Not fixing it is making the entire population of the United States of America decide that their federal government isn't worth a wooden n-."

Click to shrink...

And rushing something like 'Make Superman President' isn't it's own kind of foolish?

"How about Nathaniel Adams?"

They both look at me.

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Captain Atom... Well, Colonel, now. Could work? If Supes endorsed him...

"I mean, I'm told it wasn't official, but he was the man we put in charge of the U.S. when the entire federal government was Anti-Lifed. He's well known, doesn't have a secret identity, he's over thirty-five as a matter of public record, he was born in the United States… I mean, it's him or Green Arrow, and Green Arrow isn't actually all that well known in his public identity."

Click to shrink...

Also pretty durable. Any assassination attempt would be a lot harder.

Uncle Sam mulls it over. "He's not the man I want. He doesn't have the same degree of acclaim, and wouldn't really be much better than an actual politician. But he could do the job required."

Kal-El shakes his head. "I can't agree to something like that. But.. I'll.. bring it up at the next Justice League meeting."

Click to shrink...

Which means it falls to Adams to choose.

Uncle Sam nods. "You do that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a tree to water."

He turns away and ambles back into the shed, while Kal-El looks like he doesn't know what to make of what just happened.

Click to shrink...

I think everyone's a little dazed, yes.

"You know, we could just make you king."

"Orange Lantern, it's still not the time."

Click to shrink...

And probably never will be the right time.

"Alright. But can you bring up the idea of leaning on people about the Eye Drive? I'm used to government inefficiency, but not being able to fix Alzheimer's now that I know I can is going to wear at me."

"I'm sure Batman has a plan for that. Let's…" He sighs. "Let's just get out of here."

Click to shrink...

Not a great day for Superman. The case of the worms was solved, but this offer... He's definitely feeling things.

Well, that was a thing that happened. While he wouldn't be the first Superman to run a country ('Red Son' or Calvin Ellis, for instance...) would him being in charge really make that much difference? He's a farm-boy and journalist at heart, not a world leader. And some of his fundamental goodness seems like it'd be a bit tarnished by the realities of leadership.

 

[Khettien]

In a twisted way, this plot thread reminds me of how Congress kept having to drag Washington from his farm to be president. He didn't want the job either, and absolutely refused his third term, IIRC. 'I'm retired, and this time I mean it!'

Edit: I said farm, should've said rural estate.

 

[Darko]

Any politician with a whit of sense would be trying to hitch himself to freaking Superman

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Unfortunately, being sensible is not always a common political position.

Sometimes it can actually hurt the politicians standing if they are sensible.

A rare moment where he's hoping OL can save him from this crazy scenario

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You know you've entered a bizarre universe when that happens.

President Sam? What would his last name in office be? Columbia? Everyman? (And yes, I know that he sometimes used the name Wilson...)

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The Uncle part could be his first name.

People can have weird first names.

would him being in charge really make that much difference? He's a farm-boy and journalist at heart, not a world leader. And some of his fundamental goodness seems like it'd be a bit tarnished by the realities of leadership.

Click to shrink...

His actual capabilities may not be so important as the fact that him assuming office will make the office look useful.

With the League basically running things, ordinary governments start looking pointless, but if they're more closely tied together, then the ordinary government starts looking useful.

 

[BR549]

would him being in charge really make that much difference? He's a farm-boy and journalist at heart, not a world leader.

Click to shrink...

Casting back to ye olden times...that was the intent. The general idea was that somebody would be elected, serve in Philadelphia, then Washington, for a period of years...and then go home. Politician was supposed to be a civic duty akin to jury duty, not a career, and the idea of a politicial dynasty smelled like royalty.

That all lasted about as long as it took for John Quincy Adams to be elected president, of course.

 

[Signaller]

What would Lois and General Lane say about this?

 

[CrazyNoVa]

Maybe Batman, in his current state, would be more than willing to encourage Clark to do this, since it would allow The League to have even more political power.

 

[Clell65619]

Because while Kryptonian society appears to be fairly John Byrne, infant Kal-El was born on Krypton and came to Earth in a spaceship, rather than having his parents' genetic material loading into a hyperspace-capable artificial womb.

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Well, that answers that. No gestation matrix was used in the production of this Superman.

 

[teikan]

"I stopped making it, because on a lot of those ponies it looked-." Another moue. "Not… Hideousstyle."

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What difference does it make? It's not up to you to decide. If someone wants a dress because they think it's beautiful, then they shouldn't give a damn about your opinion or anyone else's. It's theirs to pay for, something they bought for themselves, not for you.

I'm glad it's so convenient to shout at the show here.