Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Judgemental Superheroes?

I saw a mention of RHATO in Green Arrow and it made me think how odd certain attitudes are especially with Sanctuary being in canon. 

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

Roy and Ollie are working together when the matter of trust comes up. Arsenal calls Ollie out on not trusting him. Ollie lies claiming he does while his narrative says otherwise. Then Roy brings up the fact Jason trusts him and treated him like a partner. But it's Ollies' response that bothers me.

Green Arrow: Red Hood's damaged. Not a great example, kid.


Ollie and Jason didn't really get along when they spoke in RHATO. (*1) Jason tolerated him but clearly disliked him. Ollie seemed to blame the Outlaws for Roy's burnt state (well it was due to an accident with Kori) and look down on Jason. But this response doesn't seem to be about Jason's status as an Outlaw. Otherwise he'd say something like "he's trouble" or "dangerous." The line seems to be saying Jason's seen as less of a capable person because he suffered trauma. That Roy mentioning him makes Roy's whole point moot because of it.

I hope this actually amounts to some kind of development especially with the bad signs point towards Roy's fate in HIC. I would like to see Ollie realize he was wrong. Still it's an odd way for him to see things if Sanctuary has been running for years. It's actually shown that Ollie doesn't even know about Sanctuary which is just odd. Are you telling me that NO ONE bothered to tell him in five years? I was under the impression it was widely known about by the superhero community as a kind of open secret. That everyone knew but didn't really talk about it. Roy assumes Ollie would know what it is which just underlines the strangeness of him being in the dark.

Barry Allen knows and recently helped Wally West check in. Sure the Trinity are in charge but you'd think the big names that have been around for awhile would have been informed in case they or someone they know needed treatment. How does Roy know?

Still it's an insensitive comment for Ollie to make since people often see Roy as a damaged person. You'd think he'd be someone that would be more understanding. Maybe that's the point of his upcoming arc? That he didn't see Roy needed help and went about it the wrong way? Roy did try to keep it a secret and was a little defensive. It might be a potential story but it's not the first time someone wrote Jason off and labelled him.

Around the time of Tim Drakes' "death" the Teen Titans had their own funeral for Red Robin. Beast Boy stated he thought Tim Drake was the best Robin and compared the rest. Gar does have an odd way of looking at what qualifies as the best. Dick is said to have turned out good but is weighed down by the burden of his responsibilities. I'm not sure how that would make him pale in comparison to Tim but okay. Damian is simply called obnoxious although Gar will know him better and dislike him more later on. What does he think of Jason?

Beast Boy: Red Hood's time as Robin pretty much broke him. Must keep Batman up at night, thinking how poor Jason Todd turned out.

This isn't quite condemning the actions of Red Hood either but it feels a bit condescending. How much time did Gar really spend with Jason? Neither Ollie or Gar know Jason as a person yet both seem to act like he's someone beyond repair. Just look at how he's referred to as broken and damaged. With Gar it makes it sound like just being Robin was too much for Jason since he doesn't mention how it ended. Then a line that sounds like he's pitying Batman because of "how poor Jason Todd turned out." According to Gar he's heard some things from Tim about Damian that lets him give him a chance. Won't he hear good things about Jason from Tim since he was FAR closer to Jason than Damian?

Ollie is acting dismissively towards Roy's opinion of Jason and Roy using his strong work relationship with Jason as an example of his trustworthiness. Some of that looks bad for his own relationship with Roy but it also speaks towards his own view on Jason. In RHATO he even asks for clarification that Jason is Red Hood's name...shouldn't he know that? Jason seem to be infamous among heroes just for being murdered by Joker. Personally I've always read it as Ollie knowing exactly who he was dealing with but trying to be a jerk about it. But maybe Ollie is never informed about anything.

What I get it from all this besides the bad image Jason has is that:

1. Information about Sanctuary isn't widely known despite it being set up to help the mental health of heroes. Which doesn't help the bias views given towards those seen as "damaged" making the standard reaction towards traumatized people pretty negative and usually writing them off as beyond help. Which is counterproductive if they want to actually help people.

2. This secret could have to do with the masks and robes worn in Sanctuary to protect the patient's identity. But all this seems to reinforce is that the patients should be ashamed of their problems. It's all treated like some shameful secret.


All in all the more I learn about HIC and how the superhero community acts about mental health the more baffled I am.


*1 I'm talking about the Lobdell stuff not the Tynion annual which doesn't really fit into canon. Sure some things in Lobdell' s run isn't canon anymore like how Roy and Ollie worked together but a lot of it still meshes better.

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