So while my friends would always argue for Anti-Registration, and I would argue for Pro-Reg. I find it hard to believe myself, because politically I'm usually closest to being a libertarian (I'm actually moderate) and more government and infringing on superhuman civil liberties seems naturally wrong to me. Plus, while government training, government pay, and a happy America are naturally a more pragmatic response, I usually favor ideals to practically. But looking at the situation in depth reveals that it's not so simple.
As Alan Moore's Watchmen pointed out, superheroes are just WRONG to begin with. It's fine if the post-human individual is a perfect, inherently morally good person, but that kind individual existing is entirely fictitious (oops, all superheroes are fictitious, but still). So a regular, flawed human being is given superpowers, and it makes them morally better than us and responsible for us? My favorite argument for Pro-Reg was something Iron Man said in a private monologue he made to Captain America's fake corpse, cause it shows how his opinions come not from fascism like some accuse him of, but from personal experience. I'm paraphrasing, but he mentioned a time during the Demon in a Bottle arc when he was alcoholic and drunk off his ass, and tried fighting a minor supervillian in crowded public street. He was swinging around a telephone pole and almost killed some bystanders. THE SUPERVILLIAN he was fighting had to knock him out to protect the innocent civilians. If you can't even trust an A-Lister like Iron Man completely, what about the hundreds of C and D list superheroes, all the New Warriors morons out there? And don't even get me STARTED on whether or not vigilantism is moral to begin with. Sure stopping someone from mugging an old lady might seem objectively good, but I think morally is inherently subjective, since we have no way of scientifically pinning down what "right" and "wrong" are, or even if those concepts have any metaphysical weight to begin with.
Obviously then, the only form of humans physically protecting and policing other humans with any sort of legitimacy is a government that people willingly enter via social contract. And while a democracy/republic certainly isn't a perfect means of respecting the rights of individuals while protecting them from themselves, it's the best we got so far. So if a individual suddenly finds themself with super powers and they want to help others, they should do it legitimately. Regular humans often want to protect others, and what do they do? Join the police force. GET TRAINED, which many would-be heroes need, not only to teach them how to save lives but to teach them respect for strength of their powers (policemen in training get maced and tazed before being allowed out in the field, shouldn't 15 yr old Spidey have been spun upside down to a lamppost for a few hours too?). Thus, they'll have a somewhat legitimate authority over others, as opposed to none whatsoever. Also, in a democratic society we should listen to the will of others, and while allowing the civilian majority of the Marvel U to vote on superhero segregation or god-forbid disposing on them infringes on the rights of the post-humans, letting the majority decide whether or not the post-humans can save them is completely fair, and is the very nature of a social contract. Superheroes need accountability, because if you don't like something the police do you can get involved politically, but as it stood if you don't like something a superhero does you can go fuck yourself. I don't feel like that's right. And really thinking about it, an individual has NO right to vigilantism in the first place. The very nature of it is infringing on everyone in their society's personal freedom.
And if a superhero doesn't want to register? Then stop being a superhero. Disappear into your alter ego. I'm pretty sure the Super Human Registration Act didn't even make post-humans make their identities public, it would be S.H.E.I.L.D. classified information if I'm not mistaken.
The only argument left that gives me any pause is the one my friends would stick to, and the one Cap gives for going rogue:
"Don't play politics with me, Hill. Super Heroes need to stay above that stuff or Washington starts telling us who the super-villains are."Very true. The US government is certainly no saint, and could start telling Thor to take down Colombian dictators or Wolverine to assassinate Julian Assange. It certainly is vexing. My only practical response is the individual post-human could just quit at that point. Idealistically however, this doesn't change anything I've said. As Maria Hill, then-Commander of S.H.E.I.L.D.responded to Captain America after he said that:
"I thought super-villains were guys in masks who refused to obey the law."
