Is Clark culpable for Zod’s crimes?
We do not know what the citizens of Earth know about the full facts of the story, but nonetheless, there are Man of Steel detractors that blame Clark for bringing Zod to Earth. They reason that all of Zod’s crimes are Clark’s fault for bringing Zod to Earth. Now admittedly anyone can be blamed for anything. Bigots are no stranger to scapegoating. However, is such a position reasonable, logical, or well thought out? Based on our conception of justice and reason, I don’t think it is.
Justifiable blame- or culpability- generally attaches if one has a culpable mental state, for example intending harm, combined with an avoidable action that is the proximate cause of that harm (and there are no excuses or justifications for the action).
In other words, we don’t punish people for wrongful thoughts if they do nothing wrong and we don’t punish people for conduct with harmful results unless their mindset behind the action was wrongful (purposely, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently). There must be an aspect of free will to the act. read more
This is part one of a two part series where we cover Superman’s potential weaknesses in Man of Steel. In this episode, we cover how the atmospheric weakness interacts with Kryptonian powers, the environment, and equipment:
