- [Scott] Superheroes have a surprisingly
long and rich history with court cases and criminal trials.
There are the obvious connections,
like Daredevil and She-Hulk, who are both lawyers
in the Marvel Universe,
there are the countless stories of superheroes on trial,
like the Fantastic Four, the Flash, Punisher,
and Superman, quite a few times, actually.
Then there are the rarer cases, when the heroes
are the prosecution, like Spider-Man
suing J. Jonah Jameson for libel
or when they are called in as witnesses,
like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow
when they testified against their villains.
But hold on, is it even legal to testify in court
in full costume, keeping your identity a secret?
One of the first questions you're asked
is to state your name.
How do superheroes get around this?
(upbeat music)
Welcome to a Tie-In video.
It's audio only today because I'm travelling right now,
but I still wanted to give you guys a video.
So let's talk about superheroes in court.
There's a clause in the sixth amendment
of the United States Constitution
that the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted
with the witnesses against him.
This is known as the confrontation clause,
and is essentially the right to know
who the defendant's accusers are.
So if superheroes testified in court,
would this clause force them to reveal
their secret identity and or remove their masks?
Luckily for the characters of the DC Universe
they have a fictional 12th amendment on their side,
which allows meta-humans to wear their superhero costumes
and give aliases in court in order to protect themselves
and their friends and loved ones.
That seems like the simplest way to write yourself
out of this scenario, just have a few laws in place
that specifically help superheroes.
Side note, the United States has a real 12th amendment,
but it has nothing to do with superheroes,
instead it's about a change in how the president
and vice president are elected.
It used to be that electors would vote for two people
who they wanted to be president,
and the candidate in first place would become POTUS
and the runner up would be the VP.
The problem is that this led to a tie
in the election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson
and Aaron Burr.
And it was Alexander Hamilton who convinced his fellow
Federalists to vote for Jefferson,
even though the two of them never really agreed on anything.
In Hamilton's eyes, when all is said
and all is done, Jefferson had beliefs,
Burr had none.
But OK, back to comics.
If we assume that the DC Universe introduced
its 12 amendment at around the same time,
then they must have planned for meta-humans
all the way back in the 1800's.
Characters like Max Mercury or Miss Liberty
may have helped create a cause for DC's
12th amendment to be written up.
And I can only assume that it exploded in use
once the big names like Superman, Batman,
and Flash showed up on the scene.
So that takes care of DC characters,
but what about Marvel?
- [Joel] Oh oh, Scott, tag me in, tag me in,
I'm great at this legal mumbo jumbo stuff,
you know that.
- [Scott] Do I hear the smooth voice of Joel
from Super Suits?
- [Joel] Oh ho ho, you better believe it's me.
And thanks for plugging the name of the show.
If I was to do it, I would sound like a jerk.
- [Scott] You have the floor, good sir.
- [Joel] All righty then.
So you see, the characters in the Marvel Universe
may not have a fictional amendment to hide behind
like the DC guys do, but they might be able
to get around the confrontation clause
with the help of a real one.
When they are asked to give their names in court,
superheroes could plead the fifth amendment.
Ah, and what a sweet amendment it is,
a clause in which protects one from self-incrimination.
See, hypothetically if Spider-Man was witness
to a criminal trial, stating his real name as Peter Parker
could very well incriminate himself
against the various crimes he's committed as Spidey.
At the very least, we've seen the web head trespass
on private property on a fairly regular basis.
And I don't know about you, but I would personally
love to see him get punished for the events of
One More Day.
I mean, making a deal with the devil, say what?
Or those dance moves in Spider-Man 3,
or like everything that happened in Amazing Spider-Man 2,
but I digress.
- [Scott] Fair enough, so the fifth amendment
solves all of our problems then?
- [Joel] Well, not exactly.
Slow down a little.
You see, pleading the fifth only protects one
from self-incriminating statements.
You could try and argue that costumes are a form
of free speech protected under the first amendment,
but that doesn't mean it can't also
be regulated or restricted.
That's a little too complicated to get into right now
in this video, but honestly,
there may be a much simpler solution to this problem.
- [Scott] Go on.
- [Joel] You see, the confrontation clause implies
that the accused has the absolute right to meet
face to face with the witness against them,
but there have been exceptions in the past,
specifically exceptions to the clause
are permitted if the procedure was necessary
to further an important public policy.
Perhaps the way costumed superheroes fight crime
could fall under that.
And it's possible that a court could make
a case specific exception if the defendant is
say a super villain who is known
for acting violent pay back on their accusers.
Like if Spider-Man were to testify
against Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin,
they'd probably let him keep his secret identity
because we all know what happened
during the events of stories like Civil War
when Spidey unmasks himself to the world,
only for Kingpin to immediately send someone
to kill him and his family,
which resulted in the even bigger crime
that is One More Day.
Oh my God, why does it keep coming back to this?
Spider-Man making a deal with the devil,
I will never let this go.
- [Scott] OK but I'm seeing a problem with this.
To continue using Spider-Man as an example
because he's basically the only prominent
Marvel hero with a secret identity,
if he explains to the judge that he doesn't want
to remove his mask or reveal his name
because he's concerned for the safety of his family,
is the judge just supposed to be believe him?
How would they even know that Spidey has a family?
More importantly, how would we know that
it's the real Spider-Man under his mask,
and not just some impostor trying to use the Spider-Man name
to create a compelling testimony
and falsely accuse someone?
It's an issue that J. Jonah Jameson himself
brings up when Spidey sues him for libel.
Luckily, in the Marvel Universe there exists
an Avengers issue scanner that can positively identify
any member of the Avengers,
even a reservist like Spider-Man,
and verify their identity through a federal database.
But what about all the heroes who aren't Avengers?
- [Joel] Psh, man, who isn't an Avenger these days?
Have you seen it, there's like five Avengers books
going on right now.
Deadpool is an Avenger, for crying out loud.
- [Scott] That's a fair point.
What do you say we leave it up to the viewers?
- [Joel] You know what, Scott,
that sounds like a really solid plan.
So yeah, what do you guys think about all this?
Should superheroes be able to protect
their secret identities in a court of law?
If so, how can we accurately determine whether
a masked hero in the courtroom is truly
who they say they are?
Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below.
Cape Joel out.
- [Scott] Special thanks to Joel for helping out
with this episode.
If you aren't watching Super Suits,
you're really missing out on some crazy, bizarre,
and often funny comic book lawsuits.
If you wanna catch up, click right here
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The link will also be in the description.
And again, I am travelling right now,
so this video is a Tie-In to a future video
that will be coming out on Moon Knight
and the criminal justice system.
Make sure you stick around for that.
It's gonna be super interesting.
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My name is Scott, reminding you to read between the panels
and grow smarter through comics.
See ya.