WARNING: Contains Potential Spoilers for Absolute Power #1!It’s official: DC has essentially branded all of their heroes, including the entire Justice League, as BASIC. This sentiment stems from these heroes’ seemingly overly black-and-white view of morality, prompting Screen Rant to ask the comic publisher juggernaut one question: Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?

Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s blockbuster summer crisis event has officially begun with Absolute Power #1, an issue that immediately plunges the DC Universe into complete meltdown mode with Amanda Waller’s planet-wide attack on all metahumans. Phase one of Waller’s plan involves using Brainiac Queen to release AI-generated deepfake videos depicting the world’s heroes mercilessly slaughtering civilians, effectively inciting panic and chaos across Earth.

When Waller’s right-hand man, Sarge Steel, questions the wisdom of spreading such disinformation, Waller quickly shuts him down, justifying her actions by arguing that given the havoc metas have wreaked and will continue to wreak, calling it “disinformation” isn’t fair.

Amanda Waller Slams Superheroes’ Oversimplistic Morality By Comparing Them to Children

During her conversation with Steel, Waller elaborates that her actions are justified because DC’s heroes have “absolute power” with no higher authority to hold them accountable for their actions and the havoc they cause. Hence, Waller has decided that she will be that higher power. To further justify her actions, she points out how emotionally compromised heroes are, stating, “They adhere to a child’s idea of morality, and like all children, they occasionally have tantrums. Tantrums that could turn this world to ash.” This loaded comment highlights the biggest problem with superheroes—their overly simplistic view of morality.

This may be a controversial statement, but there truly isn’t a superhero in current continuity with a complex view of right or wrong. This isn’t to say that all heroes share the SAME moral perspective; rather, it’s a comment on their individual, unwavering senses of right and wrong. Every DC character has an extremely strong sense of what they perceive as right and wrong. Consequently, there hasn’t been a character in recent memory who has been portrayed as visibly struggling with their own sense of morality or whose morality appears to be in flux rather than stagnant.

DC Is in Desperate Need of Adding Morality Complexity to Their Heroes (& This May Call For the Creation of New Characters)

Damian Wayne is one of DC’s best examples of a hero whose struggle with morality added complexity to his character. In his early years, Damian’s sense of right and wrong was always in flux. However, due to character growth and time in canon, the current Robin no longer qualifies as having complex morals, as he is firmly on the side of angels. Reverting any characters to past portrayals to reintroduce moral complexity wouldn’t make sense. Therefore, it seems time for DC to create new, morally complex characters instead of recycling the same Justice League members for every story.

Absolute Power #1 is available now from DC Comics!