In the DC Universe, one Justice League ally considers unreasonably arrogant, leading to a debate which might change how fans perceive superheroes.
The criticism comes from Arthur Curry, better known as Aquaman, during a time in his life when his hand was replaced by a hook after being eaten by piranha. Often called the Superman of the Sea, Aquaman's ancestral history is not all that different from Superman's. While Krypton was destroyed completely in a cataclysm, Aquaman's Atlantis faced a similar tragedy when it sunk beneath the ocean surface in antiquity. However, although they are similar tales, the outcomes of each shaped the heroes in different ways.
Superman and Aquaman have their conversation in the opening pages of JLA Secret Files and Origins #2, from Christopher Priest and Yanick Paquette. In this particular story, Aquaman criticizes Superman for believing it is their job to protect humanity. Superman pushes back, arguing that metahumans represent what may be "mankind's only hope." Aquaman calls that view of being a hero "arrogant." He agrees that superhumans play a role in society, but that in the grand scheme of things, they can never know the result of their actions, and can only hope to do good. While the two agree it's worth the effort to do the good deeds only they can accomplish, Aquaman cautions against seeing superhumans as vital to society. It turns out this difference of opinion comes down to a fundamental difference in their origins.
Aquaman's argument is that Atlantis suffered exactly the kind of cataclysm superheroes are there to prevent, and yet their underwater society has since thrived. It's an encapsulation of his idea that superheroes' role in maintaining the status quo may be what feels right in the moment, but it can have a different context over the timeframe that applies to nations. His people rose up to the challenge and survived extinction despite the hardship. They had no hero to save them and managed to pull through just fine. Superman counters by citing the death of Krypton, and how his people didn't survive a catastrophe a superhero might have prevented (although a lone Green Lantern came close.)
Far from an academic argument, these differing perspectives have brought the two to the brink of war in the recent past, when Superman dared to intervene in world affairs involving Atlantis and was consequently expelled from the League. To Kal-El, the laws of nations ultimately can't stop him doing what he thinks is necessary, since he's operating as humanity's "only hope," whereas to Aquaman, the sovereignty of nations is worth safeguarding beyond the timeline of any individual crisis. It's a surprising critique of the superhero god complex that explains how Aquaman's history would give him a very different perspective on what even counts as the "end of the world."
While Superman and Aquaman's debate is friendly and they remain of a common purpose, this conversation offers a nuanced contrast between ideas of heroism and authority that stories like Marvel's Civil War only engage with in their most extreme forms. While Superman is happy to concede he may indeed be arrogant in his view of superheroes, only the centuries will truly tell who's right - which is exactly Aquaman's point.
