Could Dexter be considered a Superhero?

Not in a sense that Dexter has special powers (fly, breathe underwater,etc). More so in the sense of Batman (not TV Batman-----we are talking dark, disturbed Bruce Wayne Batman).

Just curious your thoughts. As you can see I have too much time on my hands this morning

 

No, Dexter was a serial killer. The reason he killed "bad guys" was so he'd be less likely to get caught killing. If there weren't any bad guys around, he would still be compelled to kill.

 

No. Just no.

Especially after watching that final episode. Sorry, personal commentary.

Spoiler: Dexter

He let his sister get murdered and abandoned his son. That is ANYTHING BUT SUPER.

 

True. Though he found a productive way to channel his unfortunate urges. Does a "superhero" need to be entirely altruistic? I thought it was a silly premise when I saw the thread title, but the Bruce Wayne comparison got me thinking. I have never been a big comic reader, so I don't know. Have there been comic heroes who had an evil compunction but tried to channel it for a positive effect? I completely get that its not a given what Dexter does is "good" even if he's rubbing out the worst of people, but its worth considering. It was hard not to pull Dexter most of the time.

 

Now let's say if Dexter got off work, went home and put on a special costume with some neat gadgets and does the same killing, would it seem more superhero like?

 

No, he killed the bad guys, superheroes don't go that far as their main focus.

His showing them their sins was really for him as part of his ritual since they were not going to be around to learn from that.

He killed at least one innocent person as well which goes against superheroism.

 

He messed with the Beatles sound too much. No way would I consider him a superhero.

 

Don't superheroes also sometimes kill innocents by mistake? It's hard to see that all the chaos caused by the Avengers in the recent movies wouldn't result in lots of innocent deaths. When Hulk smashes into a building trying to kill a bad guy, but sends big pieces of concrete debris falling to the ground, someone is gonna get hit.

 

Sure he could be! In a comicbook universe where Wolverine, Deadpool, and the Punisher exist he'd fit right In! Hmmm, just realized he'd be a Marvel man, DC doesn't have many homicidal maniacs in its roster!

 

But innocents' deaths get attributed to the bad guys and are indirect.

It's not that it couldn't happen, but it wouldn't.

The argument could be more easily made for Punisher who isn't a superhero either even though he doesn't kill innocents. So just not killing innocents isn't enough to make someone a superhero, but it could add to the argument. Once that's done it's a large notch against superheroism.

 

There's gotta be a funny line about Dave Dexter, Michael C Hall, and the Butcher cover around here somewhere.....

 

He channeled his evil urges to eliminate evildoers, so despite his flaws he did more good than harm for the community. So yeah like Batman, he used his detective skills for good. So, he's a Superhero. His real crime was becoming a lame lumberjack in that last episode!

 

No. Not enough CGI.

 

His ability to fly under the radar for so long was superhuman.

 

I always thought Robin had some deep issues

 

Based on the depiction of his "real life" job, Dexter and his co-workers -- like all these TV CSI/NCIS/Law & Order investigative units -- enjoy the superpower of unlimited funding.

 

Good point. Plus all of there offices and labs, etc look so modern and high tech vs real life where office furniture looks like it came from a 1950's school house.

 

No...

He just killed small time people not major criminals like a superhero would do.

 

Only if his superpower is making me regretful that I watched his show until the end.

 

Didn't he kill several serial killers that had all of Miami on pins and needles? How is that much different than, say, the impact of the Riddler on the Gotham City citizenry?

 

Ha

 

He's certainly just as phony as a comic book superhero.

 

Sure. He helps the justice system and society in his own way to protect the innocent. Just like a Superhero.

 

He did leap tall plot holes in a single bound. Like:

One season people start finding bodies in the area where he dumped them, so he determines he has to start taking them further out and into the slipstream.

Then, in a following season, Robocop watches him dump bodies, presumably further out and in the slipstream, from shore, with binoculars.

Wasn't the original body dumping area already far enough out so that he couldn't be seen from shore, with binoculars?

 

Man, of all the plot holes in the series, that's a pretty obscure one. But not invalid...

For the record, I really liked Dexter...plots holes and all.