10 Legal Problems Superheroes Don't Like To Talk About

DC and Marvel comics are rife with heroes and villains who are sovereign heads of state of their specific homelands - royalty, dictators-for-life, even elected officials. For example, Doctor Doom is the dictator of Latveria in Eastern Europe and Black Adam the tyrant ruler of Kahndaq in the Middle East. The Black Panther is king of the rich and advanced African civilisation of Wakanda, while Black Bolt is the king of all the Inhumans, and Namor and Aquaman are kings of Atlantis in the Marvel and DC universes, respectively.

That whole ‘sovereign state’ thing isn’t the magic bullet you’d think it is, though. For a start, sovereignty is something recognised by others, and not necessarily just assumed by oneself. That’d probably help to prevent any old tinpot supervillain from buying an island and naming himself emperor of Deathlandia - Magneto, in particular, has met with little in the way of success in trying to found a mutants-only nation.

Then there’s the issue of hidden nations. Since being internationally recognised is fundamental to claiming sovereignty, if your nation is one that remains a secret - as Wonder Woman’s island home of Themyscira was for centuries. Moreover, Themyscira has the ability to magically transport itself to any other location, meaning that its borders can be considered to be in flux. At various times, Wakanda has also been a hidden state, making international recognition of its sovereignty and monarchy questionable.

Getting into the issue of Atlantis is an even more complicated issue, since Atlantis is regularly considered to be underwater, and the sea is considered to be international waters, which creates whole new territorial issues. Moreover, Atlantis usually formally considers itself to have legal and moral jurisdiction over the seas themselves, not just a few square miles at the bottom of the ocean. That’s 71% of the earth’s surface. No wonder Namor and Arthur have issues with being taken seriously by the governments of the world.

Now, even once you’re past that hurdle, having acknowledged diplomatic status grants a certain degree of immunity from prosecution - but it doesn’t give you the automatic right to enter another country. It’s a time-honoured tradition for a sovereign state to show its irritation with the acts or omissions of another sovereign state by kicking out any representatives of their governments.

There’s also the possibility of embargoes, sanctions, the abandonment of trade, refusal to allow emigration, and even such things as UN-sanctioned drone strikes or worse.

Let’s put it this way: if you’re a superhero king, president or despot of a foreign power and you want to carry on superheroing outside of your own borders, you’ll need to ensure - even more than your non-governmental colleagues - that you keep your nose fairly clean. The results could have repercussions far in excess of a little light litigation.