I love The Flash, even though it's pretty much a more colorful carbon copy of Arrow. One thing I don't get though is how "metahuman" is an insult. When Plastique was told she was a meta, she looked angry and Caitlin had to tell her it was just an expression. In the Arrow/Flash crossover, Oliver told Barry not to call the metas metahumans in a disapproving tone. I think there are a few more instances but I cant remember them.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS! Question about The Flash: Why is "metahuman" an insult?
- Thread starter Bob_McMillan
- Start date
Maybe because it's similar to calling someone a subhuman. I guess the name would make them feel like they were no longer part of humanity.
Sounds like DC's response to what Marvel's been doing since the civil rights movement - creating characters discriminated against because they're different. Since "Mutant" and "Inhuman" were taken, their word of choice is "Metahuman". Doesn't have quite the punch of "mutant" when you put it on a protest sign does it?
The underlying reasoning would be that it's an attempt to distance the supers from human, though I can only recall it being used clinically in other D.C. Comic material beforehand, so...
As far as i can remember metahuman is the basic term to describe anyone in the DC universe who has the metagene, i believe the term also has some crossover with characters like superman who despite being alien has simular traits to a typical metahuman.
Im not sure what context the flash tv series uses it in other than a simple catch all term for people altered by the reactor explosion. If the show does use it as some form of perjorative then it's pretty subtle can't say ive picked up on it during the show.
*Edit* After some thought i remember the scene from the crossover a little now and im pretty sure arrow was disaproving not because of the metahuman name but flash's carefree attitude to whole sitution, the impression i got was that arrow wanted flash to stop treating fighting crime like a game and he tried to scare him into toughing up before he got himself or other people killed.
I dont recall any specific examples of metahumans being discriminated against in the comics or other media either, from what i have observed with DC metahuman's are treated pretty much the same as everyone else, only arrested if they are criminals and not because they have powers, i admit though my DC knowledge is pretty limited so maybe i am mistaken on this point.
Side note all DC metahumans gain their power from the sun just like superman.
Im not sure what context the flash tv series uses it in other than a simple catch all term for people altered by the reactor explosion. If the show does use it as some form of perjorative then it's pretty subtle can't say ive picked up on it during the show.
*Edit* After some thought i remember the scene from the crossover a little now and im pretty sure arrow was disaproving not because of the metahuman name but flash's carefree attitude to whole sitution, the impression i got was that arrow wanted flash to stop treating fighting crime like a game and he tried to scare him into toughing up before he got himself or other people killed.
I dont recall any specific examples of metahumans being discriminated against in the comics or other media either, from what i have observed with DC metahuman's are treated pretty much the same as everyone else, only arrested if they are criminals and not because they have powers, i admit though my DC knowledge is pretty limited so maybe i am mistaken on this point.
Side note all DC metahumans gain their power from the sun just like superman.
In the conversation between Barry and Oliver, I believe Oliver's point was that Barry was not taking things serious enough, as if it was all a game or a "comic book" to him. Oliver's world involves a darker, more lethal, side of humanity, which they touched on in the crossover.Bob_McMillan said:
I may be wrong but I gather Plastique's reaction was more of a "what did you just call me?" reaction as the term metahuman has not been widely used outside the Flash's clique up to that point.
Not necessarily. Depending on if you are looking at The Flash/ The Arrow TV Continuity or the DC Comics. In the shows, so far all meta's are the product of the Star Labs experiment event. In the comics, a metahuman is someone that has internal powers, as opposed to getting them from an outside source. These are situations where the metagene gets activated by some event.Seishisha said:
Generally the source of someone's powers can be broken down into a handful of categories:
Metahumans: humans like the Flash, or Killer Croc, that have internal powers above the normal human. Also sometimes used to describe "human-like" aliens with internal powers like Superman, although I believe that is used incorrectly.
Magic: Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel/ Shazam, John Constantine. Someone that gets their powers from a mystical source.
Skill or Technology: Batman, Lex Luthor, Green Arrow. Normal humans that get their abilities from training, skill, or technological gadgets they use.
As far was where people gain their powers, I am a few episodes behind on The Flash tv series so I do not know if they have changed this yet, but in the comics, the Flash taps into an extra-dimensional energy called the Speed Force for his powersource, not the sun. Other metas also have different sources for their powers other than the sun.
A metahuman is, by definition, not human. It's a lot like a human, but it isn't one, and when that difference is being determined by an outside party who wishes to inflict violence upon your person, it comes off like an attempt to reduce her from a person to a thing whom it is okay to beat the shit out of because it's not like she's human or anything. She's some other.Bob_McMillan said:
Being that "meta" means "beyond" or "after" it can be taken that metahuman means "beyond human" or "after human" meaning the next step in human development or an evolutionary leap forward.JimB said:
There is a chance someone could be using it against others as an "othering" effect, but being that unlikely to be a reduction as it is more akin to calling someone a superhuman or übermensch, or super-frikkin-awesome-human as I am sure Cisco Ramon would call them.
But someone can take offense at anything if they really want to.
I don't think it's really an insult, it would depend anyway on how the term is used and how the group that the term describes is taking being called metahuman.
Personally I would say that it has the problem that it could be seen as separating people from the rest of humanity and thus inviting racism issues. So someone could take offense because he gets the impression others don't see them as human beings anymore.
Personally I would say that it has the problem that it could be seen as separating people from the rest of humanity and thus inviting racism issues. So someone could take offense because he gets the impression others don't see them as human beings anymore.
Except he didn't call her superhuman or ubermensch or super-frikkin-awesome-human, did he? He called her metahuman, and then I assume he punched her approximately eighteen times per second (I haven't seen the episode in question but it's a superhero show so I feel comfortable this guess isn't far wrong).kris40k said:
Plastique (Bette) goes back to STAR Labs with the Flash as he informs her that they can help her figure out what is going on with her new powers that she is not in complete control of, while also postponing her current revenge killing plot. No high-speed punching required. She doesn't completely trust them yet but is willing to go along with it for the moment. Conversation between her and Caitlin while I think Caitlin was setting up a lab test:JimB said:
Bette: So this is your life now, huh? Testing people like me?
Caitlin: Stopping people like you. It's not what I thought I'd be doing. Actually, aside from Barry, you're the first meta-human that we've tested.
Bette: Meta-human?
Caitlin: It's just a term. Oh, my God, what happened? Why didn't you say that you were shot?
Bette: It's just a graze.
Reply is a little late but here goes.kris40k said:
I was refering to the comic's rather than the show, i always thought that the magic user's in DC were infact a seperate form of humanity like an evolutionary offshoot so i wouldnt class them as metahumans even if they do have powers, but that is just arguing semantics.
Techbased heroes are definatly not meta though since they have no inherant power.
In the comics the speedforce does indeed give the flash his speed, and all speedsters tap into it aswell if i recall, so maybe the DC speedsters are a somewhat isolated metahuman in that regard. Im certain that during one of the comic series possibly invasion, the source of metagene power is revealed to be earth's yellow sun, the sun isnt nessicarly the triggering factor to gaining power but it is what allows that power to work.
I guess my original post was a little lacking in context so i hope that helps explain what i meant, but as i said earlier my DC knowledge is a little lacking so i could be wrong.