It almost feels unfair to state that heroes are just as destructive as villains, especially since the former doesn’t mean to cause the damage they do. Plus, it’s tough to think about preserving anything while in the middle of battle, especially against an enemy that has no regard for anything or anyone that might be caught in the crossfire. A situation in which there’s little to no chance to keep any damages from happening is kind of a tough one, but there are other times when the devastation that is caused should be able to be lessened, but it’s not. Many might want to claim extenuating circumstances when it comes to the types of damage that can bring down buildings or otherwise endanger the inhabitants of one location or another. But despite their desire to save lives and do as little damage as possible, the power that many heroes possess is simply too great to be used within a city or populated area without incurring any damage. Out in the open countryside, heroes and villains can often do battle without too many consequences. But as it’s been seen in the movies and on TV, such fights usually happen at the moment, wherever they are.
There have been fights that have taken place in areas where the damage is far less, but all too often it’s seen that one fight or another will end up causing enough damage to make a lot of people wonder if having heroes around is such a great thing. The devastation that’s caused during one battle or another often becomes so terrible that one can only hope that those with the means would be helping put things back together, as individuals such as Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne would be in a perfect position to do so. Those who have the power to destroy could also be utilized when it comes to helping rebuild, as has been seen a few times in the comics.
But trying to determine who does more damage, a hero or a villain, is kind of tough, since a lot of villains are bent on destroying whatever they see. Some want to break things down to rebuild them in their own image, while others are all about destruction, pure and simple. Hero’s on the other hand are usually those that are out to save civilization and keep it from crumbling, often in a literal sense. So, one of the most obvious answers is that villains do far more damage than heroes when it comes to willful destruction, but heroes often create collateral damage that they’re blamed for since people are of the mind that a hero should do as little damage as possible when trying to save people. This is the idea behind a hero after all, that they’re there to save the day and keep the world from falling apart. Unfortunately, as it’s been seen in the comics and the movies, as well as the TV shows, the raw power that heroes need to possess to contend with the villains often becomes too much for the surrounding area to withstand, and damages abound to happen.
Expecting heroes to do as little damage as possible is kind of ridiculous since in the heat of battle there’s not much that can be done when the fight is taking place within a city or in an area where there are plenty of people in harm’s way. The idea that the extensive damages to New York in the first Avengers movie was the fault of the Avengers is kind of ludicrous since it’s not as though they could have asked the Chitauri and Loki to take things away from the city. Loki was intent on messing things up, and the team had no way to redirect the fight to another venue with fewer people. The same can’t really be said of the Superman vs. General Zod fight since the man of steel helped to tear apart a town, and a huge chunk of Metropolis, even if he didn’t mean to do so much damage. The point though is that heroes, for all their good intentions, do manage to tear things up in a big way.
Does this mean that heroes should be kept in check? The easy answer is no since heroes need to be strong to protect those who can’t protect themselves from supervillains. But the reality is that heroes do just as much damage as villains sometimes, and at other times they do even more. This appears to be a common hazard that comes with the presence of heroes, but at the same time, it’s not something that can be avoided entirely. The only real upside is that at some point the heroes should hopefully be able to help build and restore what they destroy.