O.K. Let's look at this rant in some detail. (It's going to be a long post)
This doesn't justify Herman breaking the law and robbing banks, but the story does point out the differences between criminal supervillans and psycho supervillains. Herman is mostly in the former category, but he has issues, as will be seen below.
And as for his attitudes, imagine that you pour your heart into your life's work, and every few months a person comes by to wreck it all and make fun of you at the same time. That Herman sees Peter as some sort of demon in human form isn't that surprising.
This also indicates some of his blind-spots, and he has a lot of them. One spot is that he is a criminal and by society's rules he should go to jail. It's something that he knows on one level, but doesn't accept on another.
Herman is underestimating Peter's inteligence here, but then he doesn't really know Peter. That is important, because much of this is Herman's projections onto Peter than Peter's actual motivations. This rant shows the world from Herman's P.O.V, not necessarily reality. Peter beats him up and makes fun of him. Therefore, Peter is a bully just like any other bully who beats people up while mocking them, as shown in the following:
Herman, however, is very insightful in some ways and very blind in others. This is a large part of what makes him an interesting character in all of this. He can unravel the grand conspiracies of the world and fundamental vibrational forces of the universe, but the tangled mess that is his life and the other mess that is in his head are largely beyond him.
Spiderman has become his primary nemesis in life, and Herman is projecting aspects of other enemies on to Peter as follows:
Again, he's being insighful and blind at the same time. Herman has a lock on some of the reasons behind Peter's actions, but not all of them.
In my opinion, Herman's skewed P.O.V. is the most interesting aspect of the story. He sees some aspects of the world more clearly than almost anyone else, but completely misses other areas. He talks about people with amazing powers they don't use to their full advantage, but he has an intelect that impresses Reed Richards, invetions that Tony Stark drools over, and he uses them to rob banks. Herman is a very messed up person, and we are along for the ride from behind his eyes.
----------
No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.
Quote:
Do you know, do you know how much time I used to take to plan heists? Days! Weeks! Do you know how much effort, how much fucking WORK would go into making sure I could minimize casualties, minimize property damage, maximize profit, plan a safe escape route, make sure everyone got a fair cut so there wouldnt be any backstabbing, the organization, the fucking hours upon hours of mapping and strategizing every possible scenario? And then THWIP THWIP THWIP, JOKE JOKE JOKE, its over!
This doesn't justify Herman breaking the law and robbing banks, but the story does point out the differences between criminal supervillans and psycho supervillains. Herman is mostly in the former category, but he has issues, as will be seen below.
And as for his attitudes, imagine that you pour your heart into your life's work, and every few months a person comes by to wreck it all and make fun of you at the same time. That Herman sees Peter as some sort of demon in human form isn't that surprising.
Quote:One of the big issues that Herman has is he doesn't deal well with people laughing at him. As a life-long nerd, I can relate to the scars that ridicule can leave.
Its over and Im in prison, do you know what happens in PRISON, real PRISON Felicia? Im not a meta, I dont get my own special cell; you get BEATEN in prison, you get STABBED in prison, you get RAPED in prison, and every second of it youre hearing his fucking jokes in your head!
This also indicates some of his blind-spots, and he has a lot of them. One spot is that he is a criminal and by society's rules he should go to jail. It's something that he knows on one level, but doesn't accept on another.
Quote:
And how did he do it? How did he beat me? Is he smarter than me? No, no hes not fucking smarter, or more clever; he didnt fucking plan, or put forth any real effort. Hes just STRONGER. FASTER. And he KNOWS IT, and thats why he does it.
Herman is underestimating Peter's inteligence here, but then he doesn't really know Peter. That is important, because much of this is Herman's projections onto Peter than Peter's actual motivations. This rant shows the world from Herman's P.O.V, not necessarily reality. Peter beats him up and makes fun of him. Therefore, Peter is a bully just like any other bully who beats people up while mocking them, as shown in the following:
Quote:I already covered the bully view. This is the point at which Herman shows he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. We know Peter takes on any threat and he doesn't just fight people he knows he can beat. We know his jokes are to cover his fear. We know he fights real chalenges and Herman seems to have conveniently skipped over the fact that Peter is now part of the Avengers who "handle the REAL challenges". We know that Peter fights the same bunch of guys over and over because, like Herman, those villains are obsessed wtih Peter and they come gunning for him, or they have some connection to Peter's civilian life. We also know that every established hero has a set of badguys like this.
Do you think for a moment, for even a fucking moment that creep would take on a foe he wasnt sure that he could beat? I dont think he would; hes leave it to the Avengers, or Dare-Devil; theyre the ones who handle the REAL challenges. You know why hes always fighting the same fifteen or so guys? Because he KNOWS he can take them down, because he KNOWS hell be able to crack at least one joke at their expense. You think he ever tries to, to TALK to these people? You think he ever tried to TALK to Aleksei? No, and you know why? Because hes a fucking BULLY.
Herman, however, is very insightful in some ways and very blind in others. This is a large part of what makes him an interesting character in all of this. He can unravel the grand conspiracies of the world and fundamental vibrational forces of the universe, but the tangled mess that is his life and the other mess that is in his head are largely beyond him.
Spiderman has become his primary nemesis in life, and Herman is projecting aspects of other enemies on to Peter as follows:
Quote:
Thats all he is, another fucking BULLY, like my father, like The Kingpin, another asshole with fucking low self esteem and an attitude problem; if you think he does this shit for anybody but himself, youre wrong, he does it out of, there must be some kind of, some kind of trigger, some kind of event that made him feel like a bad guy, or a victim, maybe he was a nerd in high school, maybe something worse, but it fucked his head up FOR LIFE.
Again, he's being insighful and blind at the same time. Herman has a lock on some of the reasons behind Peter's actions, but not all of them.
Quote:Herman is missing at leas two key things here. One, that what messed up Peter's life is his own inaction, so he is now unable to stand aside. Two, no body sees themselve's as the bad guy and everyone thinks their actions are justified, so Herman keeps losing sight of the fact that he and the people he goes drinking with are THE BAD GUYS here.
So now he feels this need to melodramatically martyr himself at the expense of others; all the tragedies in his life that he moans about on the rare occasions that we, his clowns, his victims, challenge what hes doing, that Gwen Stacey woman Norman Osborn killed, every single one of them are HIS FAULT. And he knows it, and oh, he cries about it, but he doesnt care, not really, because he keeps putting on the mask, keeps cracking jokes. You honestly think with all the Super-Heroes in New York we couldnt live without Spiderman? WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.
Quote:Again, all of this is from Herman's P.O.V., and again, he can handle being beaten up and sent to jail, but not being laughted at. Most of this is Herman projecting rather than Peter's motivations, but there is a grain of truth in there that Peter does sometimes become a bit cruel in his humor. Since the people he's making fun of are criminals in the act of commiting crimes, they are sort of asking for it as they are asking for a punch in the nose, but Herman can't handle the mockery as well as he handles the violence.
What do you think hed do, Felicia, if he knew what we knew? That the accident was all planned, that NONE of it was fucking destiny, that it was all my father and some other jack-ass generals trying to build an army to kill Galactus with? What then? Hed fucking FALL APART, because he needs, he needs, HE NEEDS to believe hes the most important person in the world, that hes the main character, the protagonist! That hes the one who the audience loves-
The audience? Felicia says, raising her eyebrows.
IN LIFE, THERE IS ALWAYS AN AUDIENCE! I nearly scream. And at least when you fight Captain America, when you fight Dare-Devil, when you fight Iron Fist or Luke Cage or any of them, they treat you like an opponent, like a threat, and, if youre not being a fucking evil asshole, theyll even show you a little respect. They recognize the work, the fact that hey, maybe our lives arent a fucking cake-walk, that were not international celebrities with our own action figures, and that yeah, were people too. That Im a person too! Im not just that costume, that costume that took me three years to build and that he LAUGHS at, but that theres a person under there.
In my opinion, Herman's skewed P.O.V. is the most interesting aspect of the story. He sees some aspects of the world more clearly than almost anyone else, but completely misses other areas. He talks about people with amazing powers they don't use to their full advantage, but he has an intelect that impresses Reed Richards, invetions that Tony Stark drools over, and he uses them to rob banks. Herman is a very messed up person, and we are along for the ride from behind his eyes.
----------
No, I don't believe the world has gone mad. In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.