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In One-Star Squadron #3, Superman shows up to deal with an problem, subsequently failing to acknowledge or deal with another issue he helped cause.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers from One-Star Squadron #3, on sale now from DC Comics.
Superman finally confronted the corporate offices of Heroz4U, ready to berate them for their shameless use of heroes for profit and demeaning what it means to protect the world. However, despite his holier than thou approach, he only seemed to confront the concept of the organization and not the reason for its existence. More specifically, he did not acknowledge that Gangbuster, a hero from his own city, is enduring suffering of his own. Superman has a history with the Metropolis hero, but if his intentions to shut down Heroz4U proceed, his former ally will be robbed of one of the few things helping him at the moment.
As of One-Star Squadron #3 (by Mark Russell, Steve Lieber, Dave Stewart, and Dave Sharpe), Gangbuster is still disheveled and suffering from memory loss. He doesn’t know what happened to him or what his personal life was like before he was afflicted with amnesia. At the moment, the only way he has of supporting himself is by working with Heroz4U. The company has a program designed to help struggling heroes who fall on hard times, and the destitute Metropolis hero is a prime beneficiary.
Now, Superman wants to get rid of Heroz4U because he feels it cheapens the idea of what a hero should be. The idea that they can sell their services for money takes away from the concept of volunteering to do good works because it is the right thing to do. While this is a noble belief, even Superman doesn’t seem ready to confront what shutting down the company would mean on the base level. He preferred to confront the faceless board of executives, dealing with their flattery and schmoozing instead of looking at the people who would be genuinely affected by this course of action, including his old friend and ally.
Gangbuster was introduced in Adventures of Superman #434 (by Marv Wolfman and Jerry Ordway). Unlike most other heroes in Metropolis, Jose Delgado was an ordinary human being. His skills as a boxer gave him the opportunity to help protect his streets from organized crime as Gangbuster. In one instance, he even saved Superman from embarrassment after Lex Luthor tried to frame him for crimes he did not commit. Superman actually briefly became Gangbuster after suffering memory loss similar to what Delgado is now experiencing. However, it now appears that the Man of Steel has forgotten how his old friend helped him, and even worse appears unwilling to return the favor.
Giving Superman the benefit of the doubt, it’s entirely possible that no one outside of Heroz4U knows about the problems Gangbuster is experiencing at the moment. By all accounts, it seems he dropped out of the hero game for a time and established his own life. Superman might assume that his old friend has retired and is now living life as he pleases.
Even so, it’s still not fair that he hasn’t considered the ramifications of what shutting Heroz4U down will do to the heroes the organization supports. Superman seems to be focused on the negatives surrounding the company and is completely ignoring the positive way it helps struggling heroes. Granted, the job isn’t glamorous, but it provides for the people under the company’s employ and gives them a support network. Shutting down the company would almost certainly mean further destroying the lives of heroes like Gangbuster by taking away their only means of support.
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