i’m gonna be honest, my cardinal sin in this fanbase is being ambivalent towards zero
like, i don’t dislike him, but i have no particular affinity for him either, and though i’ve been asked if that ambivalence is a result of perceiving him as some sort of Mighty Lite i think the reason is actually the exact opposite of that - while zero occupies the narrative role of a window into the thoughts and feelings that mighty refused to ever show during his lifetime, it’s so crucial to his individual character writing that he isn’t mighty that he becomes a different entity altogether, one who’s certainly well-written but who resonates with me less
one key difference between mighty and zero, i would say, is what allows zero to act as that narrative window in the first place: he possesses a far greater capacity to detach himself from his own internal world, and tied into this, a far greater emotional intelligence. in contrast to mighty, who struggled with his own potential for violence, and max, who doesn’t even try to fight it, zero has it under control - when zero tells max “you think i can’t throw the bomb, don’t you?” it’s not an admission of vulnerability, it’s a statement of threat that puts him in a position of power over max
bearing out this theme, pretty much every association he has with mighty is zero’s albatross to bear for the sake of utilizing it to the benefit of the world and people around him. while mighty’s identity was a source of conflict for himself, it’s wielded time and time again by zero as a tool, whether to inform mighty’s loved ones of things they otherwise never would have known or to directly protect them from danger. in that utilization, there’s a distinct distance from all the things that informed mighty’s character arc - the tunnel-vision entanglement with his own guilt and frustration - and it’s fascinatingly written, to the point i think it’s the reason zero is able to recognize himself as his own person in the first place, but it’s just not as much of a focus for me
