[javert]

> I'm not sure what sort of context can explain away this real-life Randian superman. (and it's interesting that you mention Rand and crime and the Fountainhead, given that Howard Roark blew up Courtlandt Homes with dynamite)

Well, if you want to be sure, read The Fountainhead and Atlash Shrugged.

The Fountainhead is actually an explicit repudiation of Neitzche (though it is more than that).

There is a Nietzschean hero in the book---and he is driven almost to suicide, and is completely destroyed.

Rand greatly admired one aspect of Hickman: that he wasn't influenced by other people; he was fully himself. The actual hero of The Fountainhead is like that, but rather than being a destructive parasite (of self and others), he uses his independence to achieve real goals and values in life in a way that does not vicitimize anyone.

He did blow up Cortlandt Homes; importantly, nobody was in the building and nobody was harmed, and he did it because the plans for the building were essentially stolen from him. He does it to make a point, which he does make.