One of the most intresting questions I've found in my life is
"Why do you like superheroes? They are fake, lame, and stupid."
While I was much younger I could never provide a good defense for this answer. Now I'm sure somebody has made an article like this before, however I do believe that I can bring a different point of view to this. A question we may find asking ourselves as fans is
"Why do I like this paticular genre?", well first and foremost I know for me I grew up with superheroes. The movies as well as tv shows. I was born in December of 94 so I have been able to see and still appreciate the best superheroes had to offer on the small screen. The 90's Spiderman series, that I hold very dear to me, Xmen,Fantastic 4. Those are shows that shaped my view of the world in a not to large way. I know for me its one of those things that taught diversity. The X men is a prime example. Storm is african, Sunfire japanese, Apocalypse egyptian, magneto polish, clolossus, russian. Being a kid I was exposed to more mature themes that other kid shows didn't provide.
Some superheroes like Superman for example give people a standered to reach for. Now of course we can't reach it, but that's the point. Spiderman, for us teenagers school, grades, college, girls might seem scarey and even though we may not have spider powers we get solutions to how to solve them. And thats the big thing.
SUPERHEROES PROVIDE ANSWERS TO LIFE WE MAY NOT HAVE.
There are many people struggling in the world. And some don't know how they will survive from one day to the next. But with the aid of whatever superhero they prefer they may in fact provide strength to go on. It could in fact come to the question as to what makes which hero good. Lets do a few.
GREEN LANTERN: Armed with the emerald ring of energy any Green Lantern can create whatever their mind can imagine. And it can be as powerful as they want it. But there's a catch. For thise who may not know THEY NEED THE WILL POWER.
That's right everyone, will power. Which in fact is a powerful thing. How many times have we had to be in a fight that we may not have even caused? And even though we may get our butts handed to a little bit we possessing will power get back up and keep fighting. And how many fights have we won cause we had the will power to continue on and get back up and keep fighting?
WILL POWER OR INNER STRENGTH KEEPS US GOING.
BATMAN: With the murder of his parents young Bruce Wayne now dedicates his life to stopping crime. So that no child may have to suffer the pain and mental agony he did.Batman has faced many baddies over the years. But one is the difinitive Batman villain...The Joker. An insane criminal mastermind who enjoys wreaking havok just for the sake of it. We've seen the Joker try to turn Batman insane MANY TIMES. Arkham Asylum is a good illustration or even TDK. The Joker tries to make Batman break his one rule...killing. So what can we learn from Batman?
We see a man who stands by his moral code and even in the face of death refuse to stop believing in that code. How many of us have had a real p***ck just make our lives miserable. It shapes us, molds us, becasue we're human, we adapt. But will we let that person break our integrity, will we become like that person? Batman may be fictional but we learn 2 things from him
NEVER LET ANOTHER'S ACTION DEFINE WHO WE ARE. YOU CAN KEEP WHATEVER INTEGRITY YOU MAY HAVE.
SILVER SURFER: The famous[at least to us]herald of Galactus. The Surfer is the guy who drops on a livly planet and says
"Hey guys your all gonna be space food for my gigantic hunger master friend. So just stay here and everyone's deaths will be over soon." its no wonder so many people hate the Surfer. But when finding Earth, thanks to the Fantastic 4 the Surfer turns his back on his semi murderous course. It reminds me of an episode of Fantastic 4 with Ghost Rider. The episode is called "When Calls Galactus". That whole scene with Ghost Rider was dare I say THE BEST SCENE ON ALL OF MARVEL ANIMATION HISTORY. Ghost Rider comes to punish Galactus when he's close to dying and cause he's killed so many. Here's Ghost Rider's line
"Feel the torment of a billion billion extinguished souls. Experience the pain...of eternal guilt." Galactus may have directly killed that many but the Surfer brought Galactus to them, so he too is responsible for cosmic scaled genocide. But after turning his back on Galactus the Surfer never looked back. And became one of Earth's last defenders. And became part of the superhero team The Defenders.
WE CAN MAKE UP FOR PAST SINS, EVEN IF WE FEEL AS THOUGH ITS NOT POSSIBLE.
The story of the Silver Surfer is one that we all should know. If we wanna be a better person WE CAN.
THE X-MEN: As a 17 year old black male I personally have not been treated with predudice, at least not for my race. My age on the other hand is a different story. The X-men are a group of mutants who are hated because they are different. I've spents some nights trying to reason why humanity would hate mutants but celebrate other superheroes. My explination is this. Humanity is jealous, because they wish they also had special abilities that make them different, that make them stand out. And because they don't they persecute mutants. But why not all superhumans. Well they represent humanity able to be special, to stick out, to be more than just human. But what they fail to realize is that THEY ALL ARE HUMAN. Each one bleeds the same blood, and breathes the same, each has the same bodily organs, and most importantly they have possess humanity.
Some of us may have been persecuted because of who we are, our religion, our sexual preference, our choice of entertainment[SUPERHEROES]but at the end of the day we are all a family. A HUMAN FAMILY. To treat others as infirior because of social status, race, age ect does make us a more diverse people. What we need is to be united, that is the first way to true peace.
WE CAN SURVIVE ANY PERSECUTION BECAUSE OF WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE BELIEVE IN. TO BE DIFFERENT IS TO BE NORMAL.
As for the rest...we see injustices go around everyday. Maybe if we look deep within ourselves we can find the strenghth to help those who can't help themselves. But some of us may have a strong heart, but a weak body. One hero we all know went through the same thing CAPTAIN AMERICA and if you wanna count him SPIDER-MAN. I'm not sayong go fight crime but there are smaller things that we can do. Maybe helping someone up if they fall. Or if you see someone getting picked on help them out. We can stand by our morals when faced with temptation of any kind. And when something happens something unspeakable. Like the TDKR shootings we may be able to be one of those fortunate people to help save a life and really be the hero that we've been reading about for years. I'm reminded of the words of Jor-El
"They are a good species Kal-El, they wish to be. All they lack is the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good I have sent them you... my only son."
In the comments section I would like for everyone to give the name of the superhero they think they are most like, and give a personality reason as to why they feel they are that hero. Yes multiple heroes do count.