I was sitting at my computer, listening to music and thinking. Terrorist attacks, teen suicides, ect. The general public enjoy superhero movies but they don't read the comics. What they fail to realize in my opinion is that, these characters are important. Captain America, Spider-Man and Superman are the three that come to mind to me, despite my general dislike for Superman. I won't lie to you, while what had me depressed was nothing to get as depressed as I got about it, it really made me think of who I am as a person, my screw ups and why people in general dislike me. It made me think that, maybe I should cut myself. Though no, I never did. I got to thinking about all that and realized, people think they've got it bad. If they're depressed and what not, why not look up to a hero? I see it a lot in people my age, it irritates me and their actions make me think "why?". So, Why do Captain America, Spider-Man and Superman become three of the most important characters in comics that should effect the general public? Well, let's see.
Captain America
Steve Rogers was skinny, weak and had a lot of physical imperfections. He's what I feel that, a lot of people should aspire to be. He's good for the sake of being good. He's that type of guy. Despite being the physical peak of humans, he's not a perfect person. During the storyline where we were introduced to, The Winter Soldier. Although it wasn't by his design, it's proof that our past may come back to haunt us at some point in our lives. It tears the poor man apart, the way he deals with it is simple. He goes after it and defeats it. He pushes through the pain. There are people like him in real life, the U.S military. Marines, Navy Seal, ect. They protect us. They make us feel safe. They also exist in our local cities and towns all over the world, they're called the Police. People these days feel the need to take matters into their own hands, that's never a good thing. Steve Rogers fought back against Tony Stark In the Civil War storyline and he nearly beat him to death. Personally, I view us humans as animals, monsters if you will. It's our nature to kill, be violent. But, it's also in our nature to be like Steve Rogers. Kind, loving, care for one another. Everyone is like Steve Rogers, it's a matter of our actions and the actions of people around us, close to us that I ultimately feel we misbehave and become our weaker, more violent selves. There's a reason for everything we do. Erskine said in Captain America: The First Avenger "Stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier but, a good man" that is something I feel is very important. Steve Rogers doesn't like bullies. Nobody does but, at some point in our lives we are. Even if we can't admit it. Steve Rogers is important beyond comics because he's the type of person we can be, the type of person we ultimately should be.
Spider-Man
Peter Parker is pretty obvious why he's important. It's always been obvious. He's the everyday man who learns responsibility. Every boy looks up to his father as his hero. For me, it wasn't just my father, it was Peter Parker. I felt like I was Peter Parker. I've always been the outcast, weak, girls never found me "attractive". He's the shining example of why even though we're an outcast that, we still need to be responsible. Which let's face it, no teenager is. Especially this days, at least to me. It's always drinking, drugs, driving under the influence, ect. Yet, when someone close to them dies and they boohoo and cry, they don't blame themselves. They go into depression mode and ask themselves why it couldn't be them instead of their (friend, family, whatever). They ruin their futures with drugs and alcohol, nobody cares about education anymore and it's truly sad.
Our actions reflect who we are and they ultimately have consequences and they affect and shape us into the person we're "suppose" to be. It would be hypocritical of me to personally say this but, why can't we all be just responsible? Peter Parker didn't do the right thing, it came back and bit him and now he's responsible. It shaped him for the better. Problem is, nobody cares anymore. Everyone thinks they've got the worse end of the deal when they don't somebody in the world has it worse than you. Peter Parker shows us to be responsible but, to me, shows us to be happy and accept the things and people we have In our life. Honestly, last summer I read the first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man and I felt bad about myself as a person. I had realized how much of a dick I am towards others and how I need to be more responsible.
Superman
"It's not an "S", on my world it means hope"
Keyword, hope. That is what Superman as a being stands for. I recall when the boston bombing happened, Levitikuz made an admirable article on this site, about why it's the perfect time for the return of Superman and how it's similar to why when 9/11 happened, it was the perfect time for Spider-Man. I will have to agree with him. Superman is a symbol of hope and as David Goyer said, it's what the world needs right now. People don't have hope these days and it's truly saddening. Children, teenagers and adults. They don't have hope these days for whatever the reason it may be. The reason Superman is so important is cause despite being a fictional character, he gives us hope and like Captain America, he's the ideal of WHO people should be. Especially with the terrorist attacks that happen in the world. I honestly, don't have a lot to say on this and I apologize. My expectancies of things and how predictable things like terrorist attacks are (not when they happen but, predictable as in that they will happen again) really make this be a reasonably length section of the article. I look at things realistically when it comes to that and those things don't affect me.
Bottom line: I'm sure what the characters are, are obvious. But, when you compare them to how people are these days in behavior, beliefs, everything. It's not hard to see why these characters are so important to the real world and that the general public should take a deeper look at these characters and realize that they are us. They're not perfect but, they show us what and who can be. There is hope and that making the right choices and being a good person morally, ect and taking responsibility will give us good, healthy lives and that nothing will ever feel as bad as they do.
Agree? Disagree? Comment below.