After awhile I was just gonna give in to his demands to watch Cars for the zillionth time, when I found a channel playing a Superman cartoon. My little boy stared in awe. He turns and asked me “dada, who’s that?”
I tell him “that’s Superman, baby dude” This was the first time he has seen him in action. Sure my son has seen pictures, toys, his Superman P.Js and such, but he had never seen him in a TV show or movie. We sat and watched; all the while he was asking me questions about Superman.
Questions like what he is doing, who is he fighting, and why he is fighting. I answered to the best of my knowledge. I tell him that Superman is fighting the white Martians because they want to take over the world. I tell him that Superman fights to keep people safe from bad guys.
So we watched the rest of the show. I see and hear him cheer the man of steel on when he is doing something heroic. Get upset when he is losing a fight. I look at my son, and see myself around his age first discovering my favorite heroes.
I remember the feelings I used to get watching them or reading about their adventures. I remember my first trip with my big brother to the comic shop where he bought me my first Uncanny X-Men. I try to think back to when I lost that wide eye wonder. When I thought that my heroes needed to be gritty, dark and brooding. I guess its all part of growing up. We get older and our tastes in things change with us.
Some people call heroes like Superman, and Captain America overgrown boy scouts. Their morals and values are outdated, and hold no real meaning in today’s society. They want to see movies where Batman as lunatic, Superman a killer, and Wolverine slicing and dicing everything in his path. As older fans we sometimes forget who these characters are made for.
Sometimes, the world doesn’t need an Anti-Hero. It needs a Hero.