Superheroes! They’re everywhere – comic books, film, television and various merchandise! Over the years they’ve made their way into the hearts of many people from all over the world. Space soldiers with rubber suits, crime-fighting vigilantes, scientific experiments, demigods, artificial beings, wizards and in rare cases aliens – all of them imbued with abilities most people dream of. That’s all it is, right? Extraordinary people with extraordinary gifts created for the sake of entertainment.
That was a trick question. There’s so much more to them than meets the eye, really! Yes, the designated suit and power a superhero possess do in fact fit the bill for a general description, but other than that what else can we know about him/her? Behind the scenes, during the making of a hero, its creators are additionally tasked with assigning character traits, virtues. After going through various iterations, the final product becomes less of an illustration and more of a sentient being. Intermittently enchanting, wise and very helpful – between fictional heroes and real life people there’s not much of a difference when you think about it.. What makes an imaginary idol is his integrity, ambitions, ideals. The exceptional talents are merely a luxury. And the suit? A stylish accessory.
Take away the disadvantageous superpower and you get a perfectly normal individual. Throwing away the suit is optional.. and there’s always a Comic-Con to wear it to (unless you happen to grow out of it). They say nothing lasts forever.. but to what extent? There seems to be no universal solution to every problem. In turn, no matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around. How does one cope with that? You never know. You hope for the best, then make do with what you get. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts in the mud and try to build something better – they are currently unknown forces that don’t want us to realize what we are truly capable of. They don’t want us to know that the things we suspect about ourselves are REAL.
And believe me, they are extraordinary. A strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power. But a weak man who knows the value of strength and knows compassion – that’s a superhero. Fictional characters are often attributed special powers. Invisibility, x-ray vision, things of that sort. In the real world it’s just an exaggeration of the truth. Maybe it’s based on something as basic as instinct! A rather unbelievable possiblity first-hand, yes! But should we give it a bit more thought there’s no denying that however unelievable, it is now more of a probability! It’s good to keep an open mind. In the end it’s also really hard to pick villains and heroes. Obviously, some of them have made mistakes, but we should really be rooting for all of them to improve in their own way. So if I were to wrap this up, tie it with a bow, or whatever.. I concede that it’s best in the words of the recently deceased Stan Lee: ‘That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.’
