Byrne Robotics: What makes a super hero?

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Topic: What makes a super hero?

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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 24 September 2018 at 9:16am \| IP Logged \| 1	post reply

I pulled this question from another topic. What makes someone a super hero? The question is easy. It's the answer that's hard.

Is it super powers? Is it wearing a costume? Is it abilities above and beyond those of ordinary mortals? Is it operating undercover?

Try a little experiment. Pick, say, the first dozen members of the Avengers (including characters such as Rick Jones and Edwin Jarvis) and the Justice League of America (including Snapper Carr) and identify which are super heroes and which are not. Or use any era, I guess, and any fairly large number of members and associates.

Stretch it if you can. Was Bucky a super hero? Is Hal Jordan? Try to find the factors that you think comprise a super hero.

I sat down and checked my thoughts on the matter and reached two conclusions.

A) Robert Heinlein, my favorite author, described a superman as someone who can think better than a standard homo sapiens. Is it elitist? It absolutely is... but so is the phrase "superman." But I see a point to be made there.

B) My definition of a super hero is someone who goes to extraordinary effort or extraordinary time investment to strive for the common good. Are police super heroes? Generally not, because they put in their efforts as part of their jobs... but sometimes they might be. Are firemen super heroes? They're pretty close to a real world example. Is Dr. Doom a super hero? He is to the citizens of Latveria.

Some are born super heroes, some assume the mantle of super heroism, and some have the situation laid upon them. And I know that by my definition, there are super heroes in the real world. I can accept that... a man who saves a family from drowning by getting them out of a submerged car doesn't have to speak with fish, or shoot green energy bolts, or outfight two dozen armed men. I can assure you that he's a super hero to the family he saved!

What are your opinions? What makes a super hero?

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Rich Marzullo
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Posted: 24 September 2018 at 9:24am \| IP Logged \| 2	post reply

I guess I'm too innocent for this world: a super hero is a hero with super powers. So, the way I see it, super heroes would be confined to comic books and fiction in general.

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Marc Baptiste
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Posted: 24 September 2018 at 9:34am \| IP Logged \| 3	post reply

I'm with Rich, a hero with super powers.

Marc

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Brian Hughes
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Posted: 24 September 2018 at 9:49am \| IP Logged \| 4	post reply

So Batman is not s super hero?

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John Byrne
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Posted: 24 September 2018 at 10:12am \| IP Logged \| 5	post reply

Batman is a costumed crimefighter, like Green Arrow or Hawkeye.

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Peter Martin
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Posted: 24 September 2018 at 10:22am \| IP Logged \| 6	post reply

Neither super powers nor a secret identity are required.

A super hero fights crime, helps those in need and a super hero does it for noble reasons � because it's the right thing to do. They do not do it for pay.

A super hero is superior in some way (physically, technologically, mentally, including possibly with super-human powers) to those that comprise the society around them.

A super hero has two identities, both of which may be publicly known: their real name and their super hero name. They will have a costume when operating under their super hero identity, which is when they will fight crime.

So, Hercule Poirot is not a superhero. He only has the one identity. He does not wear a costume. He only goes by his real name.

Jim Gordon is not a superhero. He fights crime, but it's his paid job. Nor does he wear a costume.

Doc Savage is someone who is close to being a superhero but just falls short, I think. He has mental and physical abilities that set him apart from normal folk. He fights crime and does it because of a moral obligation as opposed to being paid to. But no costume.

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Jack Bohn
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Posted: 28 September 2018 at 7:39am \| IP Logged \| 7	post reply

I wonder if there shouldn't be some aspect of generalism included. As a kid, I might hope Superman would get me out of a jam, if I were lost, or the frisbee got stuck on the roof, while I don't think I ever thought Ultraman would -- unless my predicament were caused by a giant monster. He-Man, who seems only to repel foreign attacks on Eternia, does not quite make it. Hercules seems closer to superhero than -say- Perseus. Hercules had his wide-ranging labors; Perseus borrowed Hermes's winged sandals, but went straight out to get Medusa's head and come back. Legends arose of Hercules stopping by places to help with their problem, or fight their local champ. Aesop even records a farmer who prayed for Hercules to get his cart out of the muck, with the famous response, "The gods help those who help themselves."

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John Byrne
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Posted: 28 September 2018 at 8:51am \| IP Logged \| 8	post reply

One of the downsides of the more general acceptance of superheroes we've been seeing in recent years -- the proliferation of superhero movies being the biggest example -- is that civilians have taken to using comicbook terms, and using them incorrectly.

When I'm at a social gathering and someone refers to "word bubbles" I sigh silently to myself and let the conversation drift on. When so august a publication as SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN refers to "evil superheroes", instead of supervillains, I can but shrug and turn the page.

It's kind of like the way "selfie" has come to be used to describe any kind of portrait photography.

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Robbie Parry
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Posted: 28 September 2018 at 9:06am \| IP Logged \| 9	post reply

'Evil superheroes' is a contradiction in terms. I am surprised someone at SCIENTIFIC AMERICA hasn't picked up on that.

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Stephen Churay
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Posted: 28 September 2018 at 11:25am \| IP Logged \| 10	post reply

When you guys figure this out, please
inform DC. They really need to know.
Apparently Didio's idea of a superhero is
a costumed character that mourns the death
of another costumed character.

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Thomas Fels
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Posted: 28 September 2018 at 12:54pm \| IP Logged \| 11	post reply

If we all accept that Superman was the first superhero, then shouldn't all characters who could replace him in his stories without changing the feel of the story dramatically, be a superhero? And those who would change the feel of the story would not be superheroes.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 28 September 2018 at 1:15pm \| IP Logged \| 12	post reply

��

Feel? Can we guarantee that any given story will have the same "feel" from one person to the next?

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