Pretty Super: Behind the Mask of our Fascination with Superheroes (3)

Super-heroes show us that the world is in trouble

The Good guys in trouble

Most superhero stories have fairly predictable plot-lines. They consistently feature suffering, hurt, and pain. Some even go beyond physical pain and portray characters with deep emotional angst, sorrow, and mental pain.

In superhero origin stories we see often see the hero shaped through much pain. Young Bruce Wayne’s parents are shot in front of him, paving the way for his development into the Batman.

Superman’s parents send him to Earth as their own world meets its destruction. Peter Parker (Spider-man) is molded by the tragic death of his uncle, Ben. Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America is a bullied and harrassed sickly and weak young man whose only real attractive attribute initially is his good character. Super-heroes don’t only live in a world of trouble, they are themselves troubled.

Upon taking on their mantles in their respective universes, it is not uncommon for superheroes to continue to face personal battles and difficulties, often feeling helpless and hopeless in the face of evil. In Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Alfred warns an aging and broody Bruce Wayne, perhaps grieving the death of Robin,  of ‘The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men, cruel.’ Captain America: Civil War depicts infighting and personal struggles shared by the Avengers. These stories point to a constant struggle that is not only externally against trouble around us but is internal against trouble within us.

Then there are the bad guys.

In the earlier days of modern superhero stories, bad guys were often portrayed in outlandish, sometimes even comical ways. This did not make their actions less evil or their character less bad. In fact, it was often the humour and comical portrayal of some bad guys that took the edge off the

stories while in some ways paradoxically making the antagonists that much more creepy. Characters such as Batman’s nemesis the Joker would be developed in their portrayal and would increasingly become more realistic in strategy, crime, and general psychosis.

Sometimes sub-plots within superhero stories are so gut-wrenchingly realistic and even relatable that it is easy to sympathise with Alfred the butler’s musing in the new film Justice League : “One misses the days of exploding wind up penguins.’ Other times, while the stories are spectacular they portray in a vivid visual form the struggle of battling against truly demonic forces.

This has actually been carried fairly well into many of the recent superhero movies. Think the Avengers vs. Ultron. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman vs. Doomsday. The Justice League

vs Steppenwolf. In each of these, the heroes are portrayed as the good vs the demonic evil. Like any anti-Christ figure, at times the evil protagonists come in the guise of bringing good and justice into the world, but in such a way that is itself devoid of mercy and grace.

In The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron philosophically muses of what he will bring to the world:

“I was designed to save the world. People would look to the sky and see hope... I'll take that from them first.”

Ultron bills himself as a Saviour but he has no grace or love

Elsewhere he says

“I was meant to be new. I was meant to beautiful. The world would've looked to the sky and seen hope, seen mercy. Instead, they'll look up in horror.”

Ultron sees his wanton destruction as a good thing and accomplishes his destruction without compassion on anyone and with a cruelty as hard and cold as the vibranium metal he embodies.

In Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the twisted and psychotic Lex Luthor regularly rants against God, his goodness and power. Portraying Clark Kent as the God figure, Luthor asserts that if God is all-powerful he cannot be all good, rooting his belief in that God did not keep his father from

Lex Luthor ponders concepts of deity and demons

beating him. Luthor, in creating the Doomsday monster states: ‘If man won’t kill God, the Devil will do it.’ Luthor, embracing evil, ultimately is defeated along with Doomsday. His defeat comes at great cost and much destruction, with great sacrifice and the death of a hero.

Joining us in our struggle

We are fascinated by superhero stories because, in their own way, they seem so relatable and so real. They don’t sugar-coat the realities of the world. They present trouble, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. They present a constant conflict between good and evil. They remind us of what we already know. The world is in a lot of trouble and we want, we need a hero who can come into our troubled world, join in our pain, and defeat the evil and suffering.

The Bible's greatest hero, indeed, the world's greatest hero is the historical and non-fiction Jesus Christ. His story doesn't gloss over the difficulties of human life, rather it puts political, personal, psychological, and spiritual turmoil on full display.

"He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1.11-14