Superman is a greater man than any of us

What happened to our heroes? It appears that it has been more admirable to be bad in situations where ends justify the means than doing whatever inspires people with something good.

Iron Man, Deadpool, Wolverine… These are just a few examples of some of today’s most famous and loved antiheroes. I won’t lie, I like these characters a lot too, but it seems that the interest for the ones who do not give up their principles and ideals like Captain America and Superman is over. Has the reflection of our dark times made this type of posture obsolete?

Superman is my favorite hero, and in this text, I want to explain why we still need heroes archetypes like his.

The Man of Steel is more human than us

Superman was created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel in the 1930s. Different times, right? Simpler and more bidimensional? For sure.

Since then, he has become an undisputed icon, from the comic book pages to one of the most recognized symbols in the world. I have an immense curiosity as to why his appeal is so great, if it weren’t, it wouldn’t be something so salable and loved.

He is an alien who lives on a paper planet, practically a god among us but he doesn’t make the same decisions that any of us would make if we had such power in our hands.

He’s invincible, except for those little green rocks left over from his home planet, that’s why it’s so difficult to write good stories about him, but when it happens, they are masterpieces.

You can’t create stories where the threat is stronger than him, they hardly exist. That is why his greatest enemy is an extremely intelligent human being.

Lex Luthor has no chance against Superman in a physical fight, except in the stories that he has a kryptonite suit, but these are not the best. Everything becomes more interesting when the battle is intellectual.

Since he only has one weakness what makes the man of steel interesting? He’s not like Iron Man who is a normal guy but has alcohol problems, nor Batman who is a psychotic nut who never recovered from childhood trauma.

What makes Superman incredible are the things he can do but he doesn’t. He could make Metropolis disappear from the map with the super breath, destroy the city of Gotham and all its gang of crooks and corrupt police with his laser beam vision.

There are so many things he can do, but he decides to help, and by helping I mean that he solves the problem without being the judge and much less the executioner.

I recently re-watched the hero’s adaptation for the big screen in 1978. The film that immortalized Christopher Reeve as the true Superman. If you think the idea of a guy assuming another identity just by taking off his glasses and applying gel to his hair is silly, you need to watch this movie.

Superman does not kill. He is not like Deadpool and Wolverine who are known for doing what it takes but their means are questionable, their violence is extreme. As I said before, I like these characters and they have their space. What I mean is that no one is as big as Superman. And look, I’m not even talking about strength, I’m talking about the concept.

How can that be?

Where do all these principles come from? How could an alien who came from a galaxy so far from ours, understand so much of something that humans themselves don’t? The man of steel is more human than we are. That’s where the secret is.

To explain this I need to talk about Martha and Jonathan Kent. If you don’t know, these are Clark Kent’s parents, Superman’s solid rock. All of his humanity comes from his human parents. Look where I ended up, I started talking about superheroes and I reached fatherhood.

I grew up without a father but I have an incredible mother, a responsible brother, and a grandfather of unquestionable morals. That’s where my character, my principles and everything I consider important and fundamental to life come from.

All these other anti-heroes come from unstructured family situations, grew up in hostile environments, and lived traumas that marked them for the rest of their lives. Superman suffered a big trauma, he is the last survivor of his race, but he had foundations in his training.

He learned that he should not use his skills to control or subdue other people, that despite being better than others, he should not consider himself or even think like that. His parents taught him to fight for justice and freedom.

I’m talking about a fictional character who can be considered childish because he has his origins in comics but we can learn so much from him.

Superman may not be the most popular hero today, he may seem simplistic, tacky, and even outdated but we live in times that coming back with some basic principles of heroism may be just what we need.

Captain America says something in the movie Avengers — Infinity War, that got stuck in my head. He repeatedly says the following:

“We don’t exchange lives”.

If it were Superman, he would say the same. We cannot exchange lives for anything, absolutely nothing.

Superman inspires the best in us and is currently the hero we need.