what if?

            Glad to have you back, this week rather than focusing on the villain and what the villain adds to the plot I thought I would discuss what a superhero means to the readers in order to further elaborate on my claim that heroes and villains are equally important. While idolizing heroes, most people think of extraordinary people with incredible powers. While this is true, readers overlook the fact that many of characters we’ve grown to idolize are wishful figments gathered into a pair of tights and a cape. In his article, Superheroes in the history of philosophy, Daniel Garber asserts that there is a certain pleasure in imagining such characters that not only protect us, but to function as models for our own lives.

In making this claim, Garber is corroborating that the role of these characters are more valuable to us than we think. Superheroes are able to answer all of the “what-if” questions that we ask ourselves. “What if I had superpowers, would I have pure intentions?” “What if people were not corrupt” “what if I could accomplish everything I set out to do” “what if I had the power to save people, would I?” “What if…” In comic books and films many of these questions are answered, we idolize these heroes for their unrealistic abilities and pure intentions as they fulfil a life style that is unattainable to us all. As a prominent philosopher Garber puts it, “Superheroes are superhuman individuals, who have a simple philosophy of life that motivates their every action. Of course, there are no such people in the world. But even so, there is a certain pleasure in imagining a world in which such titans walk the earth not only to protect us, but to function as models for our own lives”. I agree that super heroes are wishful figments, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe that a comics only purpose is to entertain.

To tie this into the theme of my blog, superheroes characters that live out the life we dream of. In a strange way, villains portray our wishes just as well. Born to be bad but held back by society, we keep ourselves from acting out on our corrupt thoughts. Just as much as we wonder “what if I could save the world” the question lingers in the back of our heads, “what if I could rule the world?” Fascinated by the corrupt nature in the villain, we fulfil the temptations to be evil but still hope for the Hero to save the day.  

These characters are valuable to more than just the plot, these characters are extreme examples of what could happen if our wishes were granted. They play out both sides of our wishes and feed off of each other to create a balance in the story similar to the balance of purity and corruption in ourselves.