It seems there are a lot of comic book character movies coming out over the next few years, and one cannot help but feel some pity for these characters. They are generally alienated from the mainstream of society, rarely have meaningful social interaction, and are precluded from normal family life by the very genetics that makes them heroes.
Take for instance Superman. It is impossible for him to have normal intimate relationships with any Earth woman. In the throes of passion, he would probably crush her death, or cause her severe internal injuries during the act of procreation.
Even artificial insemination would cause problems. All those millions of super-sperms battling for one or two available egg cells would create havoc. Such super-cells would be able to easily tear through human tissue to be the first to reach the egg. This would cause incredible amounts of microscopic internal bleeding.
The idea of implanting a fertilised egg is also without merit. Imagine when the newly-forming child started to kick. Again, no mortal woman could survive that.There would be similar problems with Wonder Woman killing her partner during lovemaking. Also, could a human baby survive in Wonder Woman’s womb, or would it be crushed.
The Hulk already has severe social issues, not improved by his inability to form a meaningful relationship with anyone of either sex. And as for starting a family, there would be few that would want to mix genes with the Hulk. Also, like Superman, there are the physical impossibilities and dangers to any potential partners.
And so it goes on. Marvel and DC comics are full of the emotional turmoil these superheroes are forced to endure. They are freaks, and they know it. Coupled with being unable to fulfil their normal physical needs, such as intimacy, the problems are compounded.
The possibility of pairing them off with each other is also fraught with danger. Wonder Woman would easily dominate the meek and mild Clark Kent. What happens if Kent decides to hit the bottle to drown his sorrows. The troubles he could cause if he decided to smash the bar up in frustration at being unable to function normally.
Superheroes also tend to hide their identities. The obvious result is identity crisis on a massive scale. While they no doubt crave for recognition of their feats, as all normal people do, they have to go through mundane lives unrecognised. Look at the troubles Peter Parker (Spiderman) has.
Even attempts to form social groups lead to dismal failure. The Avengers lasted one issue before the internal fighting started, and the Hulk went off to try to find a Lady Hulk, or whatever. Captain America moved in, and the ensuing power struggle saw all the original Avengers ousted, and new ones coming and going with frightening regularity. Any organisation that had such high staff turnover would be calling in logistical experts to sort out the problems. But who’s going to tell these guys what they’re doing wrong?
Henry Pym, one of the original Avengers (Ant-Man) epitomises the plight of the superhero. He underwent a complete breakdown, kept changing his super powers, costume, physical appearance and name, and ended up in jail for spousal abuse against his wife, The Wasp.
Hancock addressed a solution to this problem, but it meant that, to have a “normal” life, they had to give up their super powers.
It is hoped that the movies that come out in the next few years don’t just glamorise how great it is to be a superhero. There are social issues that have not yet been adequately addressed, and the moviemakers would be irresponsible not to point out the perils to young children planning careers as superheroes. The moviemakers need to address the real issues as addressed by the superheroes creators in the original comic books.
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Craig Hill 
Wonderful opinions on the superheroes created to entertain people.
However, we need real superheroes in our real life. When China was suffering under Mao Zedong’s tyranny, we wanted real superheroes to put an end to the tyranny and Chinese people’s suffering from starvation, poverty and oppression.
China has got superheroes to make it prosperous and allow people to have much more freedom than they had ever had before, but no one believes those talented people with moral integrity are real heroes, let alone superheroes. That is why I wrote my book “Tiananmen’s Tremendous Achievements.”
Now America and the EU need real superheroes to turn around their economies and avoid being surpassed by China. Will they get such superheroes as their leaders? I earnestly hope so.
China seems to be developing faster than it can keep pace with. I think there was one “superhero” in the Chongqing Police Chief, but his future seems uncertain at this point in time.
That guy is not even a hero though he has achieved some success in fighting against Chinese Mafia.
The superheroes I referred to are first of all the leaders of Tiananmen Protests. If one has not lived under the terror of the Communist rule and personally known the tortures and killing of dissidents, one cannot really understand the courage needed to be such leaders. They are first of all the real superheroes with moral integrity.
They wanted to bring down the Communist rule but failed. Can people who have failed to achieve their great goal be regarded as superheroes? Yes, they can because they have made great contribution in helping another group of superheroes achieve the goal left unachieved by them.
In my book, I point out that before the Tiananmen Protests, China’s reform and opining-up were doomed to fail because of powerful conservatives’ resistance. Those conservatives represented the majority of the Party members who were then uneducated or poorly educated workers and peasants stubbornly advocating Maoist public ownership and planned economy.
On the other hand, I describe in my book the emergence of a new generation of talented scholars with moral integrity who were studying hard and making preparations for seizing state power. One of their plans was to joint the Chinese Communist Party, rise to the top and transform it. They joined Jiang Zemin’s Shanghai faction and helped him take advantage of the pervasive fear created by the Tiananmen Protests throughout the Party to successfully carry out a silent peaceful coup d’état to substitute scholars’ dominance of the Party and state for uneducated workers and peasants’ dominance.
Some of China’s current leaders are the oldest of the new generation and Xi Jinping and others are the youngest of the generation. Those who have played important role in the coup are Chinese people’s superheroes. If Xi Jinping and others are able to overcome the tremendous difficulties China will encounter in continuing its marvelous growth, they will also be China’s superheroes though not so great as their predecessors.
They are only a small number of people. Can they have achieved such a great goal. China has a long history of good rule by a few elite scholars. For their current success, I would like to quote talented former premier Zhu Rongji’s recent speech. On January 18 this year he said that when he worked in Shanghai “under the leadership of President Jiang Zemin”, in order to have a satisfactory clean government in Shanghai and enable Shanghai to achieve successes however great, he only had to “watch closely our 506 bureau-level officials and give play to their talents”.
The coup described in my book was one of the greatest revolutions in human history. It is too long a story to be covered by this short comment. If you are interested, please give me your mail address and I will send you a free copy of my book by airmail.
I guess the concept of hero is objective. Having worked in anti-corruption investigations in Australia, including as a cop, I admire the Chongqing guy’s stance against corruption. However, I take your point that the people you refer to are working at a national, and even international level.
As a foreigner living in China, I think it would be fair to say that our knowledge, understanding and perception of the matters you refer to are limited or even controlled to some extent.
I will send you an email about your book when I return home next week. I would be very interested in reading your first hand experiences, and your views on these matters. Thank you 🙂
You may have noticed; our CEO superheros are also unstable. I think it pertains to world leaders too.
It certainly pertains to a lot of them, but I can’t think of any that would classify as “superheroes.” I can’t imagine George W. Bush in tights and a cape. Then again, maybe he sees himself that way… 🙂
I am still laughing about the breakdown on Superman’s relationship problem. 🙂 …. Actually, in the last Superman movie, when he returns to earth, I think there are innuendos about Lois’s child, at least I think so.
Craig, what did you think of The Dark Knight Rises?
Batman isn’t a superhero in terms of extraordinary powers but he certainly has the other hardships to confront.