Zach Dawson
What makes a hero or superhero a hero or superhero?
What makes a superhero a superhero is a question that we have been exploring in
class. On the first day, the class ranked the most important traits of a hero. The class
decided that having powers, a strong moral compass, and an iconic appearance
(costume) are the most important characteristics of a superhero. But, we have learned
that it takes so much more. Superheroes emerge in our society in a time of crisis, look
at the emergence of Superman in 1938 when Jewish people were facing harsh
discrimination or the rapid expansion of superhero movies following 9/11. No author or
scholar can completely agree on what a hero is, because there is no right answer. Stan
Lee’s heroes don’t have capes while Jerry Siegel’s heroes do.
We see heroes in all cultures and they usually have something in common. Joseph
Campbell in The Hero’s Adventure said “A legendary hero is usually the founder of
something… a new age, new religion, new city, or a new way of life.”(Campbell, 136).
While Campbell was mainly talking about mythological heroes from the past I believe
this also applies to modern-day heroes as even in comic books they can be a “founder
of joy” for the reader. When looking at heroes in the past Raglan has 22 steps to his
hero pattern, one of them being “(11) Has victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon,
or wild beast” (Raglan, 138). Hero stories reflect what a culture needs at that point in
time. I think Raglan’s hero pattern is accurate for ancient heroes, because at that point
in time, the world was still unexplored so Heros were needed to slay the beast in the
wild.
Overall no one can agree what a hero is, but I believe a hero reflects what society
needs at that point in time. Heroes can come in many forms and have different goals. A
warrior slaying the beast in the wild, or Captain America fighting Nazis in WWII are both
heroes because they both reflect what their society needed.