The Power in Superhero

I want to talk a bit about what I think the superhero setting is about and what it could be in literary format. There isn’t much in the way of superhero stories in literary fiction. I think this is mostly because of the stigma around comics and the vagueness of the purpose of telling a superhero story. Superhero stories are about how people use and abuse power. When I say power, I don’t mean power levels but things like political, financial, etc. There are, of course, exceptions that follow themes of existentialism, alienation, and other subjects.

This link to the use of power is linked to the very origin of the comic book superhero Superman. Superman, in his original incarnation, was a subversion of the Nazi idea of the Ubermensch. The Ubermensch was a philosophical concept developed by Nietzsche. This is not inherently a Nazi idea. In fact, it was made with good intentions and was a thought that we had value and morality outside of religion or god and that he had the power to say ‘yes’ to all life’s joys and pains. Unfortunately, the Nazis had their own ideas of what the Ubermensch was a superior race, a group of people who followed the individualistic goals to raise themselves above others. This was one of the many ideas and concepts used by the Nazis to justify their actions. The creators of Superman, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, did not create Superman with the intention to subvert the Nazi idea of the ubermensch, but non the less, they did. Superman, who has extraordinary power, fights not for himself or the benefit of his own kind but for everyone. In his first appearance, he defends the weak from the strong. He is the hope that there can be people with power who are not corrupted by it and think of everyone. When people complain about the unreality of a person with power like that being a good person, but that is the point: superman is a paragon, something to be strived for by all.

When making a superhero story, it should be in conversation with this idea of what people do with power and how it should be used. The X-men protect a world that hates and fears them; Spiderman sacrifices his happiness for his responsibilities, and Batman uses his power so no one else goes through what he has. So, when writing about your fantastical characters with earth-shattering powers, remember to ask what this says about power and people with it. Is this saying that might be right and that those in power are the best people who could be, or do they say anyone with power is corrupt and should not be trusted, or is there a nuanced view that you would like out there?

Thank you for reading today. I hope you learned something and that my ideas were a little understandable. I know I said that my next chapter would be out this week, but the holidays have really kept me busy. So my next chapter may come out next week. I will let you know more in my next post, so please keep on reading.