Superheroes are powerful and intelligent and, sometimes, out of this world. Superheroes have been around for decades. But why is there a fascination with them?
For some people, these supernatural beings were, and still are, a constant in their lives; they’re dependable and predictable. When a person is feeling a certain way, whether it is happy, sad or lonely, they need to turn to someone for support. That someone is commonly a superhero. And why shouldn’t it be? Pick any random superhero comic, movie or TV show and you can bet the lesson of the day will be of use to the happy, sad or lonely person. The beautiful aspect of the superhero world is that messages can be construed a myriad of ways. Everyone takes away a variation of the life lesson displayed by the superhero on screen.
The moral of each and every superhero plot is there is villain—physically, mentally, metaphorically—that needs to be overcome. Every story teaches people that no matter what stands in your way, goals can be accomplished. Superheroes also prove that you don’t have to work your way towards your goals alone. In superhero stories there are always a couple of people—sidekicks—who help the superhero defeat the villain. These “sidekicks” are more commonly referred to as friends. Superheroes teach people that while most things you can go through it alone, but that you shouldn’t have to. This is a great mindset for people to adopt because today’s society consists of both group and individual work. When people see a successful group/individual setup, they think, “OK, it is possible to have the best of both worlds.” And isn’t that what everybody wants—to have your cake and eat it too.
Some people may argue that superheroes and the powers they possess aren’t real. Well, I say too bad because I don’t care. There are times when you simply need to escape everyday life and live in a fictional world for a couple of hours, and there is nothing wrong with that. I don’t know about you, but in times like those, I love sitting down and eating a bowl of popcorn while a superhero battles it out before me.
But how can you decide which superhero movie or TV show you watch? That’s simply: close your eyes and choose randomly. Whatever is selected, chances are you won’t be disappointed. There are a whole bunch of superheroes out there, which makes it difficult to know them all. Of course, there are the well-known superheroes, like Thor and Spider-Man. But because of fan-based feuds about who’s better, Batman versus Superman, most superheroes are left in the dark, forgotten. Well, over the past few years this has changed. Superheroes are coming at you left and right on TV. Last year, "The Flash" was introduced to television. Two years before that, "Arrow," and the year before that, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." So, you see, superheroes aren’t going anywhere. Thank goodness for that because if we didn’t have a world of superheroes, who would save the universe?
