Is Buffy a superhero?

Chosen Enemy

Chosen Enemy

Losing my soul
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
3,430
Age
40
This question might be a little random....

A Slayer, a person who saves the world and fights bad guys, is sometimes referred as a superhero. When you think of superheroes, you think of them as regular by day people who wear masks and have a secret identity, and they save the helpless. Buffy is pretty much like that (minus the mask part). And Joyce has referred to her as a superhero. But if you say 'Slayer', do you actually say also 'superhero'? Do you see the Slayer as a superhero? Or is she "just" a person who naturally has super powers because she was chosen? She didn't pick to fight the good fight, she didn't choose to be the one who saves the world time after another. And she spoke many times about how much she wishes she wasn't the Slayer. Considering all that, is she really a superhero? Or just a person who randomally recieved a fate of a superhero against her will?
 
I think she's a superhero. She has super powers and she is a hero. Therefore, she is a superhero...

Now, I wouldn't say the term "slayer" also means "superheo." Faith was a slayer in season 3. All of those rebel slayers in season 8 were slayers. to be a superhero, a slayer would have to be a hero. Which I believe Buffy was.
 
zobothehobo said:
I think she's a superhero. She has super powers and she is a hero. Therefore, she is a superhero...
Click to expand...

This just goes to show that great minds think alike. I jumped into this thread to basically say - well... She's pretty super, and she's definitely a hero. Thus - superhero! YAY! *cait gleefully claps hands*
 
Z
zobothehobo
We are awesome.
I prefer to think of Buffy more as a Champion, along the lines of Beowulf, Ogier the Dane, or Hercules (the REAL Hercules, not Kevin What's-his-name) than a superhero. The term "superhero," to me, at least, just conjures up visions of bright colored spandex, flowing capes, masks, and secret identities, none of which Buffy either has or needs.

Beowulf, Ogier, and the others like them, had their fates thrust upon them, either by fate or some higher being. In a very real way, they never had any real choice in how their life would play out, and there was no escape for them. Superheroes, at least most of them, became what they were because of a sense of duty, in a conscious effort. Kal El would have been just as powerful if he never wore that red cape, and Hawkeye would be just as skillful an archer if he never put on that purple mask. They made the choice to become superheroes, and only their sense of duty and dedication to the cause has kept them doing what they do. They could walk away from it and lead more or less normal lives anytime they chose to. Buffy never made any sort of decision to become the Slayer, but the Slayer she is, and the Slayer she always WILL be. That's the difference.

Superheroes can be champions if they choose to be, but Champions don't HAVE to be superheroes.

(Sorry, folks, if that seems a little, or a LOT, confusing. I know what I mean, I'm just not really sure how to explain it any better)
 
Since my youngest is in a Spiderman-phase, I have been reminded that Peter Parker, too, got his powers rather randomly and against his will. In the newest (rather abysmal) Spiderman-in-Norwegian-for-kids comic that we have at home it is said that he chooses to shoulder the responsibilities that come with superpowers, even though it is hard to combine with living a normal life. Sounds much like Buffy's way of being the Slayer to me. So yes, to me she is a superhero. And a Champion. They don't have to be mutually exclusive, do they?
 
Buffy is toatally a super hero. Heros have awsome powers (check). Save the world, a lot (check). Give up things that they love selflessly (check) *cough Angel cough* 😀. Buffy has or has done all of these things, therefore she is a superhero.
 
Z
zobothehobo
She did not selflessly give him up. He selflessly gave her up.
I'm asking this question because usually superheroes (most of them) become superheroes because they choose to save lives, they're doing something heroic-chose to save lives. Buffy didn't chose it, it came upon her and she just did her job. That was something she had to do. Buffy wouldn't choose to be a hero, IMO, she'd choose to be normal and not save the world. According to that, I do think she is a champion, because she does something good with the gift she's gotten. But she didn't want to save the world in the first place.
I do think that she's becoming a superhero. It's a process. I don't think that her been born as a Slayer makes her a superhero, but her chooses that she made, what she does with the gift. But it's more heroic than superhero personality.
 
Willow My Love said:
She's still a superhero, whether she likes it or not. Did Spider-Man choose to be bit by that spider?
Click to expand...

About Spiderman, I know, that's why I said that most superheroes, not all of them, choose it.

I guess I'm seeing it differently 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom