Superheroes

[OFAWB]

As some of you know, I assistant-teach preschool during the week. Tomorrow is "Superhero Day", when the kids come in dressed as their favorite superhero and we discuss what it means to be a "hero" in school (sharing with our friends, listening to the teacher, using kind words, et cetera).

The other assistant asked me, "So, are you going to dress up?" (The teachers get involved, too, if they want to.)

My reply? "Um...I could go as Buffy! She's a superhero, right?"

She said, "Yeah. Try explaining THAT premise to these kids!"

I think I'm going to just wear a bedsheet as a 'cape' and maybe put on some bright eyeliner and a partial face mask.

Anyway, I got to thinking about comic books and superheroes and that sort of thing. The only superhero I really love is Batman, mostly because he uses his brain and his body instead of relying on the supernatural or sci-fi powers.

Who is your favorite fictional hero and why?

 

[white avenger]

Who is your favorite fictional hero and why?

My favorite fictional hero is literally a "strange visitor from another planet," and possesses "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man," but it ain't that guy running around in the blue long johns. My favorite fictional hero is the inspiration for Superman, Flash Gordon, Luke Skywalker, Jake Sulley, and countless others, including the McLeod Clan and all of their fellow immortals, especially Methos. He's the daddy of them all, and greater than all of them combined. The greatest swordsman who ever lived, and husband of the most beautiful woman on two planets.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' immortal Warlord of Mars, Prince of Helium, and true Southern gentleman, John Carter. Compared to him, all of the others fade into insignificance.

(And I challenge anyone here to give their personal hero a better build up than that without exaggerating their character and abilities one single bit)

 

[Blaze]

I'm not a fan of superheroes in general, but there's a few I really like! My favorite probably has to be Dr. Manhattan (I'm a science buff) or Rorschach, both from the Watchmen universe.

I also love X-Men, but it's hard to only pick one of them as my favorite.

 

[Spikefan31]

Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Smallville really got me into Superman (even though he's not Superman until the very last episode 😀). I also like Green Arrow because of Smallville and the Arrow tv show, but Superman is definitely my favourite. 🙂

 

[JCoatsworth]

He is vengeance. He is the night. He is Batman!
[MENTION=6758]white avenger[/MENTION] How was that? Haha 😀

Yeah, my favorite superhero is Batman. As already mentioned, he doesn't have any supernatural powers and stuff like that, and yet he's able to defeat the whole Justice League by himself. His intelligence and observation skills completely make up for his lack of (superhuman) strength. He's the world's greatest detective.

 

[kittenpoker]

Besides Buffy - who definitely is a super hero!!!!! - My absolute all time favorite super hero is and will always be The Hulk!!!!! 🙂


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[Xin Rong]

My favorite superhero is Jean Grey... I love her potential to go crazy and kill everyone 🙂

I also like the punisher from marvel, mainly because he, like batman, has no super powers, but unlike batman he's not a billionaire.... and therefore better in my eyes 🙂

 

[ILLYRIAN]

What's this Batman doesn't have super powers? in several films it has Batman dropping off a tall building then landing much lower to battle the baddies. From what I see, if a person drops like that and lands like that his feet will break, his hip bone would disconnect with his legs and back and his head would connect with what he landed on at a speed that gravity would decide. To avoid all of that he has to have some form of super power greater than a normal man.

Now give me an Alan Quartermain (Extraordinary League of Gentlemen).

 

[OFAWB]

Alan Quartermaine...from General Hospital? I used to watch that show every day in high school. 😀

So, in case anyone's wondering about how Superhero Day went: We had one princess, one generic superhero, one Winnie the Pooh (?), one Robin, one Superman, one Captain America, one Spiderman, one Iron Man, and FOUR Batmans, which I was quite happy to see! Batman is the best.

 

[JCoatsworth]

What's this Batman doesn't have super powers? in several films it has Batman dropping off a tall building then landing much lower to battle the baddies. From what I see, if a person drops like that and lands like that his feet will break, his hip bone would disconnect with his legs and back and his head would connect with what he landed on at a speed that gravity would decide. To avoid all of that he has to have some form of super power greater than a normal man.

Well, that's exaggerated movie stuff. You can't expect a comic book character to be a boring guy who has no abilities whatsoever, just because he's a human being. I mean, what's the point of that?
However, there's this scene in The Dark Knight where Batman dives out a window to save Rachel. I think that particular scene is ridiculous. Apparently, he slowed the fall with his cape, but it still seems stupid to me.
Anyway, there are many different interpretations of Batman and normally, he's not an indestructible alien, he didn't have some weird accident involving chemicals, and he doesn't own some weird magical ring. He's a rich guy whose parents were murdered in an alley and who has dedicated his life to fighting crime. No, he has no superpowers.

 

[white avenger]

I also like the punisher from marvel, mainly because he, like batman, has no super powers, but unlike batman he's not a billionaire.... and therefore better in my eyes 🙂

If you like the Punisher, you might be interested in the Executioner series of books by Don Pendelton, assuming that they are still available (The earlier ones are the best) The Punisher is a blatant rip off of the Executioner. You can read about the series here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Executioner_(book_series)

and here's an interview by Donald Pendleton talking about the two characters:

http://www.donpendleton.com/executionerwarwagon.htm

 

[ILLYRIAN]

JCoatsworth,
exaggerated movie stuff it maybe but wasn't the film given the OK by Marvel comics? I'd assume the creator of the character gave his blessing to the film, isn't it similar to Canon?

 

[JCoatsworth]

JCoatsworth,
exaggerated movie stuff it maybe but wasn't the film given the OK by Marvel comics? I'd assume the creator of the character gave his blessing to the film, isn't it similar to Canon?

Batman is a DC Comics character and his creator, Bob Kane, died in 1998.
And I don't think he had much to do with the movies that were released when he was still alive.
But what I was trying to say is that Batman can't shoot lasers out of his eyes or stuff like that. Whether he can jump off rooftops and land on the ground without a scratch on him or not is up to the writer of the comic book or the movie. But that's not a superpower to me, that's just stuff that can happen in a comic book.

[MENTION=6758]white avenger[/MENTION]

Batman beat the whole Justice League? I must've missed that one.

It's in an animated DC Comics film. I think it's based on some comic book by Mark Waid, but I haven't read it and I also don't know the name. Every member of the Justice League turns evil and Batman has to take them out one by one.

 

[NY State of Mind]

Batman is the Superheroes Hero. Whether they like him or not he's respected by all. Batman has a comic book/cartoon style that could be for different kinds of people. They have the dark serious tone and the campy fun tone. Every anti-hero today has copied Batman in some way even though he's not really much of an anti-hero by todays standards. He's the definition of a Hero and a inspirational character for all. He represents intelligence, bravery and shows that with hard work and discipline goals can be accomplished. Dedicated and gave up his life to fighting crime so that he could try and prevent others from being a victim like he was as a kid. Overcame his fears and dresses up as a symbol that he feared himself. No powers but one could argue his resources and wits are Superpowers.

He's dodged Darkseid's laser beams. Superman has called him the most dangerous man in the universe. He also defeated Superman just to show him he could beat him. He's the real leader/strategist behind the Justice League. With all his darkness and brutal instinct he still lives by a moral code. A Hero is only as good as his Villains and Batman has the best overall Rogues Gallery for any individual character. Every main villain pretty much represents an aspect of Batman's personality. He's always a step ahead and is a master of pretty much anything you could name. He gets all the women and his alter ego Bruce Wayne is a wealthy philanthropist. With all that greatness he is flawed and one might argue crazy which makes him interesting. Not crazy that he's just going to shoot everything in his way, but very anti-social. He's a loner that plays only by his rules and is more comfortable alone although he needs the people around him more then he realizes for his sanity.

A broody billionaire who is paranoid and trusts mostly nobody and devises plans to defeat even the Justice League incase they switch sides (also documents his weakness incase he himself gets out of control). He puts kids at risk as sidekicks although they wouldn't have been much safer if he didn't take them in anyways. He can be prideful, manipulative, violent, and callous while being compassionate. Batman has some of the best comics, cartoons, films, and games ever made. The vigilante that gets the job done and looks cool doing it 😉

 

[For Bee and Sky]

Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Smallville really got me into Superman (even though he's not Superman until the very last episode 😀). I also like Green Arrow because of Smallville and the Arrow tv show, but Superman is definitely my favourite. 🙂

Speaking of Arrow, I totally freaked out when he found Slade Wilson on the island. How cool was that?

I think Xin Rong pretty much nailed it word for word though.

 

[VisionGirl]

I have to say, I gotta go with the girls. Other than Buffy, my favs are Jean Gray and Wonder Woman.

 

[sleecin]

For me its alot about the heros personality. And how cool their thing is they do.

For I have to say Iron man. He is having a very strong personality. He is a geek. And his thing he does is cool.

I am a geek myself and I can relate alot to him. Also a thing that made me like him even more is a weakness acctualy. He had Anexity panic attacks in the 3rd movie. I have that too.

He is just so cool and human at the same time.

I wonder how people would dress up as buffy thou. I mean sure, blonde hair, a stake in her hand but other than that she looks like everyone else really.

 

[Xin Rong]

For me its alot about the heros personality. And how cool their thing is they do.

For I have to say Iron man. He is having a very strong personality. He is a geek. And his thing he does is cool.

I am a geek myself and I can relate alot to him. Also a thing that made me like him even more is a weakness acctualy. He had Anexity panic attacks in the 3rd movie. I have that too.

He is just so cool and human at the same time.

I wonder how people would dress up as buffy thou. I mean sure, blonde hair, a stake in her hand but other than that she looks like everyone else really.

My friend encountered this problem a few years ago, so she dressed as Red Riding Hood, put stakes in her basket, and then told people she was Buffy dressed as Red Riding Hood.