I love a good superhero origin story. The best of them are poignant, powerful and meaningful, imbuing the protagonist with the proper incentive to do the right thing and help people. Sometimes the circumstances are optimistically nudged in a certain direction. Take Superman for an example.
His parents place his infant self on an interstellar escape vehicle that leaves orbit moments before his home planet is destroyed forever. The ship crashes on planet earth in Kansas and is found by a kind couple who raise him and love him as their own. Through them, he only knows love, respect and understanding. When his powers start to manifest themselves during puberty and the suns’ rays effectively turn him into the most powerful man on the planet (a god), his upbringing helps him stay humble, level headed and become an inspiration to all and the greatest hero ever.
Boy, THAT could have gone sideways in a *hundred* ways. And many of those have been detailed in comics, tv and movies featuring an alternate reality where things go very different and Supes or a similar character is usually a blood soaked psychotic.
One advantage Superman also had was that even though an extraterrestrial, he not only looks human but is just OTT handsome. Lucky for everyone. If he looked like the Moleman, humanity would have stuck its collective foot in its collective mouth real quick and there’d be a very irritable Superman with a very large chip on his shoulder flying over humanity’s head.
One is reminded of the Martian Manhunter, last survivor of Mars. Back in the 1950’s, a scientist sent a signal directed towards Mars in search of intelligent life. The signal did indeed reach Mars but the being on the receiving end was somehow unwillingly transported along the signal *back* to earth, where upon seeing the green, gnarled limbs, pointed skull and glowing red eyes, the scientist had a massive heart attack and died of fright. ‘Jonn ‘Jonz, was now trapped there with no way home. Luckily for him, as a Martian, he was also a shape changer, so he could assume any form. He could also fly, turn immaterial, read minds, and was super strong. Thankfully he was a nice guy who could also turn handsome to appease humanity.
Odds are, if the infant Superman had looked like a Martian, it would have been destroyed as a monster almost assuredly and dissected. I guess my point here is that both these two heroes had a lot of benefits on their side and the creators erred on the side of great great optimism every time.
When Bill Finger and to a far lesser extent, Bob Kane, created Batman, it was a simple revenge fantasy. Young child watches his parents get murdered in an alley. The shooter takes off and the boy goes numb. He later makes a vow to wage war on all evil doers. He becomes obsessed. He trains. He brings himself to peak human physical condition. He learns. He absorbs everything he possibly can about criminology. Forensics. Deduction. Psychology. Observation. Etc. Then he uses his resources to travel the world for years, learning more and more from experts around the world, adding practical knowledge and real world experience to what he’s learned in books. He learns every fighting style possible.
On the optimistic, helpful side, he’s also genetically blessed to be good looking, with a tall, strapping, healthy body, more James Bond than Woody Allen, oh, and he’s a billionaire. That helps a great deal with resources. A great deal.
As a result of how his parents died, he hates guns. Doesn’t kill. Never kills. This is perhaps an optimistic take on an obsession such as this. Frank Castle, the Punisher, was a war vet who’d returned home only to have his wife and children killed in front of him as collateral damage in the crossfire of a mob retaliation hit. Castle almost died too but survived. Ever since, he hunts and kills criminals. Period. This of course puts Frank at odds with other superheroes who have problems with killing. Frank understands but doesn’t care.
Then you get the epic origin story of the silver age Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. One day, a fearless test pilot practices in a simulator. Suddenly, the whole thing is grabbed by green energy, dragged who knows how many miles before landing in the desert by a dying alien, who gives Hal a ring. It’s a power ring from the intergalactic Green Lantern corps and is one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, and is driven by the wearer’s strength of will. Hal Jordan was chosen as worthy of wielding the ring. He becomes the Green Lantern.
Then you’ve got the silver age Flash. Police scientist Barry Allen gets hit by lightning while chemicals splash him. He becomes the fastest man alive. Okay. Well, it’s succinct.
Mind you, on one hand, Hal’s a fearless test pilot who was now basically an intergalactic cop, while Barry’s a cop who became a superhero. In the ’50’s, when these characters were created, there wasn’t much in the way of CSI in the police force but that’s what Barry was and now this century, his real life vocation is arguably more tangible and important crime solving than the Flash’s latest battle with Mirror Master. Meanwhile, when Hal was created, test pilots were getting a new buzz as they were slotted to be astronauts. Things have changed.
With the exception of the Punisher, was very DC focused, so next time, we’ll see how the other half at Marvel live.
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