The Pleasure Duchess

This is a bigger deal than some of you might think, because Superman is one of the heroes in the DC Universe who keeps his secret identity pretty damn secret, because as probably the most powerful and influential person on earth, a lot of people do not wish him well - and would jump at the chance to hold people dear to him as leverage.

Yet, he trusts this poor, scared little kid. To comfort him, and entrust him with his biggest secret - just as Billy did for him.

ALL OF THEM.

That is what ‘super’ means. There is something beyond the pale that pulls them through. Something extra-ordinary. We aren’t talking about your neighbor just running in the door of your burning home to save you, we aren’t talking about just a paramedic doing every thing she can to patch up your tramatized body, we aren’t just taking about some normal human taking a stand in the middle of a protest to stand against injustice at the possible cost of their life. All of these are heroes and all these are super important… but that’s what makes them more amazing then superheroes.

Superheroes are based more in metaphor, allegory, myth, legend, and fable. There is a side to superheroes that is cathartic, where they punch the bad guys and save the day no problem (batman can win any battle given enough prep, anyone? Like I said: ALL OF THEM). But it’s what each hero can represent, what lesson they carry.

Batman is about taking a pain and working through it toward a better goal. He punches baddies, sure, but as you saw in the other reblogs, he cares, he wants to help his enemies because he sees the same pain in them.

Batman represents the past.

Wonder Woman makes choices based on compassion. She cares without need of compensation or recognition, but is satisfed equally whenever she makes a new friend as well as making an enemy into an ally.

Wonder Woman represents the present.

Superman is powerful beyond measure. Sure it can often make him a bit boiler plate when it comes to a punch up of superheroic levels. But like the others, it’s not this that makes him amazing, inspiring, or great. It’s that he has all this power, and (in the best stories) tries his best to put it to good use to help the people. When you boil him down, he believes power should help raise up others around you. His prime opponent, Lex Luthor, is a grade A jackass the likes of which we currently have running the country (save he is like a billion times smarter then the irl villains). Lex is about internal, for your own, on your own, help no one else unless it helps you attitude. An attitude that prevails as a strong American sentiment from its beginning to so much so today.

Superman stands against that idea. Superman represents the people and the good that can be done no matter how strong you may be. He stands to say ‘helping others is exactly the way to make the world a better place’. It won’t happen over night, he knows that, but he works toward that dream.  He is a bit stary-eyed and can sometimes even be naive about it, but he isn’t stupid. He just has one of the biggest hearts on the planet.

Superman, the man of tomorrow, represents the future.