I got something I wanna talk about involving fictional characters and aging.
Hooo boy. I can tell this is going to be an interesting thing to write. But it's kind of been on my mind lately with the number of people upset over 'Kid Poison Ivy' in the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League game. So what's my stance on this?
I think it does more harm than good. Ultimately.
I was eight years old when I first discovered Static. He was fourteen in the show. This was a guy I looked up to as a child because obviously - he was at a stage in his life I wasn't at yet. Teenagers are naturally cooler to you as a kid because they're more mature (relatively speaking) and are practically in training to be adults. They're on their way to heading to a part of life that you haven't even begun to tackle yet and they lay out something of a blueprint for you to follow - for you to imitate as you get older.
Do you know how fucking weird it is to look at a fourteen-year-old Static in recent days and my grown ass just turned thirty-two last week? It's some motivational whiplash, lemme tell you.
I imagine this is one thing that upset people about Tom Holland's Spider-Man when he was introduced into the MCU. So many people complained about him being 'Iron Boy' and being so young, even though - this was the roots of the character. Spider-Man was just as much of a teen as Static was. As much of a teen as Dick Grayson was. Or Jubilee from X-Men. And I picked those last two very purposefully because they're well-established at this point as having grown up. They've moved onto the next stage of their life where they tackle issues as adults.
Meanwhile, we look over to some of our favorite heroes and characters who seem to get the reset button hit on them every so often. Not allowed to become an adult. They stay kids. And as someone who's grown up with the character, this becomes understandably irritating. Why can't I see this character grow with me? Are we going to act like it's so important that they stay exactly the same as they were decades ago? Especially when there are characters that have been allowed to age and are doing better for it.
Now I'm not going to shit on Static/DC Comics/Milestone for this too much because a little-known fact is that he was held up in legal issues for the better part of a decade. It's a wonder things were done with him at all in the 2010s so yeah. Of course, he unironically stayed 'static' during this period. But I bring this issue up because I've seen it done very purposefully for very stupid reasons. Ekko from League of Legends comes to mind seeing as Taliyah somehow went from his age to being a young adult and Ekko is somehow still a teenager? It took Arcane for him to even be aged up to an adult and that's some WILD shit considering it (formerly) was set in a universe separate from League's own and it's before he even has his Z-Drive. The writers of Arcane looked at the characters of Vi, Jinx and Caitlyn and understood; 'Hold up. Ekko needs to grow up WITH them for this to feel like a natural world.' And this is even before he becomes the Ekko we know. Think about that.
But as much as keeping Ekko 'The Boy who shattered time' has pissed me off over the years, nothing takes the cake like fucking Ash Ketchum.
I had to google this because I legitimately stopped caring. But there's been twenty-five seasons of Pokemon. And in all this time...Ash somehow is still goddamn ten years old. You realize he was ten when I was five, right? Like any other kid I was part of the Pokemon craze back in the nineties and I used to love the shit out of Ash. Again. Relatability. Blueprint to look up to. But I've eclipsed this character by two decades. Hell, the character has more seasons of the show than his actual age. And you know honestly when I heard he finally won a championship as he had been trying to do for so long?
I didn't care.
Why should I? He's never shown any growth, he's stayed the absolute same as he was in the nineties. I fell out of love with the anime some 15+ years ago because it stopped feeling like I was seeing Ash evolve and change with the times like I was doing. He was just a product. Perpetually kept young because the idea is that he would appeal to kids, more than actually feeling like a character.
And don't get me wrong. I don't think you should never make characters that appeal to kids. You need to make them for cartoons - have them be the protagonist even. Ben 10, Aang, Naruto. But what's funny about who I just listed is that they all grew up. Sure. The kid versions of these characters are iconic as fuck. I still think fondly back to Naruto yelling 'Believe it!' at people who didn't take him seriously or Ben 10 with his corny ass 'It's hero time!' before he slapped the omnitrix. But guess what? I remember these things fondly because they happened in the past - in a time when things were different.
You can't have fond memories like that if you're too concerned with doing them over and over and over again in the present. You need change to make you appreciate why the past is so beautiful.
I'll finish this by saying I know some people are upset about the Child Ivy thing because she's not the 'I got those big rose buds I need you to pollinate' energy that adult Ivy has. And you can't do that with a child, obviously. So people are pissy. But I think some people have also just grown pretty irritated with the 'Reset' button in general too. It's being hit way more often than it used to be and it sucks. You lose some relatability with these characters you love. And what's worse? It seems like a select few get to stay adults while the others roll back to remaining children. Why am I watching Dick and Cyborg be adults and play with the League while Raven, Starfire and BeastBoy are still teens and are now being led around by Damian Wayne? This team doesn't exist anymore, but my point still stands. Why in the mainline comics was this EVER a thing? For someone like me who grew up with a lot of these characters and saw them as my contemporaries, it's hella jarring to see them lumped in the same age bracket as the newer characters. Almost like you're corrupting the experiences I saw them go through when they were my age. They were never that apparently.
This could just be me being dramatic. But this IS something that's annoyed me in media for a while now. And I feel like we never talk about it. So at the very least, it's interesting to think about. I know one thing for sure though. We should never be holding these characters back just for the sake of keeping the status quo. Because the status quo will eventually be gone - no matter how long you try to hold onto it. And in trying to do that, you're only robbing characters of something worth so much more.
And it's growth we've come to admire in our own lives. Remember - growth only adds. It doesn't take away.
This has been the Urban Knight, Visory. Lemme know your thoughts.













