sup hoes

Goodbyes are inevitable..

Tokyo Ghoul and some of its beautiful characters (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

I know it’s popular to compare Captain America and Superman because people view them both as “boy scouts” and they do share some similarities personality wise right down to them both being depicted as adult virgins saving themselves for love. But their messages are ::distinctly:: different which is why this commentary and comparison is way off.

Superman is a great hero BECAUSE he could physically rule the world but doesn’t abuse his power. He’s not just a good man…he’s a commentary on the reality that men (especially powerful men) often abuse their power and oppress those weaker. Clark Kent is gentle and kind and does not view himself as “above” us nor does he abuse power. His heroism is about restraint in a world where men often don’t have it. His greatest fear is that he might not get there in time to save someone and that his power will not be enough. He struggles daily to reconcile hearing the world cry out for him and how much or how little he should intervene. He doesn’t want to play God but he also doesn’t want to let innocent people down. The idea that he could breaks his heart. “All those things I can do…all those powers….and I couldn’t even save him.”

Superman ::can:: be hurt physically but hurting him physically is never the point. As Greg Rucka once famously wrote (in Lois Lane’s voice) ….if you want to hurt Superman…you break his heart. His heart is the most vulnerable place you can strike. That’s why his most famous villain is not a superpowered threat but instead….Lex Luthor. A corrupt, power hungry man willing to abuse and use the innocent to get ahead. Lex Luthor stands as a picture of what it looks like when powerful men abuse their power to oppress. Superman doesn’t WANT power which is why we are safe when he has it. Lex Luthor wants power. “I would have taken it and relished it…embraced it.”

Superman’s narrative also has an underlying message of identity and “othering” that Captain America doesn’t have. While Steve Rogers is distinctly American (right down to his name), Clark Kent is an immigrant. He has heritage from his homeland that he’s always trying to reconcile with his upbringing as a child of Earth in Kansas. He often grows up feeling isolated, alone and afraid of his own body. His identity is a confusing thing for him just as it is for many immigrants.

Finally, heroism without the privilege of physical powers DOES play a massive role in the Superman story. It just does it in the form of LOIS LANE. And Martha and Jonathan Kent. And Jimmy. Lois Lane is just as brave as Clark Kent and is constantly willing to run INTO the fire even without the benefit of physical privilege. She was doing this before Superman ever shows up and she does it with no expectation that he will save her. She does it because it’s the right thing to do and because she believes in truth and justice above all else. So the Superman story absolutely ::does:: revolve around the idea that humans are willing to risk their lives for others KNOWING they could die ….but the person who represents this is a WOMAN. Lois is the one who jumps on the grenade in the Superman mythos. Not a man. And the story depends on her existence to survive and thrive.