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- Doctor Doom from Marvel
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- Superman & Krypto from DC
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- Captain America from Marvel
I may have touched on this before, but I’m not sure if it was a post or comments. I’ve been pondering the flaws in heroes and people’s reactions to this. Not just the reactions, but the demand for heroes to be imperfect. During this thinking, I looked at a few statements. Tell me which one doesn’t seem to fit:
- I hate perfect heroes. They should have real world flaws.
- Real heroes don’t cry.
- That character is always getting angry, which makes them a lame hero.
- The hero isn’t real if he/she needs help from others.
Uh . . . What? People may disagree, but I’m going to say that #1 doesn’t fit. Why? Well, it’s obvious to my current thought process. That’s what people claim to want, but then many will turn around to despise a character for certain flaws. Luke Callindor gets a lot of heat for crying, complaining, and proving that he’s still maturing. Even in Beginning of a Hero where it’s established that he’s totally green and inexperienced. The series toughens him up, but it isn’t really a straight line. Don’t even get me started on some messages I get when Nyx has to be saved. Not like she doesn’t do her own share of rescuing and ass-kicking. My point here is that it really does seem like many people want flaws in characters, but get annoyed when they’re given what they asked for.
I wondered why and I’m going to stand on an old statement that I’ve heard a few times. A friend once said that we hate fictional characters who embody our own weaknesses or those traits that we fear. For example, a person who cries too much or finds the act a sign of weakness will be soured on a hero that has no problem letting the tears flow. Our personal preferences and beliefs always factor into our reactions toward fiction. Most times without us realizing it. Hence the demand for something that may be met with dislike. Guess you should be careful what you wish for.
Here’s another point that I’ve been mulling over for several months. All of this ‘hated’ archetypes and character traits exist in the real world. We have whiners, selfish jerks, damsels in distress, manipulative jerks, and all the others that we find it so easy to look at with disdain. So if we want our fiction to mirror our reality then we have to accept that there will be characters who possess the flaws that we dislike. Some of them might even be heroes or hold an important role in an adventure. Otherwise, our desire for ‘real’ and ‘flawed’ characters are rather empty and I do include my own requests. Though I’ve tried to stop doing that ever since I came to this realization.
So, I do have a simple, yet difficult question. Do you really want real, flawed heroes of all types or do you have a more specific idea in mind?
