Nearly every society from every corner of the globe has its own version of the superhero.  The more than mere mortal person who upholds the values of that particular culture.  America’s Superman, Atomos of France, The Golem in Israel.  Every society creates their own body of fiction where superheros fight for what is right.

Back when Superheroes were in their “glory days,”during the era that introduced Superman, Batman, and other icons of the genre, what superheros stood for was simple.  Back then, Superheros stopped crime and fought for justice.  The very first Superman comic opens with Superman getting the Governor to stop the execution of an innocent woman accused of murder, then has him stopping a violent domestic argument, saving Lois Lane (that hasn’t changed), stopping crooked politicians, and so forth.  Fixing everything bad in society in one short comic book.

That was 1939.  Now, Superman is much busier fighting super villains, matching wits with criminals like Lex Luthor as they weave intricate plots and schemes that are hard to understand, and wrestling with his own turbulent feelings.  How does he feel about being the last of his kind?  How does he feel when the villain dies?  What are his true feelings for Lois Lane?  Not things that he worried about back in 1939.  But this is a reflection of how society has developed.  Today our society is much more aware that crime isn’t always cut and dry, not black and white, and not even limited to the four-color system originally used to print comic books.  Criminal acts can be complicated.  Doing what is right can backfire with dreadful consequences.  And sometimes the people who don’t stand up themselves to fight for what’s right are more of a problem than the super villains that superheros fight.

The Spiderman comics are well known for delving into the psyche of a hero.  Spiderman is, in my opinion, one of the more “human” of the superheros.  He wants so badly to do what is right to make up for one grave error that cost the life of his Uncle Ben, but is torn between wanting to be like everyone else and knowing that he can’t be, not so long as he is the only one who can do what must be done.  What a delimma.  But at the same time, how easy for us mere mortals to relate to his deep soul searching.  We all have things in our past we want so badly to overcome, we all want to “just fit in” and we all want to be the hero who jumps in to save the day.

Because, there is one other thing superheros teach us.  They aren’t real.  That’s not a thing that’s as self-evident as you might think.  It’s all too easy to sit back and expect a Superman or even a Green Lantern to swoop in and save us when things are going wrong, when criminals roam the streets, when voices cry out for help.  Someone will rescue us.  Someone will save the day.  But it won’t happen if we wait for Spiderman.  The Avengers aren’t coming to the rescue.

What we learn from reading comic books or from watching the endless parade of superhero movies is that good can win, if someone steps up.  That heros are born.  That the impossible is possible.  So long as someone acts.  And the stories of our favorite superheros encourages us to do exactly that.  Superheros encourage us to do better.  To hope for better, to try for better, and to fight when better isn’t good enough.  For truth.  For justice.  And for what is right.