Who is Your Favorite Superhero?

Photo by Raj Eiamworakul on Unsplash

Her Take: But before we dive in, we detour. When we started The 2 Takes (our blog) I always knew we’d cover this topic, after all, my writing partner is a comic book guy, and I really knew who I’d choose as my favorite superhero. Always.

Just to honor the process, I started compiling my list: Hellboy, Rocket Racoon, Deadpool, Rorschach… oh yeah, Mommy’s got a type, y’all..

And, ok, you could chalk that up to my almost preternatural attraction to damaged men. That wouldn’t be unfair, but I’m going to give myself more credit than that. These aren’t just bad boys (er.. and demons and a bioengineered pet who also happens to be a master tactician and weapons expert) they have rich and conflicted lives that lead (at least part of the the time) to doing the right thing in a spectacularly violent way. That’s great storytelling.

That brings us to the character who, for my money, is king of the damaged and conflicted: Wolverine.

Wolverine debuted at the end of issue #180 of The Incredible Hulk (if Wikipedia is to believed) and soon joined the X-Men. He debuted his catchphrase ‘I’m the best at what I do, but what I do isn’t very nice.’ in a stand-alone limited series in 1982. He has a distinctly animalistic overall look, but despite rumors to the contrary, we were never to believe he was an mutated wolverine. One of his co-creators, Len Wein has said, ‘I absolutely did not ever intend to make Logan a mutated wolverine. I write stories about human beings…’. Instead, his backstory - and his ongoing narratives - have formed possibly the most complex and enigmatic anti-hero possible.

His origins go something like this: Jame Howlett is born in 1880, the son of wealthy Canadian landowner. We learn that he’s actually the son of the groundskeeper, Thomas Logan, but not until his mother is raped, his father is killed, his mutant power manifests, and he kills Thomas Logan in a rage. Oh, his mutant power includes three, razor sharp, retractable bone claws that burst out of the backs of both of his hands. Helpful for rage killing.

Also helpful, considering the whole claws-bursting-through-his-skin-every-time-he-gets-angry thing, is that he has mutant healing factor. You can hurt him, sure, and he feels pain, but he heals fast enough to make him (almost) invulnerable.

Just a bit more nerdiness, and I’ll move on. After running away from his home, he takes the name Logan, accidently kills the woman he loves, is kidnapped, has his memory altered, is forced to undergo a procedure where his skeleton is coated in adamantium (the same metal that Captain America’s shield is made of), is kidnapped again, is brainwashed again, probably kills another woman he loves, joins Captain America, fights Captain America, joins the X-Men,leaves the X-Men, becomes feral, goes to Japan, loves Jean Grey, smokes cigars, is a lumberjack, loses his memory… I don’t know, probably kills someone else he didn’t mean to.. Probably gets kidnapped again.. I think you get the idea. There’s a lot going on with this guy.

Wolverine is the perfect post-Vietnam antihero; a man turned into a weapon by forces with no concern for the soul within. Respected and revered when he’s doing awful things for the ‘right people’, feared and reviled the rest of the time. In the constant struggle between good and evil, he can’t be assigned neatly to either side but is trapped, tricked, manipulated, and tortured to do the work of whoever ‘owns’ him.

He shines the light on trauma and how it affects us all. Like so many of us, he pushes away from everyone who loves him for fear of the consequences of that attachment. The uncontrollable tragedy and mindless chaos that swirl around Wolverine are his to bear alone.

In so many ways, he is all of us. His endless struggle with a painful past holds up a mirror for us all and challenges us to  reckon with our demons, and that’s probably why I love him. Damaged as he is.

His Take:

I think when it comes to comic book super heroes people tend to gravitate to characters that they can relate to. Ones that they can see a little bit of themselves in. There are a WHOLE lot of people who are “dark and brooding” and have so much “pain” in their lives that no one can truly understand them. I’m gonna break kayfabe here, but they’re what’s known as the black coat mafia. This group of people tend to be HUGE Batman fans. They’ll generally buy every comic that comes out that’s connected to the Batman Universe. 

If you know me, it won’t come as much of a surprise that my favorite super hero is Spider-Man. Why? Because he’s a fun-loving, funny guy…..when he’s in the costume. Outside, not so much. When Stan Lee & Steve Ditko created him in 1962, they gave Peter Parker a lot of everyday guy problems. He was bullied, he had trouble finding (and keeping) a girlfriend, him and Aunt May never had any money and were constantly worried about loosing their house. You get the jist. But, when he puts the costume on, he turns into the wise cracking crime fighter we all know and love. 

Not to mention that he has the second best rogue’s gallery in comics. The Rhino, The Lizard, The Vulture..are you noticing a pattern here? Whenever I read a Spider-Man comic, it takes me out of this world and sucks me deep into his. I literally feel like I’m a standing across the street watching it all happen. Throughout the years, Peter Parker has gone through everything you could imagine. He got married, his wife had a baby, the baby got kidnapped. Then that history was erased by supervillain Mephisto, and he kind of started from scratch. But throughout it all, he always kept his sense of humor and his optimistic attitude. 

I can really identify with all aspects of that character. I’m light-hearted, fun, the eternal optimist, and I always have faith that everything will work out in the end. And what doesn’t work out in the end, well, I’ll make it work. There’s also a sense of determination what we both share. We both really try and keep going  until something we want/need to get done. In recent years, that’s changed as life has thrown many curveballs my way, and in times when I really need to escape reality, you can guess where I hide. In the pages of a Spider-Man comic. There’s always something fun going on, something that puts me in a better mood, and gives me hope that things will work out. 

That’s why Spidey is my favorite. He’s not filled with a darkness that drives him. He’s not a space cop that’s gone insane and then back to sane. He’s not the most powerful man on the planet. He’s just a guy who fell ass backwards into super powers and decided to help people out that’re in trouble and leaves the reader in a good mood, smiling and filled with hope. Maybe he is the most powerful man in the universe.