Comics, Books, Movies, TV: What Makes A "Hero"?

[Jack-Hammer]

I don't usually post in this section, though I should as it can be fun talking about non-wrestling aspects of media. I guess the purpose of this thread is just really what anyone would want it to be as it pertains to comics. Who you like, who you don't, etc. I suppose the reason I made this thread is because of a talk I had with my niece last night during a visit.

I had a little get together with my family last night, we all try to get together at least a few Saturdays out of the month, and my 7 year old niece was reading a Wolverine comic book when I walked into my brother's place. Now, when I was a kid, it was extremely rare to see a girl reading a comic book. I told her, Holly is her name, that I didn't know she liked to read comics and she replied "Yeah, but only certain ones like this one." I asked her what was so special about this one and she said "Well, at first, I liked reading how he talked. You know, he talks like regular people. I also really liked the way the pictures looked with all the bright colors." She told me that she'd been reading a lot of old back issues of the Wolverine comics that my brother & I used to collect and she'd been reading recent stuff too. After a few minutes, she said "But then, I also liked that he seemed kinda real." I asked her what she meant by that and she said "Well, I know he's got claws and can heal from anything and acts all mean and stuff. But he's also sad."

She told me that she'd read some issues in which he was tricked into killing some of his children, children he didn't even know he'd had. She told me that she'd read a lot of books in which people did "mean things" to him fand "hurt him a whole bunch". She said that it made her sad seeing that he'd been tricked into doing it by "mean people" and that he'd been hurt so much in his life. What she said next really surprised me. "It's not nice that he hurts people either, it's bad. But he knows it's bad, but he's gotta do it sometimes, but he feels bad 'cuz he's gotta do it."

Basically, my little blue eyed niece with the cute pigtails likes to read the adventures of one of the most vicious and violent comic book characters of them all for the same reason I started to get into him when I was in my teens. Initially, I thought I just got into him because of his badass attitude that was so different from other characters in comics. But looking back on it and the fact that I've continued to read and keep up with the goings on of the character puts me in mind of what I've always enjoyed about the character the most: Wolverine is a deeply flawed human being that's suffered monumental tragedy in his life. He essentially hates himself for what he's done, what he's been forced to do at times and a good deal of what makes up his own nature. However, he constantly tries to better himself in order to at least try to make amends for the wrongs he's done in his life. Even if these wrongs were for the "greater good", he's a character constantly portrayed as regretting himself for who he is.

When I was growing up, Wolverine was a character that did help to shape my idea of what a "hero" is in real life. Just like in real life, he's a character that frequently makes mistakes. Sometimes by trying to do the right thing, he can make situations even worse. Sometimes, he isn't able to save the day and go riding off into the sunset. Sometimes, he doesn't win and has to deal with the aftermath of not being able to truly get the job done. That lack of a simple realism, even in fictional universes, turned me off of most comic book characters when I was growing up; especially someone along the lines of Superman who often comes off as more than a tad self-righteous and can hold people to near impossible standards.

To me, there's always been something noble when it comes to a tragic hero. If you're familiar with the character's origin and general backstory, he puts me in mind of someone who could, arguably, justify hatred towards humanity, normal human beings in particular. Generally speaking, in many ways, the man's had his ass kicked by life more times that there are hairs on his face but he tries to carry on and fight the good fight in spite of what it's cost him personally.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Since I don't know too much about the source material of most (if not all) comic book heroes, I'll talk about my personal favorite hero of all-time.

John Connor is someone, who didn't fall into the typical and cliche role of a hero. In Judgement Day, Edward Furlong was a young rebellious punk, who didn't show any fear (well, maybe when he sees Arnie for the first time, and runs from Robert Patrick, but that's about it). Think about a small kid, who's told he has to grow up and be the savoir of the world, and on top of that, he had the balls to go into an insane asylum, and free his mother with Arnie's help.

And after witnessing the closest thing he had to a father figure sacrifice himself, Connor kept going. It's one of the of the main reasons why I enjoy Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You actually get to see John go through the emotional heartache, the struggles, and the unbelievable amounts of stress with Sarah, Derek Reese, and Cameron guiding him along the way.

But of course, like so many heroes and movies, everything suffers setbacks. Of course, I'm talking about Nick Stahl in Rise Of The Machines. I've said this before and I'll say it again, I don't put all the blame on Stahl, because his performance wasn't bad quality wise, at all. But in Rise Of The Machines, they turned John Connor into an annoying whining, bitch. I mean, for fuck's sake, they just took a dump on everything the John Connor character stood for: bravery, fearlessness, and toughness.

Stahl was a setback as Connor, Thomas Dekker was a believable bad ass, but in Salvation, Connor just became "another guy" in the hero mold. Don't get me wrong, Bale did a phenomenal job with the role, but the Connor character was too ordinary in Salvation. That, and outside of Bale (i.e. Sam Worthington), the rest of the movie was shit. Yeah, I know. Many Terminator fans like myself longed for the day of FINALLY seeing John Connor in action, because before Salvation, we always heard about the grandiose and god-like war stories surrounding the Connor character in T1, T2, the show, and Rise Of The Machines, but we never witnessed Connor in action. But in the grand scheme of things, that's the big problem: the hype didn't live up to expectations, because again, Salvation was a shit film.

I like Connor, because he's different in a lot of ways, but every hero has their corny moment (or moments) of humility. Like in The Dark Knight Rises, when Catwoman was pleading with Batman to "come with her," so he can survive the blast. Catwoman said (paraphrasing, but I think I'm close enough), "you've given these people everything. You don't owe them anymore." Batman of course, comes back with, "not everything, not yet." Dekker had a handful of those moments in the TSCC show, same with Bale in Salvation, Stahl in Rise Of The Machines, and of course Furlong in Judgement Day. Although, it's nothing to really complain about, because you wouldn't be able to call them heroes without some humble moments.

And I guess he would fall under the category of an antihero, but Vegeta from Dragonball is another one of my favorites. I'm not a Dragonball expert, but from what I remember in the cartoons, Vegeta was a dick 80% of the time, while trying to fight and kill Goku. But he did have some heroic moments and he was a rebel bad ass, who refused to quit. Some heroic moments I remember include, the sacrifice by blowing himself up against the fat Majin Boo, and I haven't seen the episode since I was a kid, but I think Vegeta helped the teenage Gohan defeat Cell in his perfect form.

Also, from what I saw in the Shadow Dragons saga in GT, Vegteta showed some humility, when he became Super Saiyan 4. Super Saiyan 4 Goku wanted to do a double team attack on Omega Shenron, but Vegeta suggested the fusion dance, because he knew Omega could kill both of them easily, if they didn't fuse. Again, from what I remember, Vegeta despised the fusion dance, because he thought it was humiliating. And on top of that, it pissed him off that he needed help from his #1 rival. But in that moment, Vegeta swallowed his pride.