You See a Venomous Black Widow Spider. These Lizards See a Snack. And, That’s OK?
I’ve been pretty critical of the “bait and switch” in superhero movies in the past, because they really do undermine the idea that superheroes are like ordinary humans. The characters in most superhero movies are ordinary people, yet, somehow, superheroes are supposed to be super beings, or at least, that’s the idea. Most of the time, when it comes to superheroes, we just see ordinary people fighting super-powered foes, sometimes with super abilities. But in most superhero movies, the super powers are nothing special at all. They’re just normal human abilities, like strength and speed, and in some cases, like speed, super strength is seen as a pretty great advantage.
The problem with this is that people start becoming complacent with their super abilities, because superheroes are so often expected to have super-human powers. In the Avengers franchise, for example, we see the average Joe and Jane, who have normal strength and speed and strength, just as many times get to blow away the bad guys with their super-strength. The thing is, super-powers are supposed to be a rare gift and a valuable tool for the world to have, and even the Avengers can only use their powers sporadically, because the more powerful the hero, the harder they are to hide from. If we started expecting the Avengers to have super-human abilities all the time, that would be a problem because the world would lose its surprise.
I think, though, that this is a problem, because what we have with some characters in comic books is a little bit of an ideal that doesn’t fit into everyday life. If superheroes are just ordinary people, then why do we see them being extraordinary all the time? Why are they supposed to be like that, and why does it seem as though the average person couldn’t be even semi-heroic without