Superhero Manifesto

Preface: The Superhero Paradigm

What is a superhero?

It’s easy to name superheroes: Batman, Captain America, Superman, etc. But what qualifies these characters as superheroes? It’s important to identify this if we are to entertain thoughts of a real life superhero. The first part of this question’s answer is that superheroes share in common a set of ideals which I refer to as the superhero paradigm. The superhero paradigm is based on four main principles in tandem:

  • A desire to help others;
  • A sense of justice;
  • A commitment to the rules of social order;
  • And the resolve to actively pursue these ideals.

While this superhero paradigm is the core of superheroing, there are additional factors necessary to meet the definition of superhero:

  • An identity isolated to the superhero identity and distinct from the person’s everyday identity (a secret identity) and;
  • Investment in identity in the form of an iconic costume, name, etc. There are secondary details that must be addressed here as well;
  • The superhero should have some sort of “theme”. This can be in the form of an icon such as a spider or bat, or it can be in the form of a theme such as America or “the future” or simply a set of signature colors;
  • A costume/ uniform that provides a signature. It should be something easily identifiable and relate to the theme (above) of that superhero. If you are Green Moth, for example, you obviously want green in your costume.

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