Superman and Batman: How a Lack of Values Make Boring Characters

As a kid, two of my favorite characters were Superman and Batman. Almost anyone from the Justice League, Teen Titans, and Legion of Superheroes.

I like these heroes because they represent the idealism that children possess.

As I got older, I saw my idyllic characters become lost in the attempt to make them more "realistic." Creators who were once fans wanted their believe characters to reflect the world they experience, not the world they hoped for.

This is best seen in modern television shows and movies where all it takes to be a superhero are a costume and the willingness to beat up bad guys. What is defined as badguys changes from project to project. According to the standard of values expressed by older comics, almost every superhero today could be classified as a bad guy.

The fact that the good guys aren't so good isn't the worst part of the problem. The worst problem is that not only are they amoral or morally ambiguous or right out evil, but they're also boring.

By Hillel Penrod