"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:
The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:
"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I donât disagree with this reading. I donât think itâs inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the ĂŒbermensch writ large. But itâs a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesnât fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact⊠The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, weâve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts youâve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But itâs worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasnât been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (donât let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isnât collectivist. But thatâs not why we keep coming back to it. Thatâs not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson⊠The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/
Kids don't want to be Batman because he's rich, they want to be him because he's got tons of cool gadgets he invented himself, is a badass martial artist, is a genius on par with Lex Luthor, and uses all this to be on the same level as Superman despite having zero actual superpowers. They see the little boy who lost both his parents, decided nobody else should ever have to live through that, and want to be like that.
Kids don't want to be Superman because he's superior to humans(he isn't, that's always been a core part of his character that he rejects that outlook and it's always just Lex projecting his view of Superman onto Superman himself), they wanna be able to deflect bullets and shoot lasers from their eyes because Superman uses all that to show the best side of humanity, to show how humanity isn't even tied to actually being human but to how you act towards other people.
