For as long as I can remember I have been using the term “Superhero” when speaking about a goody comic book character and in that time I have never really thought to myself ‘What defines a Superhero?’.

With the question ‘What defines a Superhero?, what I am asking is what makes a Superhero different from just a hero and what defines them, especially in the comic book world, what makes a Superhero different from all the others in a costume with a secret identity?

Here are entries for Superhero from the first two dictionaries I checked online.

Superhero:

“A fictional hero having extraordinary or superhuman powers; also: an exceptionally skilful or successful person”

And

“A benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers, such as Superman”

This doesn’t really give me enough to answer the question and is where I start to get confused. For instance when we talk about guys in the mould of Ghost Rider and The Punisher who are quite happy to kill for the great of good are they Superheroes? And what about like Magneto and people like him because when he turned all good and joined the X-Men team do we now call him a superhero even though he has killed so many people in the past because he WAS a Supervillain but then turned good?

I have been thinking about the question now for five days or so because I wrote the above last week before work got a hold of me.

I have managed (I think) to define what I would class as a ‘Superhero’, It may not be the ‘official’ view of what a Superhero is and I would highly imagine the definition of Superhero differs from each person to the next but here is what I broke mine into and what from now on I will use it to define a Superhero.

The first thing to take into account is that Superheroes don't necessarily have to have superpowers. Batman, Green Arrow, Nightwing to name just three don’t have superpowers, yes the all have amazing talents but no ‘actual’ superpowers and yet I would class all three as Superhero’s.

People like Punisher, Ghost Rider, and Magneto like I mentioned before do not in my eyes class as a Superhero because there are a few rules one has to have to get ‘Super’ added to that Hero part in my eyes.

The rules I am talking about are not many but I believe needed to define and help separate the Superhero from the hero.

First up and MOST importantly is the moral code and what they live by, when out fighting crime and doing the greater good, which options do they chose?
Sometimes the most honourable or heroes may have to be non heroic and walk away, they may have to chose an option they don’t want too and don’t like but for them It’s about doing the right thing no matter how much vengeance or revenge is there, no matter who it is every life is equal.

Second and last rule is that they have to have either a superpower or a special talent and use it to fight a good fight, use the power/talent to try and make earth and which ever other planets they are on a better place. Fight for Truth, Justice and Honour.

I could go on and define each of my two rules more but the article is getting on a bit and we all know I can waffle so ill stop it there.

I will finish by saying the list of people I used to call a superhero has about halved.

Regards

Muldwych

A little while ago, I covered the upcoming addition of Bunker to the Teen Titans team in this column. Now, as part of that, I mentioned how I thought it was a shame that they wouldn’t be focusing on people having negative reactions to him and his sexuality in the book, especially not from his fellow team mates.

Now, it has been asked of me why I think that’s a shame, and isn’t it better that a state of total acceptance is shown. And yes, that would be lovely in the real world, certainly. And when we get to that stage when it is the norm, then yes, we should definitely only have sexuality in comics handled as such. But sadly, that isn’t how it is in the real world. This is fiction we are talking about too, but sometimes fiction bears some powerful responsibilities in the context of the real world it’s released into.

My thoughts on this are maybe a little complicated, and I myself have been struggling to clarify it, so bear with me.

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In the last few months with everything that has been happening in the comic book world I have noticed something, I have noticed that as in life so many people are negative and love to put down a comic, a character or a story line much more than they will praise it or even just say it was ok.

I've come to believe that the majority of comic book fans (not me or the people I talk comics with) are looking for something to be negative with, in fact there are a few who rip into everything from Marvel and DC yet praise all from Image or Dark horse which is clearly just because they don’t see them as mainstream so must be “cool”.

These comic book fans annoy me and I don’t mind telling you that at all, they are as bad as the music Nazi’s we all know, who love an underground band until they sign a major record deal and are then suddenly sell outs and crap, even though the first album is the same songs they were singing happily along too when no one knew who they were.

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I am the Watcher. Of various films and TV programmes. I’ve watched loads of ‘em. And do you know what you need to make a film or a TV programme? Actors. You need people to play the many characters who will be appearing in said moving picture show, otherwise all you’ve got is a script scrolling across the screen or images of places where not much is happening.

The thing is, there are a number of actors who become so very linked to one of the parts they’ve played, that when you see them in something else, certainly to begin with, you can only see them in that part. A good actor can overcome this, and by the end of whatever it is you’re watching, they’ve become this new character, all trace of that other part you know them for gone and forgotten, at least temporarily.

But, sometimes, your brain starts to ask the question. “What if…” you ask yourself, “What if they were that other character I know them so well for? How would that change what I’m watching now? Would it make it better? Worse?” And then you’ve rewritten the entire film in your head. We’ve all done it. I know I have. So, here, for you, I present five of my own personal what ifs.

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Secret Identity:

“A secret identity is an element of fiction wherein a character develops a separate persona (usually adopting a pseudonym), while keeping their true identity hidden. The character also may wear a disguise (ranging from makeup or a mask, to a complete costume). A character may have several types of secret identities simultaneously (such as adopted names, pen names, undercover identities, and crime fighting codenames).”

Now one of my BIGGEST gripes when I was younger was about superheroes identities and why no one noticed that the likes of Clark Kent was Superman and that Bruce Wayne was Batman.

Now that I have thought about it a bit more for this article I now accept it and feel I can understand why they get away with it.

Obviously, first and foremost, it comes down to suspension of belief and if you are reading a comic or watching a superhero film then you like to escape to a fantasy realm and believe that for instance some humans can defy the rules of gravity and nature or that aliens can come down to earth to help protect it by using superpowers.

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The conclusion to our trilogy of columns looking at the Avengers Big Three, and the best actors to portray, them is here, and I’ve saved my favourite for last. Regular readers will be aware that I do love Captain America. Even wrote a whole piece about why a little while back. Cap’s put in more screen appearances than Iron Man or Thor, thanks in part to the fact that he precedes them in the comics by a good couple of decades. There were also two attempts at live action Cap movies before the recent effort with Chris Evans in the title role (winner of your vote for best Cap, by the way). In the seventies there were a couple of made for TV movies starring Reb Brown as a rather lacklustre, one-note Captain America. Then, the early nineties gave us Matt “son of J.D.” Salinger in the title role in a disastrous movie in which Salinger did his best impression of… Well, Reb Brown. And wore rubber ears as part of his costume. Who thought that was a good idea?

Neither of these efforts were ever going to make this list, and are now mostly regarded as, at best, curios. However, leaving them aside, I was more than ready to bombard you with a Super Soldier Serum charged column featuring one awesome live action Cap, and four awesome animated Caps too.

Then I discovered one more live action version...

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Why is it that the majority of comic book fans feel the need to choose sides between DC and Marvel?

Ive pondered this question for a while now and it’s something I wondered as a kid of 14/15 too. There were 2 of us in team DC and another 4 of my friends were team Marvel. I never labelled myself as team DC but as I didn’t get any Marvel comics but did get 3 DC I just kind of became it.

It’s strange because as a kid and being in team DC I grew up with a little dislike for Marvel, I know now how stupid that was/is but I was only young and that’s what it feels like sometimes in comics, you have to choose sides. Even if I go to my favourite comic book forum it’s separated into sections of DC, Marvel, Independent and a few others (note there is no general section if you want to speak about both in same thread which is a tad annoying).

Every day on the forum there is a question in at least one of the sections that goes like “DC convert here, over from Marvel” or “I am swapping to Marvel because of the 52 reboot”, I mean; CONVERT? SWAPPING? why choose one side?

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There have been some truly awful Thors over the years. In researching this column (yes, I do research. It involves watching a lot of cartoons) I was reminded of how difficult it can be to bring a character like Thor to the screen. Things that work well in the comics, such as his faux Shakespearian dialect or his long, girly hair, just don’t really translate that well unless done properly. You either have to go all the way, and adapt the comic character as is (will only work in animation), or you have to make some pretty drastic changes somewhere.

To pick a prime example, check out Eric Allan Kramer’s awful turn in nineteen eighty-eight’s The Incredible Hulk Returns. While the original Hulk TV series was absolutely brilliant, Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno’s return to our screens in several low budget TV movies left a lot to be desired. Of the three, and opinions are divided, but in this writer’s opinion, this first one was the worst. Yes, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk featured a completely uninspired version Daredevil, but the Thor who showed up in Returns, and had his ass handed to him by the Hulk, was, at best, a one note joke. An Asgardian warrior who relished battle, women and drink. There was no nobility to the character, and he was incredibly difficult to sympathise with. He also looked bloody stupid.

So, as with last week’s look at Iron Man, we’re faced with a dilemma. There are few truly great Thors, and not a whole lot of good ones to choose from either. Still, I did manage to find five who, at the very least, could be considered adequate. Four of the men on this list deserve their places. This first guy though, I’ll admit, is mostly there to fill out the numbers...

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With the recent reveal that Cable will be returning after 'dying' during X-Men event, Second Coming, we now have some more information about the direction that his return will take. It seems that Cable will be taking on The Avengers in an attempt to safeguard his 'daughter', Hope, and her future prosperity. With this mini-series being written by man of many lives, Jeph Loeb and drawn by fan favourite Ed McGuinness I pose the question; Is Cable the new RULK?

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This week’s column presented a challenge. When I decided to write the next three columns on the Avengers Big Three (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America), I hadn’t really factored in that they haven’t actually been played by as many actors as, say, Batman or Spider-Man. Until their recent movie adventures, the characters didn’t have the same level of popularity as their slightly more famous friends, and they just haven’t clocked up as many screen appearances.

Of course, all that changed with the release of the first Iron Man movie, but it’s only really been in the last few years that the general, non-comic reading public (or Flatscans. Maybe Muggles) have become aware of the Armoured Avenger, et al. This means fewer (though by no means a total shortage) animated or computer game outings in which actors can portray them, and a distinct lack of great Iron Man performances.

In fact, and I’m aware that this is a controversial statement that may well generate some backlash, for my money, while there have been several good Iron Men, there are only two performances who stand out as great. But let’s visit some of the good ones first...

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