This is a discussion about whether its good to have all these superhero icons in our lives, in our childrens life. For decades alot of people have grown up with their favourite superhero cartoons, comics or tv shows. Thundercats, Superman, Batman, The Flash, Avengers and Green Lantern but how does this affect us and is it a good thing?

Ok if you believe in God then most religions will teach that God created humans as the best of his creations. He didnt create us to fire laser beams from our eyes nor to fly. So when we create a humanoid character that does fly, or can teleport or fire ice from his hands then we are saying these ‘creations’ are better than what God said was the best of creations as they help normal humans or can take advantage of them. But then you have to also note that lot of religions talk about and follow humanoids with ‘special powers’ for example Jesus could heal the sick and walk on water. Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) could speak and read in a language completely alien to him. So we have seen mention of people with ‘superpowers’ who could do miracles and special feats. If you watch Youtube you can see videos of people doing things most people would consider impossible or really hard to do, for example someone breaking concrete blocks with their bare hands, people able to generate electricity with their hands, people able to stick metal to their skin, people who claim to be able to move objects with their mind etc… But are these people real and are they classed as having superpowers?

If we take just the idea of Superman we have a character that is quite out of place, who has superpowers, who decides to use them to help people in trouble. He genuinly cares about the wellbeing of others and the world and often puts his life on the line to help people and to save the planet. We see this with most superheroes like Green Lantern, Avengers etc… who risk everything to save the planet.

Ok so they do it using special powers, flying around using super strength etc… But could this not be a source of motivation and inspiration for kids and adults alike. They also give us hope in that there is good in the world. But is this false hope? Would anyone really risk their life to save the planet? We know there are people who put their lives at risk to help others, we see this in Martin Luther King, Gandhi and everyday with firemen, lifeguards, police men so do we really need super heroes to give us motivation and hope?

We are starting to now have a trend where movies and TV shows running out of original ideas exploring the dark sides of these super heroes we saw this in Batman Vs Superman where the heroes confront their own demons. In a way it makes them more human and relatable as we all have our demons and we are not all perfect. All our policemen, mountain rescue, doctors are not all good people, some are criminals, some take bribes etc… So is it a good thing to see our on screen heroes dealing with their dark sides? Can we use that to help us defeat and contend with our own dark sides and temptations to do wrong?

Theres no superman always fear….the understanding of this is that when you are in trouble superman isnt going to come to help you, in fact in some cases no one may come to help you. In this case you have no choice but to help yourself and be that hero yourself.

People love superheroes.do you? We are seeing an ever-increasing number of shows and movies that revolve around people and humanoids with special powers, as in they are not normal human beings, and they are almost always shown to use them for good or evil in kind of extremes. A browse through NetFlix and Sky Movies and you have no shortage of super hero tv shows. Is this a good thing? Does it make us look at normal life and normal people as being boring and leading us to seek out things that kind make us more than normal. as in technology, taking interest in non conventional practices, like wanting to be a magician or delving in dark arts etc.

In my opinion it depends on the intentions of the creators and promoters of these superhero productions as to what they hope to achieve. If the purpose is just to make money then really they are just capitalists who want to make money off the average person looking for hope, motivation or just to be entertained. Maybe its just entertainment business and nothing more. What ever else it accomplishes is just debatable to superficial? Maybe it depends on the intentions of the person watching? Are you watching to gain motivation or to be entertainment to look for role models? But like with most things be it food or entertainment too much consumption is likely to have adverse effects on you. Playing too much computer games affects the person mentality, and we see this the average person as it affects their behaviour and their attitude towards others. Eating too much food leads to obesity and bad heath, so you have to cut down and eat healthier food. Is it the same with superhero TV shows? If you just watch superhero TV shows, films and read dc comics almost all the time would it detach you from reality and affect your personality adversely? It is very possible, when we see our favourite superhero solve a problem or defeat a for the average person could not use the same methods to solve their problems, You could not defeat a bully by eating spinach or grabbing them and flying up into outer space with them to suffocate them, or melt them into nothing using fire from your hands. So the answer is watch for entertainment purposes only and watch in moderation balancing with your real life and other types of shows / movies.