Supergirl

The superhero we’ve all been waiting for.

That’s the catch line of the new TV series on CBS. Supergirl is the self-acclaimed, “superhero of all superheroes”. If you wade through the promotional rubbish that CBS propagates to bill this new show, and actually watch it before taking their word on the matter, you’ll find that Supergirl is more like, “the superhero that no one wanted”.

Seriously, she’s like a leftover from a Superman story; one of those characters that was a decent concept but wasn’t good enough to get their own movie. Well, Supergirl is the exception to all other leftover characters, she is the ultimate leftover character. Whereas most leftovers aren’t good enough to get their own movies, Supergirl is the same but somehow managed to get a TV series anyway. But, there again, it is CBS. What haven’t they done that was utterly ridiculous?

In this relatively new series, released in July of this year, we see Melissa Benoist in the role of an egotistical feminist who is a dogmatic, hot-tempered, pressure cooker of a young woman named Kara Danvers, (Supergirl). She also happens to be Clark Kent’s younger, older cousin. As the warp of Superman’s story goes, apparently two pods were sent out rather than just one when the planet Krypton exploded. Superman’s pod made it to earth, while his cousin’s was caught in a time warp. Eventually she arrived on earth as well, but had not aged since they were separated, making Superman now physically older than her even though she was born first… It’s messed up.  So, now we have two aliens, related to one another, with the same powers, who exist within the same world. My question is, why? Why do we need two superheroes for one world? Especially when one of those superheroes is Superman, the god of all superheroes. Is an inferior, female, wanna-be superhero really necessary for the world to have? Really? 

At this point we’re saving people from every accidental evil that can befall them, as well as from the intentional evils wrought by villains.

In the first episode of “Supergirl”, which I ended up watching… because I’m a guy, and the TV was on… her first real super deed is saving people from an accidental plane malfunction. Again, really? Two identical superheroes in the same world is not only redundant, it’s creating a world without any hardship. Hardships make hard people, but an easy life breeds lethargy, and weakness.

How far are we going to take this? Are we going to have superheroes saving people from tripping over twigs, or from accidentally dropping their keys when their hands are full? No one asked for Supergirl. She is not necessary to the world, to the story of Superman, to CBS programming, or to the average American’s 60 spare minutes on Mondays before Scorpion comes on.  Kara Danvers is a very beautiful, charming young woman, she appears to be very bright, but when have either of those two qualities alone made a good TV series. The premise is stolen… and perverted, and the backdrop is stolen… and perverted. If it didn’t have the name, I’d say that “Supergirl” has nothing at all. 

She fights for equality, which has never been considered a noble cause in the sense that she uses it. Equality requires a condition: equality of what? Of rights? Women already have that, at least to a very large degree. What then?

I believe when people cry out for equality, they really mean acceptance. They already have the right to be equal, but they will never be accepted as such because regard and esteem are not things you gain by tearing others down to lift yourself upon backs.

You will never be respected as an equal until you can prove that you are fine being regarded as inferior.

Above all of this, God made a distinction between man and woman, creating them different for a purpose. The ultimate and only true form of respect is to respect someone for who they are, not what they wish they were. I think “Supergirl” is not only pointless as a show and not worth the 45 minutes once a week that it takes to watch, but also pointless as an ideal. But, by all means let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for reading.

—the anonymous novelist

Heroes Have It Bad

Through the years, great comic writers like Stan Lee, Jerry Siegel, and Bob Kane have immortalized the characters of their stories. Names like Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, and the Fantastic Four are household names in America today. There is a common bond between these superheroes that is fascinating. Though most people will tell you they are all totally different, they are mostly the same. I’ll not make your decision for you, rather I am going to send these characters through a qualification test and you can see for yourself how much they are or are not alike.The first category is family. What kind of family did these super humans grow up into, you’d be surprised how much they are alike in his category.

Fatherless:

Superman ✔️

Batman ✔️

Spiderman ✔️

Ironman ✔️

Hulk

Captain America

Wolverine ✔️

Mister Fantastic ✔️

Invisible Woman ✔️

Human Torch ✔️

Thor ✔️

As you can see, the most popular superheroes here have no parents. Hulk and Captain America are the exceptions, though Captain America lost his parents by outliving them when he was frozen for 80 years, and Hulk, if you go by the original movies, killed his Dad. Superhero’s just have it rough.

How about personal life? How many superheroes died themselves and then were brought back to life?

Dead and Resurected:

Flash 

Green Lantern

Superman

Green Lantern(died twice)

Ant-Man

Bird-Man

Captain America

Human Torch

Ironman

Spiderman 

Thor

And there are many many others, but these are the most famous, the most popular. Think about this, these are super heroes, most of which are super humans, whose goal in life is to save the world, or in most cases, their city. The most undervalued, under-appreciated, most hated of all people by most of the people they save. They are run ragged having to constantly save helpless people who show no gratitude.

Then, they die and its all over. All of the hate, all of the pain, all of the trouble they’ve been through to save the world, it’s finally over. They are at peace, they can rest. Then, someone brings them back. I can just hear them now.

What! No! I don’t want to come back, those people hate me. I can’t live a normal life! Don’t bring me back. Please!

Superheroes really do have it rough.

What about quality of life? Well, superheroes get to live the same scenario over and over and over again, most times the exact plot. It’s a monotonous life. They fight the villain, they save the town, no one knows they were in danger. The hero probably gets bored 9 days out of 10.

Every now and again the superhero will get the girl, but even that’s not a given. They are guaranteed no pleasure in life, only purpose yet still these heroes live and die, then live again… Then die again, for what?

Their friends also seem to have an astonishingly high mortality rate. Even some of the girlfriend’s of these heroes don’t last very long, Batman and Spider-Man can attest to that. And it isn’t as if this is “Tangled”, where a magic teardrop can bring people back to life. Most everyone, except the heroes themselves, gets one death and never comes back.

This isn’t just limited to superheroes, lots of fantasy characters are messed up. And the award for most dysfunctional family in fantasy goes to… Drum roll please: the Skywalker family.

Think about it, Anakin kills his wife and essentially orphans two children, Luke kisses his twin sister and they both are fighting against their father for the whole series, Anakin, who is Darth Vader kills his son’s mentor and father-figure then kills his mentor and ends up dying in the end anyway. I’d love to expound more on how this family simply doesn’t work, but you get the point. Luke, who ends up being the hero, looses his dad, looses the girl, which is a good thing because she was his sister to begin with, and they all live happily ever after? Well, you’ll have to wait for “Force Awakens” to find that out.

Heroes really have it bad. But maybe it’s not the job of the hero to win for himself. Maybe his only concern is others. A hero is servant, a hero lays down his life for others, a hero loves without condition, a hero does what’s right, no matter the cost.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist