Continuing our Kick-Ass week over here on www.thisfilmison.com, we got resident comic book lover/geek/obsessive (delete where applicable) Rob Lawton to start thinking about ‘superheroes’ without anysuper powers. Wandering into the light after a lab full of highly dangerous chemicals exploded all around him, here’s his results.
Thinking of non-super superheroes makes you wonder what classifies a ‘superhero’ exactly. I would say a definition of a superhero is a character possessing “extraordinary or superhuman powers” and dedicated to protecting the public. However, Google’s web definition page gets it a bit wrong saying “A superhero is a character in a cartoon or film who has special powers and fights against evil… Superheroes like Batman and Superman.” Find out why that’s wrong after the jump.
Why is this wrong? Quite simply, Batman doesn’t have any special powers at all… He’s just got a lot of spare time and even more spare cash! Years of training and millions of dollars worth of tech makes Batman who he is. Nothing more, nothing less. Just like Green Arrow, who funnily enough is a billionnairre too! Oliver Queen took the mantle of ‘Green Arrow’, a Robin-Hood styled hero who uses his skills with a bow and specially created arrows to fight crime and take down the villians of Star City. I’m not going to mention Arrow’s Kryptonite Arrow… The cheeky scamp teamed up with Batman in the comic “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” and injured Supes with the arrow to allow Batman to defeat him.
Moving away from comic books, there are other examples of ‘super’ heroes… Take Watchmen for example (OK, so it is a graphic novel but it’s technically not a comic book!) where the only hero (and I use that term loosely) with powers is the awe-inspiring Dr. Manhattan. Typically, a freak accident disintegrated Jon Osterman whilst he was experimenting with an ‘Intrinsic Field Subtractor’ but luckily, within a few months, his conscious was able to reconstruct his body and he could continue his life as Dr. Manhattan.
Other members of The Watchmen included The Comedian, Ozymandias, Silk Spectre, The Nite Owl and Rorschach. These masked vigilantes were outlawed and forced to either retire or work freelance for the US government. All without any extra powers, they were forced to literally fist-fight the bad guys and were subsequently pulled out of retirement to try to stop the end of the world. A pretty big task for a group of middle-aged loners without any powers!
In the world of film, there are even more examples though. If we were to strip away the ‘super’ we’d be left with heroes… Someone without any powers, fighting for the greater good and for what they believe is right.
The first hero that comes to mind is Shaun. A simple sales team leader working a 9-5 in a dixons-esque high street store, bumbling through life taking each day as it comes. After a zombie outbreak, Shaun decides to step up to the plate and battle through a zombie-laden London to rescue his mother, ex-girlfriend and best friend Ed.
You could go even further, classifying Indiana Jones as one of these non-super heroes. James Bond and Han Solo could also be thrown into the mix but we’re talking ‘superheroes’ without powers… Just like ‘Kick-Ass’ himself, Red Mist, Big Daddy and of course Hit Girl. We’ve already got Batman and Green Arrow but who else is there… Green Lantern technically has no super powers, he just wears a ring that gives him powers! There’s Robin and Batgirl as well, all in all there’s plenty to choose from, the main question remains.
Who would win in a fight? Batman or Kick-Ass?
Our money is on the guy with the money.
