On the topic of secret identities

Hulk vs Dr. Strange: Battle of Will and Emotions

Reflection #2: Who is the person behind the mask?

        One thing I took away from this lesson, is that mortal men sometimes have to commit the ultimate atrocity; taking away another human being’s life. When humanity begins to show and our heroes begin to age, or go to war, sometimes they have to make the necessary actions to keep themselves and the ones they love safe, the exception being Superman, who, in his almost god-like form, is incapable of drawing closer to the human complex he never had. Even the caped crusader, Batman, eventually fails to uphold his highest and most important rule, falling into the depths that is his own humanity. In the Dark Knight Returns series, an elderly Batman returns to defend the citizens of Gotham, only to come face-to-face with a much younger and physically superior specimen, who bests Batman, forcing the Dark Knight to kill several criminals. Many people argue that Batman made the transition from Crime Fighter to War Fighter, making the need for killing necessary, but I say the fact of the matter is that he slipped, making Batman more real and human than ever before. In terms of my own life, this revaluation tells me that, sometimes, even our greatest and most important rules must sometimes be broken in order to save the things we love.

       In terms of the iconic superhero, “dual-identity” I believe that the secret identity is a necessary, if not possibly psychologically damaging risk that most superheroes have to use in order to save the ones the care about from being targeted by the very people they battle on a daily basis. Even though many people don’t have super villain archenemies constantly trying to kill us, we still have a tendency to put on faces or masks for people in our lives. For example, I have at least two totally distinctive faces, one while I’m at school and one while I’m at home. While I’m at school, I live in the fraternity complex with a group of young men you share similar ideals and opinions with me, as well as us being all around the same age group; meaning I don’t have to watch my language, I don’t have a curfew and I get to make my own schedule. While I’m at home, I have to watch my language around my siblings, as well as work my schedule around five other people. Although the transition isn’t very difficult from one location to another, I do sometimes find myself slipping when I first get home from school, allowing some vulgarities to slip out when around my younger siblings. Generally, the transition takes a night or two, but the masks eventually switch without any problems. 

Reflection #1: My Favorite Superhero

Nicholas Dadds

January 19, 2012

Reflections

Reflection #1

Over the course of the past 20 years of my life, I’ve been fortunate enough to have a rich exposure to comic books. One of the questions I am often asked is, “Which superhero is your favorite?” My immediate response is, “The Incredible Hulk”, the reasoning behind my decision is based on my love of the Hulk comics growing up and the television series with Lou Ferrigno as The Incredible Hulk. The reason that he intrigues me so much is the correlation between the Hulks anger problem and my own struggles with internalizing my own anger. When growing up, I sought refuge in the fact that I wasn’t the only person who felt isolated and persecuted by everyone, resulting in a strong dislike for the majority of humanity, much like what the Hulk felt during his weekly escapades on screen and when ever I could get my hands on a comic book. Like the Hulk, with the assistance of my friends I found a way to quell the seemingly overwhelming rage that constantly burned inside of me. I also found myself drawn to protect those smaller and weaker than myself, and like the Hulk with Rick Jones, I also had a specific person I always protected, my little brother Patrick. One particular instance is when I was playing schoolyard football with some of the other children in my neighborhood. I ended up tackling one of the other players, which caused him to go into a seemingly unending stream of slurs and other vulgarities, including calling my little brother a derogatory term for people with mental disabilities. Needless to say, I lost my cool and ended up attacking the other boy. Like the Hulk, I seemingly gained a massive amount of strength and power, causing me not only to “win” the fight but cause extreme discomfort to the other six boys who attempted to pull me off of the other boy. After that incident, the majority of the people in my class knew that making any negative comment about my little brother would only be met with aggression and pain. In terms of “What Would the Hulk Do?” and how it would help in my adult life, I can’t exactly go around destroying buildings and attacking the US Army, that sort of behavior is usually frowned upon on in today’s society. However, the use of the Hulk, is great for intimidation purposes. For example, being at a party and having one of my friends ask me to scare away a “creeper”. The Hulk would step up, get into their face and scare them into submission.