Heroes Are Rarely Perfect

Written by Shae Rufe

Some time back, I mentioned Daredevil in one my blogs and while I’m not a fan, he is a very important character to have in the world of comics. In the world in general really. I do disagree with some of his powers and whatnot, having a main character, who is notably kind of a badass, be blind…well. That’s just awesome. Having characters with any disability is awesome. Let’s face it, there are those of us out there that need role models in the comic world too. It’s fantastical that there are so many origin stories of people who end up becoming superheroes through various means. But Daredevil is different. In the storyline I know of, he’s actually blinded by some toxic stuff, but that stuff gives him inhuman hearing and the ability to ‘see’ using sound vibrations. Which, hey, pretty cool.

The idea that superheroes are all perfect is a grand one. But that’s not always true. One of my favorite heroes is Captain America because he does go from being this little scrawny guy, to this superhero of awesome. Over the years, however, characters have been created to have disabilities and still be kickass. The Blue Ear was created for a deaf boy who wouldn’t wear his hearing aids, to show that even heroes aren’t perfect. Look at Professor X! A powerful telepath that is confined to a wheelchair. Batgirl is a great example of someone dealing with an accident and a tragedy. Being shot by the Joker leaves her paralyzed and instead of giving up, she becomes the Oracle.

All of these characters, and so many more I haven’t mentioned are extremely important. I have mentioned Avatar: The Last Airbender before and The Legend of Korra, but it wasn’t until I was on Tumblr last night that I realized just how important of a show this is, in a different way. In Airbender, we have a lot of strong characters that aren’t even Benders. To add to that, we also have a Transgender character, one that is part of Jet’s gang. To top that off you have Toph. Yes, the blind Earthbender is perhaps one of my all-time favorites. She’s sassy, snarky, and pretty much the most awesome character to exist ever. She deals with her vision the same way I do, with attitude. The show even had her being picked on in several cases, and Toph rebuffed them every single time, however, you actually saw how such a thing affected her.

In Korra, we get deeper. The disabilities spread beyond superficial. In Book Three we have a character fighting without arms. Literally, she has no arms! It took me several times seeing her fight to understand that. We also deal with a not so openly talked about subject, mental health disorders. Korra herself struggles with PTSD and depression. It’s not something we’re really used to seeing. Especially in a kids cartoon. I could argue that Korra is really made for those that watched Airbender and grew up…

Granted, there are many other aspects of the nerd world that show characters dealing with many of these issues and topics. Batman is literally a plethora of examples of various psychological disorders. And I’m not even going to go near Tony Stark with a 10 foot pole. The important thing in all of this is that comics and media are there to support its many audiences. None of us are perfect and we all struggle through our own lives. The biggest appeal to the nerd world is that the characters allow us to escape. Being able to relate to them in some way or another is always a massive bonus and I know it’s helped me feel just a little less lonely...

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