The Battle Over Fictional Characters

Written by Shae Rufe

Do you guys ever get into arguments with your friends over fictional characters? Yes? Okay, good. Because I do all the time. In fact, John and I were arguing the other day about the Avengers. I was just innocently pointing out that Hawkeye single handedly took down an entire Helicarrier with only three arrows. And John decided that Captain America taking down Three Helicarriers alone was more awesome.
 
The conversation then derailed drastically as actor names were thrown about and hilariousness ensued, because we can’t ever take these conversations seriously. I’m just kidding, we mostly get side tracked…I mostly get side tracked. It’s not always my fault. Just…mostly almost always my fault. Long story short, I feel the need to defend Hawkeye. Why? Because Jeremy Renner is awesome. Granted, the character isn’t the most popular, but we’ve been over my side-character love affair thing thousands of blogs ago…

Let’s take into account that Clint Barton is a regular guy who shoots well, and that Captain America is a super enhanced human being who can probably never die…because, shut up, the comics have never happened. I feel like pro’s and con’s for every character comparison ever get made and we all sit there and argue until we’re blue in the face. It’s a comic nerds sworn duty to defend their favorite character. Like, who is better, Batman or Iron Man. The answer is both, because how can you not love either of them. You can’t! Who’s going to win in a fight, Batman or Superman? We all know it’s Batman, but that never stops us from bickering the key points until we’re blue in the face. A better question is who would really win, Superman or Son Goku…then we have to ask ourselves which Goku…and the answer is either, because Goku is just awesome.

So what is it about us that we have to argue and see who’s character is better? We’re passionate creatures. And we geeks know our stuff. It’s no different than Sports fans, and some of us are Sports fans (GO BRUINS!). We’ve also invested a great amount of time into reading about our favorite characters. Why does Batman always win? It’s easy to say “Because he’s awesome”, but there’s so much more to it than that. Batman wins and is my favorite because he’s a trained martial artist, who strategizes and finds weakness in those around him. I mean, planning how you’d totally take down your teammates is totally normal….maybe Bruce Wayne is Italian…either way, I’ve seen these arguments over characters tear friendships apart…I’m just kidding, but I have seen people get insanely angry over them.

When it comes down to it, no fictional character is better than the other. They’re all equally awesome and just as good as the next. We all bond with certain characters because of their stories, their morals, and what they’ve been through. Even the ‘bad guys’ have their moments. You can’t sit and tell me that Magneto has not been minorly relatable in his storylines, at least once. I suppose it doesn’t matter who wins in what argument. All that really does matter is that I am always right…

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