Stan Lee, iconic Marvel Comics legend and cameo master, died the other day. At 95 years old the man has been a fixture in the superhero/entertainment world for many decades. The creator of Spider-man (my favourite superhero), The Hulk, The Avengers and so many more; the world is a tad sadder today with the passing of this unique and prolific talent.
In the aftermath of his death tributes poured in and people scrambled to put together thoughts on how Mr Lee had helped shape a small part of the world for the better. Now, I'm no comic book nerd and I couldn't tell you who most of the superheroes are out there but I did hear a great interview with a free lance artist that does some work for Marvel; he threw some illumination on it all and why some people are comic book freaks, in particular why Marvel is better than DC.
This fellow spoke of the way Marvels superheroes reflect true humanity. These heroes, as he put it, are "us', they have doubts, they have flaws, they fight against their supposed calling, they are messy and they are complicated. In simplest form, they are not nearly perfect like some of the heroes from D.C Comics. Look at Superman and Wonder Woman, "just doing my job mam" kind of responses to just having saved a plane load of children when you know that Spider-man would have a quip or two to share with the world.
This got me to thinking of perfection, or the search for it at least. Young girls are inundated with images of what the world thinks they should look like, scrolling through Instagram and Facebook posts that belie the truth that it's OK to not be all the same, that you don't have to look like that model over there and that yes you are beautiful just as you are. The fallacy of this kind of search for perfection is that it is not real, people are trying to measure up to a Superman or a Wonder Woman when they should find happiness in being Spider-man. Be weird, be strange - be yourself. But maybe don't be Hulk so much.
The forces that shaped Spider-man, Thor et al, are as complex as the heroes themselves. Peter Parker turned away from helping someone out and his uncle got whacked. Thor learned what the true meaning of hubris was for his douche canoe actions. Hulk, well Hulk is green and full of rage - unbridled rage that causes great destruction and provides a cautionary tale on the folly of losing self control, spectacularly so.
The desire for perfection cuts both ways, whether we strive for it in our selves or we look for it in others really only serves to feed a beast that is probably insatiable. I think it plays a large part in why happiness is sometimes hard to come by, we're too busy looking for a version of something that probably doesn't exist. Crazy world eh?
In an interview with a magazine writer, Stan the Man gave an eloquent response to the writers question on his own sons super power dreams:
My 8-year-old son Immanuel profoundly wrote his super power would be the ability to touch someone's heart and turn evil and hate into love.
His superhero creation was Love-Man.
Given the opportunity to ask the chief creative force behind the rise of Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, his thoughts on my son's super power, the spritely 94-year-old beamed.
"If somebody could make love instead of hate throughout the world then I would say he would be the greatest super hero of all," said Lee. "So encourage your son."
Maybe Stan was a superhero in disguise as a mild mannered man about town.
R.I.P Stan Lee
Ciao
D
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