Superheroes are often the pure forces of benevolence who strive to protect those weaker than them. However, the presence of superheroes always begets the rise of supervillains who stand to oppose them. These entities are constructs of malevolence who represent ideals that are the antithesis of superhero ideologies. However, the characteristics of a supervillain are shrouded in ambiguity and necessitate creation of a concrete and descriptive definition. There are particular criteria that are essential to the classification of supervillain. Among these standards is the ability to utilize superpowers, a display of high-level intelligence, a warped vision of the world, and a merciless tendency to do evil. In Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, Doctor Doom displays the aforementioned characteristics throughout the comic. In battling Iron Man and pursuing the power of Excalibur, Victor von Doom corroborates the features of a supervillain and represents them to their fullest extent.
Superpowers are necessary criteria when defining the primary characteristics of a supervillain. The superpowers define how the supervillain acts and where he or she will land on the spectrum of evil. Without a superpower element, the supervillain would be hindered in his battle against super heroism. Doctor Doom, in Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, equips several superhuman capabilities through the advent of technology and sorcery. As a man of genius level intellect, Victor von Doom is able to create and adapt technology to his will. For example, Doom swiftly reprograms a highly advanced time travel machine into a dimensional transporter as a means to reach Mephitso (Michelinie 16). This demonstrates his ability to create technology to augment physical and mental capabilitie...
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...ation of these features results in the genesis of a supervillain of the nature of Doctor Doom. In Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, Victor von Doom demonstrates the criteria defined for a supervillain. Throughout the comic book and by description of expert analysis, Doctor Doom fuses the standards of super villainy to achieve his motives and defeat his foes. By employing sorcery and intelligently crafted technology, Doom is able to accomplish the goals that satiate his warped worldview. Doctor Doom is characteristic of the notion of a supervillain due to his perceptions, powers, and personality.
Works Cited
"IGN's Top 100 Villains of All Time." Www.ign.com. IGN, 01 Jan. 2009. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. .
Layton, Bob and Michelinie, David [w] and Ron Lim [p]. Iron Man: Legacy of Doom. I. New York: Marvel Publishing. 2008. Print.
Throughout Watchmen by Alan Moore we are presented with the theme of breaking down the effectiveness of super heroes. Showing the world that super heroes, who are depicted as bearers of all things good and true, would not be feasible. These heroes are given authority over common mortals while remaining unwatched, which can have far more detrimental affects on society than a society without “super heroes”. Even the most prized person in spandex would too, like common mortals, present moral lapse and cognitive dissonance between what society wants them to do and personal ambition. Alan Moore shows this dubious morality of the most divine character in this graphic novel. Dr. Manhattan, a man turned into an omniscient being shows disconnect between the world and himself. Within the short essay entitled Dr.Manhattan: Super-powers and the superpowers, we see the flaws in allowing heroes to remain unwatched; to do as they please without the consequence of your average human. This helps exemplify the deconstruction of the political superhero. These flaws include dehumanizing of Dr. Manhattan in making him the United States of America’s nuclear deterrent, that Dr.Manhattan is not the Vitruvian Man; a perfect specimen, as society makes him out to be, and the fact that a “God Exists and he’s American” (Dr.Manhattan: Super-powers and the superpowers.II). This essay amplifies the theme of breaking down the effectiveness of super heroes, just as Moore sought to do.
While walking through my local comic shop, Rocking Rooster, I overheard the shops owners talking about their favorite superheroes. One of the men made a claim that his favorite superhero will always have to be Batman. I thought to myself in no possible way can batman be considered a superhero. When compared to real heroes such as Superman or Wonder Woman, Batman just doesn’t hold up. A real superhero has to have some type of super human ability, face villains with the strength of gods, and always work for the good of the people, not above the law. I have found that it makes much more sense to include Batman in the category of vigilante, as he tends to compare much better to vigilantes such as Green Arrow.
Superman, a fan favorite super hero, has many other qualities that make him a super hero
Gary Engle describes Superman as the ultimate American, “Superman is the greatest American hero” (Engle, 677). After reading three comic books I notice an occurring theme of wanting to protect what is good, even though the comic books chosen span over eleven years. Several distinct things to Superman’s personality are his cape, the respect he has for others, the respect others have for him, his intelligence, his protection of all life and what is right, his origin, and the sacrifices he makes. Superman is considered to be the greatest American hero of all time.
There are heroes all over the world. What makes a hero are the choices they make and the things they accomplish. Spiderman is that hero and this essay will explain why.
... is not simply defined by his/her strength or looks; it is also their inner strength and beauty that is truly important. A hero can have many qualities but when they show true understanding for something even without proper education, they are accepting of those around them, and breaking rules when the time is at its most important. While there are true heroes, there are also anti-heroes which have the opposite qualities that of the true hero. Furthermore, there are many kinds of heroes but a true hero is defined by inner qualities that of outer qualities.
Superheroes are no longer god-like figures, and they become more relatable. The heroes in this novel must suffer what us humans suffer. For instance, this is embodied in one of the “hero” characters of the novel, Sue Dibny. Sue Dibny was raped in the past and she later gets murdered in the present day (Meltzer, 35). But she is not a superhero. She never gets characterized in the novel, all she stands for is to be the spark plug of an identity crisis for superheroes. She also changes the the whole superhero genre. When the novel reveals Dr. Light’s mind wipe, this transforms the general background of superheroes. Super heroes for decades before this were represented as flawless, powered people. Super heroes might have had one flaw, but it wasn’t an ordinary flaw. For example, Kryptonite to
Looking in this day and age, movie heroes are taking the law into their own hands, creating the anti-hero in the long run. Defined by wikipedia, the anti-hero is a villain or an outsider, but is nevertheless portrayed somewhat sympathetically. In particular, an anti-hero may have enough heroic qualities and intentions to align them with the heroes in the readers' mind ("Anti-hero"). A film that depicts the classic vigilante is Man on Fire by Tony Scott. The film takes on the idea of revenge with a blend of disturbingly sentimental seriousness and harsh reality.
Everyone has a favorite superhero, it might be a hero who hides himself behind a mask and no one can see who he really is, or a hero in iron suit who saves the world from weapons that he created. Ironman and Batman have some similarities, both of them fight the villains to protect their people and their cities. They both don’t have superpowers and they use technologies and weapons to build their suits. Ironman and Batman also have many differences between them, Ironman is a hero while Batman is consider a dark hero since everyone in Gotham City was afraid of Batman.
Superman is a very well-known fictional super hero. Then again, there are many such as Batman, Spiderman, and so on. One of the big reasons people love super heroes is because of how dependable they are. No matter what they’re doing, what they’re doing, and who they are doing it with, they always find a way to help to help whoever needs them. If these heroes didn’t show up in time, no one would trust then at all. Humans are also superheroes, except for humans can’t fly nor can they tell the future, but in how dependable they are.
When people think of heroes and villains they think of the characters who play these roles in cartoon movies like Batman and Spiderman, but in reality, anyone can be a hero and anyone can be a villain. Heroes are considered to be inspirational and bold because of what they do to help others. While villains are typically defined as a wicked or evil person who makes others feel helpless.
Nowadays, we can see so many hero type people in our society. Different culture and different countries will appear different types of hero. Hero gave us confident and we can trust them. I have chosen two heroes to compare and contrast based on cultural aspect and what they act. The two heroes are The Batman and Iron Man.
Captain America is not like the average superhero. Captain America, or his alter ego Steve Rogers, was a frail young man who was chosen by scientist Abraham Erskine to be tested with his experimental serum. That experimental serum made Rogers from a weak, bony young man to being to the peak of human perfection. Right after that, a Nazi spy appeared and shot Erskine, killing him. “In order to keep Nazi spies from obtaining the serum, Erskine hadn't written down the serum's ingredients, along with much of the procedure, having instead committed it to memory.” (Comic Vine) Rogers was the only super soldier manifested. Given a patriotic costume and a shield that not only is nearly indestructable but is used as a weapon, Captain America was born.
Superhero characterization and depiction is often highly subject variation. This develops multitudinous characteristics linked to the idea of a superhero. In this time of the great superhero boom in cinema, literature, and other media, it is pertinent to define what constitutes a superhero and to validate certain comic book characters as superheroes. Therefore certain essential qualifications must be established and matched in order to obtain the classification of superhero. These qualifications are the display of superpowers, above average intelligence, bravery, selflessness, and the ability to best a strong archrival. In Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, Iron Man overcomes the arduous challenge of an all-powerful Doctor Doom and otherworldly creatures through his range of superhero abilities and techniques. Iron Man successfully adheres to the idea of a superhero because he represents the aforementioned core qualities that are essential to super heroism.
When you think of a superhero one normally thinks of Spiderman, Batman, or Superman, but there were superheroes long before these characters were created. First one must understand that the basis of this name is hero. What is a hero? A hero is a person who does something special or out of the ordinary in order to help others. It could also be someone who is admired for a characteristic about them, be it physical or mental. They are individuals that normal everyday people can look up to. This being the case, a superhero is nothing more then someone who is a hero, but not just that once and for that one person, but someone who helps many people, or leads them. As time went by the number of people who were true heroes diminished and just doing something for someone was no longer big news. There had to be something more to make them stand out. The American culture needed someone or something to admire and that is where our common day superheroes come into play. It gave them a goal which could never be reached in hopes that people would never stop trying.