What Are Outlaw Heroes?

Multitasking is said to be impossible to humans, but people do them all the time - even if subconsciously. In his article The Thematic Paradigm in Signs of Life in the U.S.A., Robert Ray expresses his opinion about the heroes in Hollywood films, and how Americans act when put against a hard decision. In his article, he claims that heroes can be divided into two categories; Official Heroes or Outlaw Heroes. He later claims that a hero can also be a mix of both of these, known as the Composite Hero. He also claims that in times when one has to make a hard decision, Americans act in one of three ways; either refuse to take sides and combine both, blurs the difference between the choices, or just laugh it off. These categories are well defined

because his actions define what Robert Ray defines as an Outlaw Hero. Outlaw Heroes are heroes that, when compared to the Official Hero, seem more immature, are awkward in society, are distrustful of women, and believes they are always right, and can break the law if necessary. He/she also tends to work alone, unlike Official Heroes, who works together with a sidekick, public, or the authority. At the beginning of the comic, Batman is shown to be sneaking into a party to attack Lasko. He uses violent and force to get information about why Lasko had a ship ready at the harbor. Batman did this because he knew he had to find out the reason for the ship, and he was confident in himself that he was doing something right, even if it was breaking the law. The quality of thinking that one is above the law and that he/she can make the right decision even if it goes against the law is a characteristic of an Outlaw Hero. Another scene where he presents his quality as an Outlaw Hero is when he breaks into the shopping mall after it closes. This happens when Batman thinks he heard a gunshot going off in the mall. In the scene, he says something along the lines of “I will apologize later if I

Composite Heroes are defined by Robert Ray as a hero shown to be a combination of both categories of heroes. When the audience is first introduced to Batman, he is introduced along with his faithful sidekick, Robin. This is an example of Batman being able to work well along with a sidekick, which is a quality of an Official Hero. However, soon after this scene, we are shown that Batman does not work well with the authorities, as the authorities do not know anything about the identity of the two heroes. The authorities also seems to be annoyed by Batman’s existence. The fact that Batman is not working well with the authorities is an example of Batman having some Outlaw Hero qualities. Another example of Batman having Official Hero qualities is that his alter-ego, Bruce Wayne works well with the authorities. In one scene, the audience learns that Bruce Wayne is working for the government in trying to figure out some information about Dr. Daka. Since Bruce Wayne is Batman and is working for the authorities, this is an example of Batman having Official Hero qualities. Later in the film, when Batman captures Dr. Daka with the help of Robin, Batman decides that he will make Dr. Daka un-brainwash people Dr. Daka has brainwashed. He chooses Linda Page to be un-brainwashed first, which shows some selfishness.