What makes a superhero a superhero?

I started a movie blog this year that focuses on superhero movies, but aside from just reviews, I've been writing a blog post every Tuesday just to talk about whatever's on my mind at the time and this week's post I tried to analyze basically what makes a superhero different from, like an action star or something else. I didn't mention it there, but I thought about City of Heroes.

To get back around to why I'm making this post here, when you create a superhero in the game, what makes them a "superhero" and not just a "hero"? Is it their costume? Their powers? A persona of something greater than their own self? Or do you prefer to make regular guys that fight crime, or something else that's not a "hero"?

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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights - my superhero movie blog. Reviewing over 100 superhero movies this year, new posts every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

"Powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man", which every PC in City has, even the supposedly "non-super" Natural ones.

A hero who can punch out a frigging robot, that's what I say.

I dont think having super powers nessecarily qualifies you as superhero. I think intent and the scope of that intent is what qualifies you as a superhero. Having kick-*** powers just helps you realize your goals.

The same thing that separates the supervillains from the villains: PRESENTATION!

More seriously, it's a degree of larger than lifeness in supers. They're greater in spirit, in gloriousness, than lesser men. There's a bit of the epic in them. They'll take on the world, no matter the odds.

Being able to face down archvillains and/or global threats by one's self on a regular basis. And rarely ever being threatened by their nameless minions (regardless of any elevated status said nameless minions have).

To recap.

Obviously the spandex and the ability to kick butt.

well, for me, an interesting character heavily tainted by bad writing and fan power inflation. the recent movies are good though. as are the games, generally. but once he starts being able to beat the guy who can fly into space and smash buildings in one hit, i kind of soured on him.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

For me, it's generally some combination of special powers and/or a persona. I prefer to say persona instead of costume because I don't think it always has to be a costume. The Punisher is a great example, he doesn't really have a costume, at least I don't think he does, he just has a skull on his shirt. And yet he has an entire persona that's specific to "The Punisher" and is not "Frank Castle". In my blog, I mention the example of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, since it has a bunch of well known mutants, yet no costumes. But they all still have a persona that's different from their life as a regular person.

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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights - my superhero blog, reviewing movies and discussing questions about superheroes. New posts Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

I disagree with the "SUPER POWER" aspect as the defining trait. That just makes damn near every major Adventure, action, horror, and sometimes even sport story protagonist since the dawn of time a "Super hero" and what's the point of even naming things if the name has no meaning? Just because two guys both punch monsters doesn't mean they're the same thing. That's just a physical expression of the essential story-telling that is "Conflict" If we're going to regress to the most simple aspect, the physical conflict, why not just regress all the way to the conflict itself and every Lawyer, doctor, and troubled nobody ever written becomes a "super hero"? They all overcome odds, frequently deemed impossible. They're all amazing, and unique in some way, why can't they be "Super Heroes"?

I tend to fall on the side of PRESENTATION myself, but I think these rules are most essential

1: A super-hero story is an essentially modern thing.

It takes place in a city of some kind. The nature of what the super-hero is supposed to do hinges on opposing more complex things(barring the usual racist, xenophobic fervor of war-time comics dirtying up the writing of the day). They are creation of the most recent century and are not "Career adventurers". They live in a world where food comes from grocery stores and currency is the most important resource an individual can have. Classical heroes might "blow into town" or be "summoned from far away" or even be "Born into destiny". But super heroes live in their city and fight to protect it while trying to live among the people of their age. Which brings us to...

2:
A super-hero's life has some demarcation between "Fighting evil" and "Living your own life":
This doesn't mean "Secret identity" but it does mean there should be some aspect of who they are that isn't wrapped up in fighting evil. Classical heroes exist purely to fight the dragon. After they finish, their story is over. They live happily ever after and never do anything we'd want to read about. A super-hero has a life. A super-hero most likely even had one before setting off to fight evil. This is part of the "modern" aspect. They are one of us(or trying to be), who, through whatever twist of fate, are forced, not to travel to distant lands and start a new life, but to continue living their own life while using what they have to effect the world they live in. There's no dragon, but there is the nebulous problems we face in our modern world.

3:
A super hero is not fighting a specific threat, but a "Cause" or an "Idea" such as "Crime" or "disaster":
Super-Hero stories are episodic in nature, meaning a proper superhero never retires. He/She either dies, or resolves their personal dramas and rides off into the sunset to continue fighting evil with less angst. A super-hero does not have a reachable goal in mind. No point at which he/she is "Done" Because in the modern world, the problems aren't the bandit raids, the wild animals, or the mythological beast, things that can conceivably be "ended" but the evils of Crime, hatred, corruption, the idea of war itself, and constant looming disaster from all sides.

A nemesis is nice for one or two stories in a Super-hero's life, but it can't be the ONLY story. A super hero lives as one of us and tries to make OUR lives better, and so attempts to solve the problems WE face.

What makes a Superhero? Great question. "Superman" is the obvious icon. He has special abilities, but it is the "drive" to use them that is what really makes him a superhero. Likewise "The Tick" is a parody of all superheroes, and yet is a great superhero in his own right. Granted, not my first choice for saving the world, but I would accept his help. Especially if superman were busy. Because "The Tick" has "drive" to be "that guy". "Hancock", the reluctant hero, feels that "drive" even though at the beginning of his movie he hated that he felt he needed to do these things. "The Last Action Hero" while being fairly low powered (if you don't count his astounding levels of luck) also obviously was "driven" to be "that guy". I was not going to throw it in, but I might as well. "John McClean" from Die Hard series. He is "That Guy" and all he has is incredible good/bad luck going for him. Oh, and the "drive" to be "that guy".

Batman has all the signs of high functioning PTSD. He ignores extremely dangerous stuff happening all around him, seemingly deep in thought about tactics/strategy, then mouths some cheesy one liner and charges in like Leroy Jenkins. Yeah, he aint all there.

The Batman thing is more of a result of
1: "All-star" teams such as the Justice League and the Avengers flanderising characters,
2:Batman getting the "smart guy" role.
3: teams like that becoming more and more of the norm to the point that they set standards instead of defy them.

I define a hero as someone who is willing to risk their own time, safety, and resources to help others.

A SUPERhero, on the other hand is the same, except that they have abilities, skills, talents, or access to resources beyond those of a normal person. In this definition, many other characters outside suprhero comics would also qualify: Naruto, The Power Rangers, and Herakles (although he could have been far more heroic had he not bee driven nuts half the time by Hera. The oldest example of a superhero wouldst have probably been the god-king Gilgamesh, born 1/3 man, 2/3 god. Try not to overthink the math on this one...

I think the definition on Wikipedia answers this question perfectly!

By strict definitions, characters require actual superhuman powers to be deemed superheroes. However, this term has also been applied to costumed crime fighters, characters without super powers, who perform the same functions as superheroes; examples of the latter being Batman and Green Arrow. Broad interpretations of the superhero genre included masked vigilantes, such as The Spirit, who fought crime with their wits, fists and guns rather than superhuman powers, while concealing their identities with only a mask, hat and coat.

In the traditional paradigm, superheroes supplement official law enforcement efforts to fight crime by using their extraordinary abilities to circumvent legal and physical limitations affecting the police. In addition to this basic function, superheroes also confront characters representing their polar opposites, known as supervillains, who employ comparable powers and abilities toward nefarious purposes.

I'd answer the question in two parts. A hero, to me, is someone who helps people with no thought of themselves at all, no ulterior motive or desire for reward, and with no self-interest (like, disarming a bomb that would have killed you isn't particularly heroic, but disarming a bomb that you otherwise would have been safe from is). Not just someone who's modest, though modesty is good too, but someone who literally gives no thought to themselves, only to the people they're trying to help. I don't think there are "heroes," as in a class of people set apart from others, so much as people have heroic moments: firefighters, soldiers, police officers, normal people suddenly pulled into a crisis and so on, who do everything they can to help and don't give a thought to what they're doing.

The "super" hero is someone who, thanks to the powers, the training and the resources that they have, can turn that mindset, those moments into a whole lifestyle. It's what sets Flambeaux, who's in it for the accolades and loses her motivation once they stop coming, apart from real superheroes. Of course, having those powers, training and resources is much, much easier in Paragon City than in real life.