I'm wearing all black because we're talking about dark pasts today and I thought it was appropriate.
It also shows off how white I am.
We're gonna try something a little bit different today. I asked you guys on twitter to send me your comic book
and superhero questions, and we have one from @Exceliton, who asks
"Is there a superhero with no dark past or present? Somebody who just does the hero thing because he can and not because of his past?"
Fantastic question. I wanna address this in a couple of ways.
Uh, the short answer is yes, there are heroes who don't have a dark past. Some of you might already be thinking
of some, we'll get to those in a bit, but I want to first address why it is that trauma is so common
for superhero origin stories.
So a few months ago we did a video about the 3 kinds of origin stories based off of Dr. Robin S. Rosenberg's book
of superhero origins, and generally speaking, they usually fit into 1 of 3 categories.
The first one being chance, or luck, or maybe unluck. These are all of your superheros who got their
powers from some sort of scientific experiment gone wrong, or a horrible accident
that gave them abilities. Like your Hulks, your Daredevils, your Flashes, depending on the continuity, etc.
Obligatory Mopee reference, moving on.
The next category of origins is the "Chosen one". I used the example in the last video of the hawk people
from the first season of Legends of Tomorrow.
Carter and Kendra are in a constant cycle of dying, being reborn, becoming baristas, and then becoming hawk people,
dying again, so on and so forth. It's their destiny to repeat that cycle forever.
Or at least until they kill Vandal Savage, which [hushed tone] spoilers, they totally did!
[Normal voice] And then they went away forever and all was good in the world.
And then, of course, the last category is trauma. this is super common with super hero stories.
It's what fuels Batman, and Spiderman, and Wolverine! A tragic, dark past
that makes them the hero that they are. Now of course those origin categories are not mutually
exclusive, you can have some cross over there, and in fact, most of the time, you are gonna cross over
chance, or the chosen one with some kind of trauma. Trauma is VERY common.
So, for example, Superman's origin is a combination of trauma, in that his whole planet exploded, and
chance, the fact that he'd be found by, out of everyone on the planet, the Kents.
Now, having a tragic backstory is a frequently used trope in storytelling in general, not just superhero comics.
And the reason why, as Dr. Rosenberg points out in her book, is that origin stories are transformation stories.
We take a character and we see them transformed into a superhero. And it's two types of transformations
between a regular person and a superhero. It goes regular to super, and person to hero.
And when you present a character with a traumatic event it gives them the opportunity to overcome it,
change, grow as as a character, and transform.
It also has the added function of making otherwise unapproachable characters, like aliens and billionaires,
relatable, as I'm sure we've all experienced some sort of loss, or pain, or fear that we can empathize with.
And when you're telling fantastic stories with gods, or aliens from other planet, then yeah, this could be
a useful tool. So with all that said, let's finally address this question.
Are there heroes out there who don't have a dark past?
And I think the answer is yes, depending on how you define past. So my first thoughts were characters
like Thor, or Wonder Woman, who are just warriors at heart, set out to
fight evil because that's just who they are. Thor is basically born and raised a warrior.
He - - That's who he'd be regardless. I mean, yes, Thor himself has suffered through some horrible, dark
experiences, I mean have you seen the Thor movies? They themselves are a tragedy.
Gonna get a lot of dislikes for that one. But is there a big traumatic event that transforms him into Thor?
No, he's jus- - he's Thor. And remember, that's a key part. These traumatic events are supposed to be a thing
that transforms them. Not just a thing that happens that is bad. Everyone, every single person has experienced
something bad in their life, but we're trying to find characters who don't have a defining moment
that's bad that TURNS them into a hero.
Wonder Woman, I mentioned, is another example, depending on the continuity, she's had plenty of origins
before. But mostly yeah, she just wants to do good! Same with Ms. Marvel, one of my personal favorite
heroes. She has a line in one of the first issues where she says "Good is not something you are,
It's something you do." Her origin from Kamala Khan to Ms. Marvel isn't exactly tragic, it's just a thing that
Happens, and she just adapts and becomes a hero. Now here's an interesting one that I'd like to know your guys' thoughts on.
Captain America. Because, honestly, you can say he has two origins. There's Steve Rogers to Captain America, who fought in World War II.
And then there's the World War II hero to the modern day Captain America.
Now if we're just going off that first origin from Steve Rogers to Captain America.
Not exactly a tragic backstory, unless you want to count the death of Erskine, which... Eh.
Did that fuel him to become Captain America? I would argue no, he was already going to be, that's
why he was there. I suppose it gave him some more motivation to fight, but I mean, he was gonna be Captain
America regardless. But the real trauma with Captain America happens after he's frozen and thawed out in
modern day, when he realizes everyone he knew, and loved is dead or real old.
It's that guilt that he has within him about Bucky, about Peggy. So Captain America, it really depends on where
you think his origin ends. Does his origin end once he gets the super soldier serum and becomes
Captain America? In which case, I don't think that it's a tragic backstory. Or does his origin end when he is in
modern day? But i'd love to know what you guys think about all this. Can you think about heroes who don't
have a dark past? And also, what do you think of this format, of me just answering questions
off the top of my head, no script or anything? Is it terrible? Do you like it? Uhh...
Let me know! And while you're down there is the comments, leave some more questions you'd like me to
answer, you can also do so on Twitter and Facebook. Although, full disclosure, I don't check Facebook nearly
as much as I do Twitter. Huge thank you to all of our patrons who supported this video. Their names are in the
description down below. If you want your name down there, go on over there to Patreon.com/NerdSync
For some other cool rewards and also to just help me, uh, eat, and pay rent.
And make more videos. If you want to watch more of said videos, we've got one right here that you might be
interested in. Don't forget to hit that big, sexy subscribe button.
I'm Scott, reminding you to read between the panels and grow smarter through comics. See ya.
[Outro music]
[Music stops]