In class I first heard that we were going to have a speaker that was going to come in and talk about the origins of superheroes through learning about Walker’s presentation and what he was potentially going to be writing his research paper on. I had never really thought much about the origin of the superhero, although the more I thought about it the more interested I became.

Growing up I truly was interested in superheros and the stories that went along with each one of them. Having older boy cousins who also had the same interest, I believe that my interest was kept alive through playing superheroes with them and learning more about each story behind each superhero. One thing I found interesting that I never really thought of before, was the similarity that most superheroes shared, the fact that a lot of superheroes stemmed from a sort of “Big Bang”.

This Big Bang aspect was interesting to me as we have spent extensive time talking about origins in class, especially in terms of the big bang. Would superheroes be less powerful and appear weaker if they just emerged without some sort of grand entrance. I was also interested and intrigued yet disappointed with the fact that most superheroes people associate superheroes with are male. ALthough this is something that I already knew it still is unsettling to talk about and reflect on. It says something about our culture and the way in which we perceive men and women.

However, luckily, certain women superheroes have emerged, the most recent one I can think of and the one that probably had the largest effect, was Wonder Woman. Although this superhero has been around for a long time, the movie that recently came out explored the idea that a woman can be just as powerful and if not more powerful than a man and can also deserve the title of a superhero, a titled that at times was strictly associated with males.

After I saw the movie I did not think about the certain aspects of the “typical” superhero that were present in Wonder Woman, although in reality I believe that her character is not much different than the other typical superheroes. She still experiences transgression etc. but also at the same time she is a very feminine type superheroe. She does not directly fight, and experiences love and compassion which allows her to be such a successful superhero, or at least in the film.

The topic of superheroes and the whole talk I found to be very interesting and relevant in many aspects. I enjoyed the talk and it made me think differently about things we had already talked about in class, and also made me more excited for Walker’s presentation.