Are careers just outdated?

[capandkirby]

$1,000/week back in 1983 when Spider-Man was first approached for membership, turned it down, and then came knocking on the door when he found out about the money.

According to the inflation calculator, $1,000 a week in 1983 is the equivalent of $2,544.46 a week now. That's roughly $10,177.84 a month. Not bad pay if you can get it. Course the job is a bit hazardous and getting decent Workman's Comp coverage would be near impossible, so there's that.

[Zero Hunter]

I think the lack of real jobs limits their supporting cast to being just other supers and puts them in a bubble where readers can no longer relate to them.
At least give them a circle of normal folks to keep them grounded.

That is the biggest thing right there. Back in the old days the supporting cast played and important part in keeping the heroes grounded and relatable. To me characters like Captain America lost a ton of his appeal when he was just Cap 24/7 and only hanging around SHIELD agents or other heroes.

[bat39]

I think it really depends on a character-by-character basis.

For someone like Captain America, it honestly doesn't make ANY sense for him to have a 'civilian day job'. Especially in a scenario where the world knows that he's Steve Rogers, a living legend from WW2. It makes sense for him to be a full-time Avenger or a SHIELD agent or be on the government payroll. And money-wise, I think its been established that he got decades worth of back-pay for all that time in the ice...so its not like he's wanting for cash.

For someone like Spider-Man though, his dual identity and struggle to balance his life as Peter Parker with the webslinging has always been a fundamental part of his character and mythos. So he does need a secret identity and a day job. Now that day job can be as a photographer, scientist or tech mogul IMO, but it needs to be something that really separates him from the mask.

Then you also have the case of characters who are passionate about their professional careers and will pursue it even if they could, financially or otherwise, just focus on being a superhero 24x7. Daredevil for instance. I doubt Matt Murdock will truly abandon his legal career if he can help it.

[BrakeJake]

"Now that day job can be as a photographer, scientist or tech mogul IMO, but it needs to be something that really separates him from the mask."

Hmm, that made me imagine Peter Parker being somewhat of a Steve Jobs or an Elon Musk.

[PCN24454]

And that's something else with the X-Men.
You'd have scenes of them out of costume, doing normal things like shopping or swimming... and one of the ongoing dilemmas was 'I don't fit in' with society.

If they stay in their costume 24/7 and never interract with regular folks in a social scenario, the dilemma becomes a non-issue, and removes part of the personal conflict that had been important to the book.

And the X-Men technically didn't need identities, because they were all students, and students of Prof X at that. Who would they need to hide their identities from?
Yet, Claremont still felt that identities were important to storytelling.
Maybe he thought that having the characters interact on a personal level with each other in their civvies helped readers relate to them.

In the X-Men case it made sense since it was originally meant to be a secret sanctuary for mutants. Somewhere for mutants to hide, similar to an Underground Railroad. Later, X-Men became more portrayed as a legal agency, so some transparency was necessary.

[Flash Gordon]

Because those are what makes sense

1. Military/ Government supported/ Corporation supported hero

2. Extremely wealthy person

3. Owner of your own business (reasonable wealthy)

4. Independent contractor or freelancer-You work for someone but you have extreme control over your hours

If a job doesn't fall into one of these categories it really doesn't make any sense for superheroes . It is almost impossible for a hero to have 9 to 5 job with a boss and most jobs fall into this area. The creativity jobs in the past was kinda bad writing and most writer today take craft a little bit more seriously. Everyone loves Superman/Clark Kent as reporter but he disappears so much that Perry would have fired him long time ago and that is just bad writing. Superman as Freelancer reporter makes sense,He controls his hours,him disappearing isn't a issue ,etc but that doesn't put him in the office.

And the office is actually important part not the job .The office created a supporting cast of characters and ways to interact with people. And that is what the writers today have learn to do better which is create supporting cast without using traditional jobs. The other part of the trope was as people mention to was emphasize the secret identity but just think about how many times can you "disappear" from a job without a excuse and not get fired?

I am not saying that genre should get rid all heroes who have secret identities and normal jobs but the genre makes more sense when it is the rare thing

I have zero interest in a corporate sponsored "hero". That's a really horrifying idea.

Extreme wealth does not translate to empathy or altruism, either. You might occasionally get a Tony Stark, but he isn't the norm and he also has questionable ideas from time to time.

The whole difficulty of having a real job, which in today's world isn't so much a 9 to 5 anymore and is increasingly difficult to navigate schedule wise...well, that is the whole entertaining part of being a writer! Making that stuff work!

A hero faces adversity. That's their thing.

[phonogram12]

I think a big issue these days is finding a job that's interesting to write/read about. I mean, there are only so many reporter/lawyer/whatever gigs out there. I mean, how many day jobs has Dick Grayson actually stuck with since graduating college?

[Lee Stone]

Another way to look at it is...

Should people who do have mundane everyday jobs not bother themselves with doing the right thing because they already have a job to deal with?
Should only people who get paid for it do good deeds?

If you have a desire to be a television writer, but then one day you're bitten by a radioactive anteater... Do you just abandon your dream?

[pageturner]

Hmm, that made me imagine Peter Parker being somewhat of a Steve Jobs or an Elon Musk.

I actually liked the idea of him being science editor of the bugle too bad that was dropped so quick. Always need to regress I guess.

DD has always had a job. I am not sure how the champions are paying the bills now that I think of it. Spidey is back to university it seems. Jessica jones works for a buck. Luke maybe back to his H4H days.

Reed had an estate of 15 plus billon when he died so they are all fine.

Stark and Fist are loaded.

All active Avengers get a few bucks. I assume the agents of Wakanda do as well.

[Flash Gordon]

Another way to look at it is...

Should people who do have mundane everyday jobs not bother themselves with doing the right thing because they already have a job to deal with?
Should only people who get paid for it do good deeds?

If you have a desire to be a television writer, but then one day you're bitten by a radioactive anteater... Do you just abandon your dream?

Exactly.

It's also lovely to see the utter mundane collide with the extraordinary. You're a local hero who protects people from all walks of life, yet you still get mistreated by your own boss at a job that you barely get by on.

I want diversity in my stories. I want to see low income characters struggling to do great deeds while barely making enough to cover their basic needs in an economy that only gets worse, alongside figures like Iron Man and Captain America.

And for the already established characters, Cap having a real job like a fireman or something would make for much more interesting stories than just "shield pays his rent".

[Killerbee911]

I have zero interest in a corporate sponsored "hero". That's a really horrifying idea.

Extreme wealth does not translate to empathy or altruism, either. You might occasionally get a Tony Stark, but he isn't the norm and he also has questionable ideas from time to time.

The whole difficulty of having a real job, which in today's world isn't so much a 9 to 5 anymore and is increasingly difficult to navigate schedule wise...well, that is the whole entertaining part of being a writer! Making that stuff work!

A hero faces adversity. That's their thing.

You missed point especially the last sentence. That style of hero would be the rarer thing not the norm. There is a difference between writing the fantastic and ignore things that just don't work. And good fiction works and we don't question it. Genre should be able to hold up to basic questions.

[Flash Gordon]

You missed point especially the last sentence. That style of hero would be the rarer thing not the norm. There is a difference between writing the fantastic and ignore things that just don't work. And good fiction works and we don't question it. Genre should be able to hold up to basic questions.

Nah, good writing is good writing. A corporate "hero" is terrifying. A state sponsored individual would be a rare occurrence.

Every day people are more heroic than multimillionaires. They would be the norm. People who get up everyday despite the odds being stacked against them, and press on. People with diverse supporting casts full of people from all walks of life.

[Agent Z]

Nah, good writing is good writing. A corporate "hero" is terrifying, and a state sponsored individual would be a rare occurrence.

Every day people are more heroic than multimillionaire elites. They would be the norm. People who get up everyday despite the odds being stacked against them, and press on. People with diverse supporting casts full of people from all walks of life.

No more so than an unaccountable vigilante.

The everyday people who save the world don't need masks or super powers.

[Flash Gordon]

No more so than an unaccountable vigilante.

The everyday people who save the world don't need masks or super powers.

I'd wager so, in a much different way.

Wouldn't an everyday person need a mask MORE, in the world of four color adventures? Their identity being a secret matters way, way more.

[Agent Z]

I'd wager so, in a much different way.

Wouldn't an everyday person need a mask MORE, in the world of four color adventures?

Looking at the histories of Marvel and DC, the heroes that have caused the most damage are the ones who weren't accountable. I mean, we all remember what caused Civil War, right?

No otherwise everyone would be a superhero. Also, that would be just as boring as making every one a state sponsored superhero.