What are the things that you love about the superhero genre even as a fan?

[Paradox]

Enough negativity! I couldn't even bring myself to open the thread I stole this title from.

What makes your heart pump and head spin about our beloved superheroes? What grabs you by the throat and won't let go?

For me it's because anything can be made to fit!



Where a super-team can have a cowboy, Robin Hood and his Merry Man, a Knight in shining armor, a flag come alive and a guy with a gas gun...



...which can later be reimagined as Frankenstein, a Witch Boy, a stage magician, an escape artist, a Knight, a human bullet and a guy with a shield and helmet...well, you can do pretty much anything.

[Spike-X]

People with incredible powers doing incredible things.

[Froggy]

How wild some of the ideas can get, the pure innovation of some premises

The sense of fun

Seeing powers used in creative ways or warren ellising things

Seeing characters grow into their roles as heroes or villains

Seeing new heroes show up and stay awhile

[t hedge coke]

That crime, cruelty, rage, jealousy, sickness, injuries, injustice and death can be overcome, repeatedly, sometimes in the same twenty page story.

And when smiling people jump into the air and punch ridiculously huge terrible monsters in the eye. That's good, too.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

All those larger than life characters in colorful costumes pounding bad guys into paste in larger than life, city shaking battles. That's always been a rush for me and still keeps me reading comics well into my 50's.

[Mari]

Fun.

Reading interesting stories about superheros in not so super world or universe.

Hope, never losing it.

Watching a superhero movie and feeling chills and goosebumps when a character you read about and love makes his or her first appearance. Thank you Cyclops, Colossus, and Emma Frost.

It is simply enjoying the stories and imaginary feats of the superheroes. Having fun without trying to be a literary critic or movie critic.

[Cotton]

I like the superheroes, that's what I like about superhero comics.

[Kees_L]

I don't distinguish a "superhero genre". What I like are comics and captivating stories.

From Dostojevski to Poe, from Eisner to Crumb, from Kirby to Dave Stevens and anything in between.

Any Marvel and DC or what sods in tights can be allright, but none of it will have to be the pinnacle of comics or storytelling at all.

I guess that's what I like about comics: they can be about anything for anyone, as long as imaginativeness and an open mind would be to be the main thing.

[KurtW95]

-Hope
-Fun
-Morality
-The sense that all can appear to be lost and good can still get the upper hand and thwart evil
-Death can be temporary
-Impossible situations that could never play out in the real world
-The colorful costumes
-Finding a character to which you relate
-Finding a character to which you aspire to be more like
-Characters in which you can get invested
-Enabling your imagination to fill in the gaps between the panels

[King Of All Nerds]

Fun.

This pretty much sums it up for me.

[Pharozonk]

-Hope
-Fun
-Morality
-The sense that all can appear to be lost and good can still get the upper hand and thwart evil
-Death can be temporary
-Impossible situations that could never play out in the real world
-The colorful costumes
-Finding a character to which you relate
-Finding a character to which you aspire to be more like
-Characters in which you can get invested
-Enabling your imagination to fill in the gaps between the panels

Pretty much this.

Also: having a message board to talk about them with other fans online

[Don C]

Mark Waid. Marvel said, "Here's Daredevil. Go nuts." And the book is just awesome. It's lighthearted at times. It's serious at times. But it's never hopeless. That's what I want in superhero comics. Fun at times. Serious at times. But never so bleak that you think the hero would be better off sticking a gun in their mouth and pulling the trigger.

[Pharozonk]

But never so bleak that you think the hero would be better off sticking a gun in their mouth and pulling the trigger.

With how dark and grim DC has gotten these days, I'm surprised that many heroes haven't opted for that.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

-Hope
-Fun
-Morality
-The sense that all can appear to be lost and good can still get the upper hand and thwart evil
-Death can be temporary
-Impossible situations that could never play out in the real world
-The colorful costumes
-Finding a character to which you relate
-Finding a character to which you aspire to be more like
-Characters in which you can get invested
-Enabling your imagination to fill in the gaps between the panels

These
Except the one in bold, which is good joke material

Also: having a message board to talk about them with other fans online

And this too
And I love the art, the old papers and coloring, some of the games based on these characters

[Michael P]

Bright, shining, primary-colored idealism.