Whither Heros

A discussion on a friends LJ has gotten me to thinking about something, a bit different than his discussion, so I'll move it over here.

What do heros believe in? What is their vision? Why are they in the hero biz?

Naturally, considering the great number of books that are out there, there's lots of room for individual variations. However, what got me thinking in this direction was the question of "the passion of superheros". How many "modern" heros are really passionate in what they do, and in what they believe in? Yes, many of them are, but it's still interesting to look at the way it plays out.

You have heros like Captain Marvel or Superman who are almost considered "relics", that the things they stand for and are passionate about are "bygones of a lost age." Then, you have Batman, who may be the most passionate person all of comics in what he does. On the other hand, he's also growing darker by the issue, and growing more and more out of control in many ways.

That still leaves many heros, especially the more recent ones that you have to ask "what are they there for?"

Now that I think about it, that strikes me as one of the flaws in Outsiders. What are they really in it for? You have Nightwing who is in the middle of a crisis of faith. I'm not a big Arsenal fan, but I honestly can't figure what he's in it for other than "babe access." Annissa has sort of said she wants to help people in her arguments with her dad. On the other hand, Grace and Shift? No real clue with either. There's no passion in what they are doing, and that's why the book fails in my eyes. The only character to this point who really seemed passionate about what they were doing were Psimon and Dr. Sivania.

Part of being a hero is a belief in something. A belief in a better world, or a belief in helping people now. That needs to be expressed more strongly. Otherwise, you just have a bunch of adrenlin junkies or ill tempered revenge seekers.