# Best super-hero role model **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461 "2011-10-12T20:45:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/41 "2011-10-13T06:57:42Z")
Well, Wonder Woman is a good role model in that it would be kick ass to have an invisible plane. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/42 "2011-10-13T07:09:57Z")
Green Lantern. I look good in green. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/43 "2011-10-13T07:42:57Z")
No option for the Comedian? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/44 "2011-10-13T09:18:05Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > He’s also a creepy mind-controlling ephebophile lecher. Well, he is a headmaster. ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/45 "2011-10-13T11:52:22Z")
[Blue Falcon.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Falcon) ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/46 "2011-10-13T12:40:09Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > He’s also a creepy mind-controlling **ephebophile lecher**. Bolding mine. Cite on those last two words? I don’t recall that. **Skald** , Storm goes absolutely nuts when pushed too far. While her drive to fight injustice is admirable, she is perfectly willing to accept huge collateral damage when in a rage. Not a healthy mindset to me. The specified version of Flash falls into the same “super boy-scout/ Ned Flanders” territory as Superman and Captain America. They set an unreasonable standard, only really acceptable because they live in a world with Meta humans. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/47 "2011-10-13T13:26:27Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Green Arrow. > > Particularly on the strength of the O’Neil storylines when he’d lost his fortune and became a crusader for the poor and marginalized – and it was Queen who got Hal Jordan to be less “by the book” and do more to help the needy. Right here. He has no super powers, but he puts himself out there. He’s like Batman, only without the psychosis. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/48 "2011-10-13T13:33:16Z")
I’ll pass on the pie if you have some delicious nummy grits. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/49 "2011-10-13T13:42:12Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Bolding mine. Cite on those last two words? I don’t recall that. Once, and only once (It was in one of the first issues of **Uncanny X-Men** , possibly the first issue), Stan Lee wrote a thought balloon for Professor X where he admitted his secret love for Jean Grey, who was probably 16 or 17 at the time. It was a subplot that neither Stan nor any subsequent writer ever followed up on. Years later, we saw Charles get involved with more age-appropriate women like Gaby Haller, Moira MacTaggart and Lilandra Neramani. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/50 "2011-10-13T13:51:49Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Flash falls into the same “super boy-scout/ Ned Flanders” territory as Superman and Captain America. They set an unreasonable standard, only really acceptable because they live in a world with Meta humans. I’m not quite following you. Cap repeatedly gets into situations where he kills as a last resort, like a cop or a soldier, when up against real-world humans – and in between he struggles with issues that would apply just as much even if he were the only comic-book character around: having doubts about whether to plant false stories in the press for the greater good, dealing with questionable requests from his employer, and so on, in between voicing his support for freedom of expression and the right to a trial by jury and the rest. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/51 "2011-10-13T14:10:47Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’m not quite following you. Cap repeatedly gets into situations where he kills as a last resort, like a cop or a soldier, when up against real-world humans – and in between he struggles with issues that would apply just as much even if he were the only comic-book character around: having doubts about whether to plant false stories in the press for the greater good, dealing with questionable requests from his employer, and so on, in between voicing his support for freedom of expression and the right to a trial by jury and the rest. Kind of my point there. While he does do objectively bad things, he always does them as the “best of the worst” option presented to him. That is an admirable quality, and actually is the system I use personally to determine and ethical course in a tough situation. The problem though is that in my reading at least, he _always_ does the right thing. I can’t recall him acting selfishly in a serious situation ever. It just isn’t a reasonable standard to reach for. He may agonize about it later but it isn’t the same as making a choice to do the wrong, but gratifying thing and then regretting it and growing from that experience. Spider-Man is much more realistic in that regard. He progresses the way a real person would, though fits and starts. He generally does the right thing, but occasionally falls, and when he does, he generally learns from it and is a better character for it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/52 "2011-10-13T14:50:14Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Superman. He epitomises doing the right thing; that’s why he’s called a boy scout. > > That is not Superman. He tried to think about what the right thing to do is, and frequently that does not involve punching anything. > > Meh. One movie vs. thousands of comic books! So some scriptwriter overlooked some plot holes. > > He’s characterized - consistently - as the role model for all the other Superheroes (except Batman). He’s a moral authority in the DC Universe. I don’t think that last paragraph is quite accurate. It’s more that there are two or three camps in the DC super-hero community: the Superman camp and the Batman camp. The Superman camp is LARGER, and even includes Batman’s first protege, but the Bat camp is sizable. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/53 "2011-10-13T20:49:39Z")
It’s a good thing for a role model to be better than we can expect to be. You’ve got to aim for the stars. Sure, most of us might not live up to the ideals of someone like Captain America, but we should still _try_. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/54 "2011-10-13T20:54:16Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > He’s like Batman, only without the psychosis. Yeah, Ollie started out as playboy thrill-seeker but matured into (IMO) a true crusader for truth & justice and all that jazz… and I think it takes a lot of courage to face the bad guys armed with bow and arrows… perhaps more than facing them armed with kyrptonian super-powers. (Green Arrow and Green Lantern are my two all-time fav DC heroes). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/55 "2011-10-13T20:58:50Z")
Superman wears Captain America pajamas. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/56 "2011-10-13T21:10:56Z")
Captain America. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/57 "2011-10-13T21:14:07Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I’ll pass on the pie if you have some delicious nummy grits. You know the minions have standing orders to give you anything from stores you want, unless it might accidentally kill you or something. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/58 "2011-10-13T21:19:30Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > You left out the Tick. Oooh! Oooh! I want to change my vote! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/59 "2011-10-13T22:03:30Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > Bolding mine. Cite on those last two words? I don’t recall that. Haven’t read an X-men comic in the last decade have you? They’ve been tearing Prof X down for awhile now. I think the lecher comments actually have silver age roots due to some though bubbles in the early run about Jean. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461/60 "2011-10-13T22:07:41Z")
You left out Deadpool. Shame on you, Skald. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-super-hero-role-model/599461.md?page=4)