# Would you describe super-hero fiction (movies, books, comics, etc.) a sub-genre of Fantasy?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-describe-super-hero-fiction-movies-books-comics-etc-a-sub-genre-of-fantasy/826935>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 30, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-describe-super-hero-fiction-movies-books-comics-etc-a-sub-genre-of-fantasy/826935 "2018-12-30T18:05:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-describe-super-hero-fiction-movies-books-comics-etc-a-sub-genre-of-fantasy/826935/41 "2019-01-03T03:17:34Z")

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GuanoLad:

> [@](#):
>
> but I do think the sub-genre of superheroes who don’t have actual super powers, and are just humans with technology and fighting skills (Black Widow and Hawkeye, or Green Arrow for example), is a distinction worth making. Otherwise we’re going down the “James Bond is a superhero” path and that gets complicated fast.

I can see that, though a distinction can be made between Bond (or, to put it in the context of super-hero universes, Nick Fury) and what people think of as super-heroes due to the use of costumes. Of course, in recent years, there has been a tendency toward street clothing (or something greatly resembling it) among super-heroes, and that blurs the lines further.

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**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\
**Post date:** [January 3, 2019, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-describe-super-hero-fiction-movies-books-comics-etc-a-sub-genre-of-fantasy/826935/42 "2019-01-03T05:53:10Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> At a school for people who innately have the ability to use magic because they just do. Maybe some fantasy treats magic as something that can be learned and used by just anyone, but it’s not too common. In fact, the only example I can think of was written by a physics professor.

You’re moving the goalposts. You said the difference between magic and science is that science is repeatable. Magic in the Harry Potter universe is absolutely repeatable - any wizard that casts the same spell gets the same results, and new magic techniques are being regularly researched - which, I presume, involves a fair amount of trial and error. The fact that only certain humans can get magic to work at all doesn’t change anything - it just indicates that there’s another factor at play besides waving a wand and speaking bad Latin. Probably a genetic factor, given that wizarding ability appears to run in families.

And that’s a pretty standard depiction of magic in fantasy literature: a thing that you need to be _taught_, even if there is some natural aptitude necessary beforehand. And teaching pretty strongly implies repeatability, otherwise what’s being taught?

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