(Going back to Superman for a second.Lois Lane is very much an alpha female. Now I don't believe in the alpha/beta binary, but if I did, I'd say all these people are alphas all the way. This isn't even restricted to the men - Barbara Gordon is the daughter of a police commissioner, and a genius (at one point, in a previous continuity, even a successful politician) who works hard to turn herself into a successful vigilante, and when she lost the use of her legs, remade herself as an even more powerful and effective information broker. Alfred Pennyworth, the man who raised his traumatized ward to become a vigilante and works tirelessly alongside him and his wards to fight everything from crime and corruption, to terrorism, to alien invasions! Dick Grayson, the circus kid turned billionaire's ward who became a vigilante to avenge his parents, then worked alongside pretty much the God of vigilantes for years before maturing into one of the world's greatest superheroes in his own right. Jim Gordon, one of the few honest cops in Gotham up against not just crime but police corruption as well, who single-handedly fixes the GCPD through sheer grit and determination and openly collaborates with a vigilante. If we're talking about Batman and his supporting cast, obviously they'd all be alphas. Change my mind tv#I'd say that was a huge part of the initial appeal of the Clark Kent/Superman duality (''mild-mannered'' reporter strips of his timid attitude and staid business suit to become the world's greatest superhero) or Peter Parker/Spider-Man on the Marvel side (dorky high-school kid who always got picked on gains superpowers and becomes a pro-wrestler, TV star, and then superhero.while eventually gaining some of that confidence in his civilian life too!) In fact, I daresay the superhero concept is a form of wish-fulfillment through which we can all imagine ourselves as the alphas being the best of humanity and protecting the world. So much for representation.Even considering the alpha/beta paradigm as an objective truth for a second - are you really surprised that the superhero genre of all things is loaded with alphas? I mean, the term ubermenschen literally means ''superman''. Now every character has been torqued up into these high functioning übermenschen. In comics, while the male super-heroes tended to be alphas (although some had beta secret identities), at least there were beta males as supporting characters and super-villains that seemed more like me. Growing up, as the littlest boy in my class, always being bullied, mocked and beaten up, I never was the alpha male. Here's what bugs me: despite the intended goal to represent all people of all identities, I find modern comics try to push every character, no matter how they identify, into an alpha position. We all have the capacity of being like Alfred: it requires no particular power or skill, only compassion. Even then, we're not certain, as not all primates organize themselves along those lines either.Īlfred was a loving, caring and devoted father to Bruce for most of his life, and that's his greatest contribution to the mythos. Maybe we did long ago - before agriculture, religion, property, government, codes of conduct, or any of our other uniquely human inventions -, but we certainly haven't for at least 200000 years. There is no such thing as an alpha or a beta male in humanity, because our species not organize itself along those lines anywhere. So much for representation.Is this satire? I cannot tell.
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