Superheroes and Their Roles in My Life

Saturday mornings were always a special time for me. My dad had me watching Spider-Man: The Animated Series and I don't remember much of the show but the theme song stuck with me for a long time, I still remember it. He also had me watch the animated series to X-Men and I'm pretty sure he got me into Batman: The Animated Series too but I know for a fact that he got me into Batman Beyond and Dragon Ball Z. Also, my mom surprisingly got me into the Batman movies with Michael Keaton (Spider-Man: Homecoming, Beetlejuice), Val Kilmer (Top Gun, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), and even George Clooney (Gravity, O Brother, Where Art Thou?). I love my mom but damn it, I have no idea why I was so into Batman & Robin but then, I went to live with my dad for a year while I was nine, he got me into Hulk although, I didn't know more about him until The Incredible Hulk came out.

While I was getting a bit older, little did I know, I would take after my dad and go deeper into the stuff he liked while liking some stuff that I was bumping into like my father figure introduced me to Superman. I remember when Smallville was on for at least the first couple seasons no matter what we were doing, every Wednesday night, he made sure that not only me but the whole family including my mom watched it and I wasn't a fan of the show at first but I got into it more by the time the fifth season came and I was already into more superheroes like Black Panther, The Flash, Wolverine, Green Lantern, and the Fantastic Four.

I already seen the first two X-Men movies and when Smallville wasn't on, I was watching Christopher Reeve playing Superman except for Superman IV which I should've kept that buried but we don't talk about that. I was also introduced to John Constantine which was funny because my mom doesn't like anything that has to do with demons and I can't blame her but I really liked the character. I didn't do more research on the character until I was 20.

When Marvel was putting out more movies and I was hitting my teenage years, I needed a superhero that I can relate to. By this point, I knew that I'm a pretty angry fellow so I have Hulk already but he wasn't my favorite and Batman was already one of my favorites but this was before I studied him more with friends who love Batman more than me so who was my most relatable superhero as a teenager and still is as a young adult? Spider-Man.

Sometimes it used to feel like I was looking at myself in the mirror when I was looking at Peter Parker/Spider-Man because Peter Parker was me in junior high and high school, the only difference is that I still have my parents and I'm not a genius like he is but it was the fact that we're both awkward and we were always social outcasts that made me relate to him. Peter was and still is a lucky son of a gun because when he's Spider-Man, he's the ultimate shit-talker and he can do it while wearing a mask since his identity is key to him plus he doesn't want his enemies to see his fear on his face so for me, it's like no matter what I do, people still can see the vulnerabilities on me. Also, I had a lot of people telling me I could definitely play Spider-Man.

Now, as a young adult, I'm still into superheroes even the ones I've liked as a kid but I honestly never thought I'd be into Captain America, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, or even Doctor Strange. I have been looking more into the darker characters like The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Blade, Constantine, Daredevil, Moon Knight, and Luke Cage which is always a fun time especially when it comes to The Punisher and Daredevil since they're my favorite characters when it comes to how they become who they are now.

I love having friends who can talk superheroes with me because they either know more things than I do or a really fun conversation can happen. I'm always going to love superheroes no matter what, I was teased a lot as a kid for liking superheroes but look around now, everyone wants to like superheroes and yes, I still deal with people throwing shade at me but I just keep moving with my interest.