Who is the Super Hero of today?
The anti-culture super hero.
I got to meet Stan Lee, the creator of all beloved super heroes in November of 2016. He passed away around 2 months ago now, which was a huge loss to the world. However, during the lunch he talked about why he created Tony Stark aka Iron Man. I’m going to paraphrase as accurately as I can, and keep in mind that he was hilarious, and had an amazing sense of humor and zest for life.
“In the 60s, everyone hated businesses, everyone hated the Vietnam war that was going on, so I created a business man who made his fortune selling weapons to the war.” To me this seemed like the opposite of what would work for developing a character, but it would also make the character naturally more three dimensional.
So what Stan did was take the pulse of the nation, and depict the essence of that pulse into a character you wanted to cheer for, but you beliefs fought against. What this did was create a controversial character, who was verbally discussed, and thus had a network effect of vitality to his success. Stan knew his business.
“But you know what was interesting… Women were the biggest buyers of the Iron Man comic books!“
I’ve been trying to think about who the hero of today would be. If Tony Stark is the anti-hero/hero of the 1960s, who is it today? Who profits from the moral low road, but captures the hearts of the nation/world.
I believe that it would be a pro-government intern at the White House. I think that it would be a world where everyone has super hero powers, but he has none. And he hides his true digital identity from the world, where he debates global policies with the super elite in virtual reality. And I do think that it would be a he, not that they couldn’t be a female, I just think that in the heart of the MeToo movement, this would be the contrarian take.
It’s an interesting thought process. It could help understand where the essence of the nation is today.
By Adam Draper
I ponder as a VC.
It's a quick one minute read to make you think, smile, or laugh.
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