Guilt-ridden, Peter adopts the persona of Spider-Man and starts to fight crime (Lee, 1962). When he refuses to stop a robber with his new-found powers, the same robber kills his uncle Ben. The basic premise of his story is simple: teenager Peter Parker is bestowed superhuman, spider-like abilities due to a bite from a radioactive spider. This essay will look deeper at that very question and highlight the problems it inevitably brings up.īefore embarking on this analysis, a caveat is necessary to explain the choice of superhero being used here, namely Spider-Man. Stephen Layman so aptly summarises it in the title of his essay, ‘Why Be a Superhero? Why Be Moral?’ (Layman, 2005: p. After all, what would happen if Peter Parker decided to use his powers for selfish gain or, even worse, to overpower and rule over others? As C. The problem with this formulaic approach to eutopia is that it hinges on one key factor – the inherent goodness of the superhero in question. In other words, the superhero becomes a eutopian manifestation, as someone who corrects the flaws in society through radical change. Granted, the sequence of events may not always be that predictable – tragedy can, for instance, pre-empt the presence of superpowers – but the end result is always the same: a lone individual fighting for the ‘greater good’ while pitted against those who are ‘evil’. A person is endowed with superhuman abilities (either due to an accident or due to their own resources), suffers a personal tragedy of some sort and decides to dedicate their lives to the protection and wellbeing of the community. To What Extent do Superheroes Problematise the Role of Morality in the Pursuit of Eutopia? Discuss with Reference to One Example.Įveryone knows how the genre works.
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