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Heroes
They say heroes are born, but in my experience that’s not usually how it turns out. I mean, sure, you could look at Steve Rogers and say he was always inherently good, even when he was scrawny and asthmatic, but really – how often do those ones come along?
Take Bruce Banner, for example. The guy was always a good guy, but there was nothing specifically special about him. He was incredibly smart, but he was always a little bit too quiet, and there was always something in his eyes that made you think twice before crossing him. It took becoming a part of the Avengers, having a team that he cared about and wanted to protect, for the Hulk to become something Bruce believed in. It took Bruce being flung out of the Helicarrier after attacking one of his teammates (unintentionally, we know, but still) before he realised what he could do to help – what the Hulk could do to help. And since then he’s stopped referring to himself like he’s got split personalities, so that’s a plus.
Thor is a perfect example of how being born with unimaginable strength doesn’t necessarily make you a hero. Thor was a douche for a couple years. He was arrogant, and brash, and reckless, and even if he loved his friends it didn’t stop him from dragging them into stupid-ass jaunts to Jotunheim, for one thing. It took Thor being exiled from his home world and fighting a giant fire machine controlled by his crazy brother to make him realise that he had a responsibility to uphold.
Natasha Romanoff, too. I mean, she didn’t even start off as an average person, she used to be bad. And then somebody saw the potential she had to do something good, and she became a bit less bad, and a bit more just scary, and then after a bit longer she became better (though still terrifying). She has fears and doubts and dreams like the rest of us, after all. She was scared of the Hulk (I mean, he never scared me, but I knew Banner had him under control – maybe if she’d shown a bit more confidence in the big fella in the first place it wouldn’t have happened like it did), but she kept going despite it. And, like the others, she had to undergo some pretty stressful and life-changing events before she went from ‘working for the better guys’ to ‘I’m being better’. And that’s fine, because that’s how the truly good people are brought forth.
And Clint Barton. He’s a total dick sometimes, and he keeps shooting Nerf arrows at my ass, but he’s also hilarious, and really, ridiculously human – he plays video games and eats pizza and misses his mouth with the straw when he’s not paying attention. And he plays in the vents, which should be creepy but for some reason is almost adorable. He’s ridiculously charismatic, and if I wasn’t so sure of myself I’d feel threatened (sometimes I do, but then I remember he’s on my team and, usually, also on my side). And it took him being controlled by Thor’s deranged psycho-brother before he really got on board. That guy was turned inside out because of the magical fingers wiggling around in his brain, but look at him now – he’s living, and breathing, and smiling, and laughing. And sometimes he has bad days, but we all do, and sometimes we even manage to help each other out of them.
And then there’s Tony Stark. Me, I mean. I mean, you know. He’s alright – I’m alright. I’ve made some big changes in my ideals and way of living and…stuff. And that took a pretty fucking ginormous life-changing event. I’m not recommending getting kidnapped by someone you trust, being tortured to make weapons, having a car battery stuck in your chest, and watching the only guy who looked at you and saw something worthwhile die in front of you…but it does wonders for your spiritual side. Maybe it has a couple negative mental side-effects, but you know. When you make a change that big there are going to be some consequences. And really, Rogers was right at the very start; I wasn’t a team player. I actively avoided team sports when I was younger. Mainly because I was weedy and a serious nerd, but also because team feelings? No thanks, they give me hives. But now the fuzzy feeling I get when I’m stuck with them is like an antihistamine or something, so that’s a definite bonus. If you like that kind of thing.
Anyway, my point is that heroes are rarely ever born. Even if you start out with power, or wealth, or status, or intelligence, or something else that makes you think you’re a bit better than the rest of the miserable people on this planet, it takes something big to make you humble enough to realise what you should actually be doing is helping some of those miserable people out, and hopefully that means that there are fewer miserable people in the world, and that’s gotta be worth something, right? Maybe that’s why Spangles was always a hero – maybe it’s because he never had strength to begin with, but wanted to change the world and make some miserable people happy anyway. You’ve got to wonder, is all I’m saying.