Batman & Me

           Being new to the world of superheroes, I do not know if I am quite ready to claim any of them as a favorite yet. If I had to pick one, even though Superman is the dominating character in the comic’s world to non-comic readers, it would be Batman. I have always admired him for his ability to be considered a superhero and to do everything he does, all without having any actual powers. Sure, he is trained for combat and has enough money to fund any kind of gadget he could ever want or need. Nevertheless, he is without superpowers and in my mind as a child, I believed that this made him better than all other superheroes. I still think that.           The first time I remember realizing that Batman did not have any true super powers, I was watching a football game with my parents. Now, when I say watching, I mean screaming at the TV, throwing chips, the whole deal. We are diehard Green Bay Packers fans in my family and I’m sure the people in our neighborhood think we’re absolutely nuts. I’ve just come to accept it. When I was in elementary school, the Packers had a player with many tattoos, who on this particular Sunday was being asked by the ESPN commentator why he had one of the Batman symbol. He was a receiver and he explained that he idolized Batman because he was a superhero with no superpowers and that he identified with that because he had no superpowers, but was able to make amazing plays every week on the football field. Before I heard him say that, I had never given Batman a second thought. Superheroes had little influence in my world, which was full of ballet class and Barbie dolls, but my little kid self agreed with the football player. How cool was it that Batman had no powers, but still kicked butt all over Gotham? So cool! Then when I was older and the Christian Bale Batman movies started being released, I started liking Batman even more. Now he was attractive too? I was all in. Now that I’m older and have seen all the Batman movies, I realize that while some of his methods are unconventional, that Batman always does the right thing. I try to live my life like this. I may not always come off as the nicest person or Miss Congeniality, but I always try to do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing means hurting someone’s feelings or being brutally honest. In all issues that have arisen in my adult life so far though, I have always tried to do the right thing, not just for me, but for the people involved as well. That is something I strongly associate with Batman.
            I know next to nothing about superheroes, which is part of the reason why I took this class. By the end of it, I can even see having a new favorite superhero. But Batman taught me a good life lesson and I have a personal connection with him and a good memory from my childhood. I will always love Batman.