This is a post I started way back at the start of the class, and never finished.
So in class we discussed relatability of heroes. Superman, Iron Man, and Ender (from Ender's Game) were brought up. It was said that Superman and Iron Man weren't as relatable as Ender, and we talked about why.
I'm fairly certain that when we discussed Iron Man in class we meant the Iron Man viewed in the popular movies that came out fairly recently (Avengers, Iron Man 1-3, etc.) And that Iron Man is seen as a bold, vain guy who became a hero because he enjoyed the glory and because he had the money and skill to do whatever he wanted. In this post I'm going to be talking about the Iron Man from the original Marvel Comics, because he fits my topic better (also he's the Iron Man I prefer, simply because he's a deeper character than the newer Iron Man.) The Iron Man from the original comics suffers from multiple problems. He's an alcoholic, (recovering, I think,) and he's depressed. He goes through a lot of hard times and he makes a lot of terrible decisions that mess up his life and his friendships with everyone around him. He does what he believes is right, but what he does causes a lot of suffering. And yet, no one talks about his heroism and personal struggles. This is probably mostly because no one reads the comics anymore, and the movies haven't discussed any of his comic-canon personal issues.
But I also think that people don't talk about Iron Man's heroism because of his personal problems. That is, I think there are three types of problems heroes face. There are the realistic problems, the unrealistic problems, and the hyper-realistic problems.
Realistic hero problems are fairly self-explanatory. Ender suffers from realistic hero problems. (Yes, I'm aware that he lives in a dystopian society, and killing aliens and leading armies at his age is not realistic.) Ender's problems can all be reduced to basic themes like resisting societal expectations (being a hero even though he's a "third," or an unwanted child,) taking on responsibilities he doesn't feel ready for (commanding a giant army and dealing with the consequences of sacrificing other people for the greater good,) and developing functional relationships with other people (he's a loner, and he has to decide between making friendships with people his age, or treating his friends as subordinates. He's also a victim of bullying and emotional manipulation.) Ender is relatable because his problems are more extreme versions of problems everyone faces while growing up. He has realistic hero problems.
Unrealistic hero problems are also pretty basic. Superman has unrealistic hero problems. While people can relate to Superman taking on giant burdens (like being responsible for the safety of the earth,) it's harder to relate to some of his other problems. Because Superman is essentially super human, he's not as affected by the problems normal people have. He has no flaws, he's morally righteous, and he can do anything. There are no relatable problems that could possibly challenge Superman. So to give his story conflict, all his problems have to be unrealistic and impossible. Realistically, no one struggles against an evil arch-villain in an effort to save all of humanity. You could maybe say that people struggle with personal demons that threaten their worlds, but that's not quite the same. Superman's problems are all unrealistic. Also, here's an article about why Superman as a hero is boring: http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-reasons-its-so-hard-to-make-superman-interesting/
Hyperrealistic hero problems are the problems that we don't want our heroes to have because they are too real. Because they don't go away even after the day has been saved. They're realistic problems, but they're too realistic. As a whole, our society has an unfortunate tendency to think of people with mental illnesses as being "broken." And while we like to see heroes making their way through hardships and coming out on top, we don't like to see heroes who can't solve their problems. Iron Man has hyperrealistic hero problems because he has to work against his depression and his alcoholism. And in the end, even if he works through his depression, it's still there. Depression doesn't just disappear when the hero has saved the world.
It's interesting how you chose to approach categorizing the hero by their problems. I didn't expect that, I was thinking more along the lines of categorizing them by their motivations. The degree to which we relate to a character is important because it allows us to see ourselves in them, intensifying our connection with the story. Since the underlying problems are so often the source of this "relatableness" it makes sense to classify the heroes by their problems.
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