”Thanks for helping me not hit that tree, Stouten,” Hops says up to me as we walk back to the car. “You moved like Superman!”
”Well you’re welcome, buddy,” I say back to him. ”I wish I could move like Superman.”
That was the first thing said since we left the bottom of that hill. We are still in shock- pun intended- over what just happened. But being a comin book nerd, talking about superheroes is a nice distractiion.
Superman was always the standard. Who is stronger than him? Besides kyrptonite, nothing can stop him. Even though Spiderman and The X-Men were my main go-to comic books, Superman was the first and the strongest. DC Comics was where he appeared, but I was more of a Marvel guy. I did like Teen Titans and The Flash. I did collect those. But I thought Marvel had so many cooler characters. Like Black Panther, Nova, Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, and of course my two favorites I mentioned before.
But I’ll never forget when the Superman movie came out with Christopher Reeves. I forgot all about Marvel or any of those heroes. I was so mezmorized to see the guy I only saw in print and in my dreams, on a big screen! REAL! And boy did Christopher Reeves play him to a tee. He could play the mild-mannered Clark Kent, and then be the strong, debonair Superman when he had to be. He had to keep his true identity a secret to protect his family and Lois Lane. And his true identity was that he was one bad ass dude. One that would kick 3 super villians’ butts at the same time in Superman 2.
How cool would that be to be that strong? That invincible! To be able to fly and be anywhere in the world in minutes. To know you are THE strongest, most powerful being in the world. Maybe the universe. Who knows. But see that’s the catch 22: You can know how powerful I am, but who else knows? It really is interesting that most comic book characters have to hide their true identity. The obvious reason is to protect their loved ones- because villains may come after them and hurt them or maybe worse. Bad guys are like that: going after loved ones just to be mean. But I think there’s another, subconscience reason why Stan Lee (the creator of Marvel comics) and his characters had hidden identies.
Power.
People will always crave power. People will always want to be #1. Some will want to crush their opponents. No one would want to crush Clark Kent or Peter Parker. That is Superman and Spiderman’s escape from power and all that comes with it. They can be regular people with seemingly no powers that nobody wants to take away. It almost keeps them grounded in a way….brings them down to earth so their powers don’t go to their head. But imagine if Lex Luthor knew Superman was Clark Kent? He would blow up the Daily Globe!! He would then kill many innocent people and abuse his power of knowing Superman was Clark and and if he can’t beat Superman then maybe he can beat Clark. So it’s better to just keep everything a scret. To avoid the power hungry.
It’s also funny how most secret identities were nerdy teenagers or grownups. Every comic nerd wanted to be more powerful so we could beat up the bullies. Trust me. I was a comic nerd.
So as I drift off from comic book world to reality, I realize that Hops’ thank you broke the silence and now everybody is talking.
”What if that Adam guy was Superman?”
”Dude, Superman would never let a tree go through his gut.”
“That was so gross!”
”What could have happened to him?”
”And more importantly, what happened to us?”
As we walk and talk, there is a large stream to the right of us with a fairly large island in the middle of it. There are lots of trees and greenery growing on it. It looks like a perfect place to get away, be secluded, and fish all day. My son Craft notices it too and says:
”That little island looks so cool! I wish I could teleport over to—“
And before my very eyes, my sweet boy vanishes.
He was there talking, and now he just isn’t there any more.