When you hear the word "Superhero", you most likely imagine men and women in colorful outfits flying, catching burning planes or beating up bad guys. However, these aren't just people in tights, they're courageous, self sacrificing people who set examples for us all to be better people. I mean I should know, years of comic books, animated shows and live action movie adaptations have brought these characters to life in many different ways.
Let's stick with the movies for now. A lot of Superheroes have had some amazing movies, and these superheroes have also had many great moments of inspiration on screen. This is just a list of some moments from Superhero movies that really affected my outlook on life in a positive way. This list is in no specific order and contains some possible SPOILERS so please be careful if you plan on watching any of the listed movies.
SPIDER-MAN:
This movie regained my childhood interest in superhero films which hadn't been kindled since The first two Superman movies. I walked in a normal kid who read a lot of comics, walked out a normal kid who reads a lot of comics, but helped people. Whether in my school, or at work, any good I could do, I did. The most inspiring moments were:
1.Crime fighting montage: Uncle Ben is dead and Peter knows he's responsible. He feels guilty over his last confrontation with him which ended with Peter telling Uncle Ben to stop trying to be a replacement father to him. Then a thought occurs to Peter, his uncle was right, with great power, comes great responsibility. Zoom in on the costume with the legendary line being heard in a voice over then cut to Peter stopping all sorts of small and big crimes from attempted muggings to stopping armed robbers. This shows that not right thing is to small or too big to do for him. Thus, I knew that any help I can give to the world, I should.
2.Spidey saves all: So the Green Goblin is literally holding the lives on innocents in his hands. He gives Spidey one final choice. He'll drop both MJ and an entire cable car full of kids into the bay, spidey must catch one. Instead, he catches both and holds on to them with great difficulty, despite Goblin's best efforts to hurt him so that he'll drop them both. Showing that difficulties must be faced to do the right thing, the important thing to remember is to HOLD ON.
3.New York vs Goblin: So how do the New Yorkers on the bridge react to this act of bravery by spidey? They protect him, "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Demonstrating that anyone can be a hero.
SPIDER-MAN 2:
What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said? It's brilliant. It deals with the sacrifices that must be made to do the right thing, something that is a cornerstone for superheroes everywhere. It is quite possibly the greatest solo superhero film of all time in my opinion. The most inspiring moments are:
1.Aunt May's speech to Peter about sacrifice:"I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us steady...gives us strength and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes, we have to give up the things we want the most...even our dreams." This line really reaches me in a way that no other bit of movie dialogue has ever done since it applies to pretty much everyone's every day life. We all have this bit in us that wills to do good, but most of the time we tend to ignore it out of fear of losing personal pleasure. There must be sacrifice and RESPONSIBILITY must be taken to do the right thing so that in the end, we can die with pride.
2.Peter stops the train: So Peter's only life long love has been kidnapped by Doctor Octopus and after returning as Spider-man, the two battle it out on top of a moving train. Doc tries to slow Spidey down by throwing out civilians but Spidey catches them anyway (He IS a hero you know?), so the Doc decides to cook up another distraction. He destroys the trains controls so that it starts rushing ahead towards an unfinished part of the track. Given the choice to pursue Ock and save his love for personal reasons or to stay behind, try to perform the damn near impossible of stopping this train and saving the civilians, at the risk of losing Ock and his girl, he chooses the latter. He slows the train down with his webs with such great restraint and pain that he can barely hold his screams and his costume starts tearing up. This further progresses Aunt May's speech with the whole "give up the thing we want them most" gig being played out brilliantly. Another moment that inspired me to put aside personal desires to help people.
3.The civilians on the train defend Spidey: Doc Ock busts into the train and tells the civilians to step aside and let him finish off the already drowsy web slinger. Instead, they all form up in front of Spidey, knowing full well that there's nothing much that they can do. "There's a hero in ALL OF US." Let's just say by this point, my faith in humanity was restored.
4.The Doctor's Redemption: So Peter gives Doc the same speech that Aunt May gave Pete earlier. Upon seeing what he has become because of his arms and the damage his machine will do, he straight up sacrifices himself to bring down the machine. "I WILL NOT DIE A MONSTER." Ultimately redeeming the brilliant man of science who learned not fall into the temptation of power since with great power, comes great responsibility. Demonstrating the message again. First on the hero, then the civilians, then the villain. There is a hero in us ALL.
5.Peter turns down MJ again: So MJ's found out his identity, Peter again has the chance to be with her but refuses again. Realising through this movie that he will not give up the dangerous responsible life for personal reasons and that he must never let MJ risk that life. He selflessly let's her go to someone else and swings away. This scene is pretty much the cherry on top. With a glorious score from Danny Elfman playing throughout the scene, it absolutely presented the depth of the great responsibility message.
Ironman: Quite Possibly the classiest superhero movie of all time which was also a breath of fresh air. Instead of nerdy teens or people seeking revenge over the death of family or friends, the main character was a billionaire playboy weapons manufacturer who was pretty cocky and self obsessed. Then upon witnessing the horrors of his actions on the rest of the world,Tony Stark built an Iron Armor and dedicated his life to fighting injustice and became the armored avenger. This was an inspiring story of redemption. Let's look at it's moments.
1.Tony shuts down the arm's manufacturing faction of his company: I know this doesn't sound like much but after being kidnapped by terrorists (who were supplied with ammo by Tony's own company), he realised the horrors that his career had inflicted upon the world. He was wasting his life profiting off the suffering of others. Thus, when he shut down the weapon's program publicly, I saw the basis of any man's redemption. First thing that man can do for redemption is to admit he was wrong.
2. Saving the town: Even after he shut down his arm's trade faction, Tony's company still continued to supply the war in Gulmira with weapons. Upon seeing the news report of family members being tortured and separated by terrorists, he decided that action had to be taken. Donning the Mark III armor, Tony landed in the Middle Eastern town, skillfully took down the terrorists, made sure a man got to hug his son again and decided to hand over the terrorist leader to the oppressed town, so that they could inflict justice upon him. This scene showed the ultimate change in Tony's character that had been brought upon by his kidnapping. Hoping to make up for the mistakes of his past, Tony set out to right his wrongs. This scene was inspiring because it basically teaches that the mistakes of the past can be mended if you do well in the present, the lesson of a redeeming hero.
3.Tony's not-so-secret identity:"I am Ironman". The ending line that had both the on screen and off screen audience going:"Whoa". I know to most this seems simply an act of cockiness and over confidence but watch the scene carefully.He thinks about how lying and deceit from others has brought him to this pass. He has sworn to put an end to that sort of thing, to do away with underhandedness and double-dealing. With the sort of mind-set that resulted in weapons being secretly sold to enemies and destroying lives.
People don't really know what happened that night. More questions will be raised, and more. There has to be an end to fear, and an end to secrecy, or otherwise this wreck of a world is going to be the best they've got and it's only going to get worse.
And the honesty, the transforming of the unknown into the known, the upfront dealings with people...it has to start somewhere. So Tony gives up his identity. Sure that's not something every hero should do but Tony has the best reason to.
Dark Knight: Christopher Nolan's dark masterpiece that brought on some pretty powerful deems of heroism, sacrifice and chaos vs law. The single most inspiring moment is the ending of this fine movie. The Joker wins by proving that anyone, even somebody as pure as Harvey Dent, Gotham's White night can be corrupted and that order is simply a false prospect brought about by people's need to live calm lives. Batman and Gordon know that Harvey's crimes as Two Face would not go unnoticed and that this would ruin everything they ever fought for since people would lose hope and Gotham would descend into madness. Batman knows that Gotham must have a hero with a face, decides to take the blame for Dent's murder and becomes public enemy number 1 since he's the hero that Gotham deserves...but not the one that it needs right now. This scene has a depressingly beautiful representation of the consequence of being a decent man in an indecent time, something that goes beyond being a hero, being a silent guardian...a watchful protector.....A DARK KNIGHT.
Kick-Ass: Okay, this movie just kicked my ass. A high school kid decides to become a superhero simply to help people and because nobody had done it before. No training, motivation or anything. He just takes on the role and inspires more heroes. So you can already see why this adaptation of Mark Millar's brilliant story is so inspiring. Mostly due to one notable scene.
Stopping gang violence: So the kid gets stabbed and has to have surgery in his head after his first go as a Superhero.Instead of quitting, he heals and bounces right back into the game. He witnesses some street dudes beating up an innocent man.
Street Dude 1:"@#$% OFF KID! IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
Kick-Ass:"YES IT IS."
The kid fights, takes a beating but still continues to fight till everybody starts watching. A guy pulls a knife at him and he still stays put near the injured victim.
Street dude 2:"Give it up man! Just walk way."
Kick-Ass: No...NEVER."
Street Dude 2:"What the !@#$ is wrong with you man? You'd rather die for some piece of $h!t? That you don't even !@#$%^& know?!"
Kick-Ass:"3 @$$holes! Laying in on one guy while everybody watches! AND YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! YEAH! I'D RATHER DIE...SO BRING IT ON!"
This scene shows the strength and determinism of a true hero.
Avengers: Spidey 2 maybe the best solo superhero flick I've seen, but overall my favorite Superhero flick is definitely Marvel's The Avengers. The movie that took everything I love about comics and brought it on screen. I laughed, I cried, I had a fanboy boner throughout the entire film. It's most inspiring moments were:
1.Avengers Assemble: Their friend died believing in heroes, so the Avengers decided to put aside their differences and get the job done together, to AVENGE him. It's inspiring since it shows that personal differences must be put aside to do the right thing with the help of others.
2.Loki's strike in Germany: This scene is one of the most memorable scenes in any Superhero film ever in my opinion. Why? Let's see, Loki holds a crowd hostage, forces them to kneel. Gives them a speech about how they will always kneel, an old man stands up and says:"Not to men like you." Loki replies that there are no MEN like him, the senior citizen states:"There are always men like you." Loki attempts to discipline him then who other than Captain America blocks Loki's blast with his shield and battles him. This scene is the representation of the basic concept of a superhero story. There's a man who wants to rule over everyone else through evil purposes, the people seem scared and likely to kneel but their is good somewhere in them: A part that stands for justice. Of course some are too weak to play out this important role, so the heroes who believe in the same role exist to protect these people and show them that there is good in the world worth fighting for. Thus, it's inspiring.
3.Tony's sacrifice: A nuke is launched for New York and Tony manually flies it out of the city, through the portal and into the Chitauri mother-ship, risking his life and proving that he's willing to make the sacrifice play. Another redeeming moment for the character who spent most of the movie fighting solely for himself.
That's my list for now. Sorry if I missed out anything you guys liked, maybe I liked it too. You guys can give out your thoughts and any suggestions for things I may have missed in the comments.
FLAME ON