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Old 05-01-2007, 10:44 PM   #32
Jeritron
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Superman is adored and praised. Spiderman is misunderstood and hated, and Peter Parker lives a poor life with all kinds of problems stemming from his duties as a superhero. He has human problems and human weaknesses. Everything is hard for him, but he can't use it as an excuse since he's juggling two seperate lives.

If Parker needs a gift for Mary Jane he can't just zip around the world and get her something from Italy, he has to scrounge up 5 dollars in change and probably never makes it to her apartment without having to answere the call of justice. Or when he's having problems he can't just sit down with his Aunt Mae and vent, or fly to Antartica to chill in his private condo made of crystals with a fully interactive Uncle Ben. He has the same stress, even more, than any normal person. That's what makes him a deeper character, and more identifiable with an audience. His vulnerabilities make him human, and they allow for him to have a range of emotions and weaknesses for his enemies to compare to.

Superman's enemies have to be pure Gods to stack up to him, and that's just no fun. No Superman enemy has what it takes to compliment. Superman runs off of the nostalgia and recognition of his logo, and the fact that he's the original end all be all of superheroes. That's the only reason he's still cookin. People look at him as an Alpha Male hero from heaven, whereas people look at Peter Parker as the person in all of us. People look up to Superman as the perfect person, the flawless hero. People indentify with Parker as the average Joe.
That's why Superman's villians just don't stack up. They're nothing. Lex Luthor is the best the franchise has to offer, and he's just a rich tycoon who doesn't compliment Superman well at all really.
Batman has the Joker and Penguin, and Spiderman has Green Goblin and Venom. They're all almost as deep, interesting and well known as their hero foes.
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