Retro Review

Avenging the loss of a loved one to crime is a common initial motivation for heroes in comic books. Batman was motivated by the death of his parents, who were gunned down in front of him by a mugger. The hero vowed to clean up the streets of Gotham so no other child ever had to lose his parents to crime in this way. Spider-man was motivated by the death of his Uncle Ben, who had raised him. Ben was killed by a robber who Spider-man had let escape earlier that evening. When he realized what had happened because of his inaction, he vowed to never shirk his responsibilities again. Daredevil’s father and the Punisher’s family were killed by the mob, the Wasp’s father was killed by aliens, the Huntress’ family was killed by the mob, and the first Robin’s parents were killed by the mafia. As motivations go, it’s not a bad one, although it feels overused these days, and it requires a secondary motivation to be supplied in some cases. Why keep fighting crime when you’ve already avenged your family or friends?

 The character(s) that die in order to give the hero a reason to take their first steps on the path to becoming a hero are created to die. The writer has already decided their fate before they are ever introduced: they are plot devices, not characters, so they make their appearance, have their impact, and die. Later stories may fill in the details and give them more depth, but in their initial appearance, such characters sometimes don’t even get a line of dialog. Perhaps this is what is weakest about this motivation for a character’s super-hero career: the stories are so functional that it is difficult to care about the person who’s being avenged.

 The one notable character whose death was an emotional moment despite his brief appearance was Spider-man’s Uncle Ben. In the original 11-page story in Amazing Fantasy #15, Ben and Peter’s relationship is quickly established, and Peter’s anguish is well portrayed, especially when he realizes what exactly happened. Unlike Batman or the first Robin’s parents, who are killed off before being properly introduced, Ben was succinctly defined as a major character. Of all the characters that were created to die and motivate the hero, he is the clearest, the one against whom others can be measured. Next Friday, I’ll review a couple of other issues where characters died to give the hero their motivation, and see how they compare with Uncle Ben for emotional impact.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS