Superman and the superhero myth...

Superman is the icon of superheroes. He represents the strength, the virtual omnipotence, the ideal of the good and generous man. But Superman is not a human being, not just because he is native of Krypton, considering that he resembles humans and that he has been raised as a human and because of the Kents he also thinks as a human. No, Superman is not a human being because no man would be able to do what he does: I'm not talking about flying or moving the mountains. Superman is not a human being because no man would use his powers in the way he does. When Lex Luthor finally discovers that Superman and Clark Kent are the same person he refuses to accept the truth because "A man with the power of Superman cannot fake to be a human. Powers as great as Superman's must be always used!" Here is the superheroes paradox! From great powers come great responsibilities but the hero is an hero not because of his powers, but because of the great responsibilities he assumes and because he doesn't use his powers for his own profit but for the others. If Superman is not a human being, then Lex Luthor certainly is, and he cannot do anything else other than trying to understand a divinity with human parameters. And he fails, as every time that a man tries to interpret the sketches of God. Superman has all the characteristics of a divinity, at least the ones of a Christian divinity: totally good, not interested at all in anything but the Good. Similar to the man but infinitely different. Superman cannot be understood by a human being, after all. And so, to make him more desirable to the public the Kryptonite was invented, his weakness was discovered. But, of course, Superman still needs to be different from human beings because the differences between the hero and humans are the founding elements of the myth of the hero, even though we live in an era in which this myth is falling apart, especially in the U.S.. They are no more the country who brings democracy or peace to those who don't have them, people don't trust their governments anymore. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" "Who watches the watchmen?" If we doubt that the myth still exists, the myth has already collapsed. The myth wants blind faith, suspension of disbelief, acceptance of the unacceptable. The only way we could conceive a superhero in a rational way without the filters of our comics literature is to accept that he would be so much aware of himself and of the enormous gap between him and us that he would look at men as slaves.