We look to fictional heroes as beacons of morality, but rather than being inspired by their superpowers, we instead find value in their stories of failure and humanity -- stories that are sometimes hard to come by in real-life heroes.

Whether or not you saw this summer's "Superman," you likely remember the social media response that followed it. For months, I couldn't scroll through my TikTok feed without seeing stylized edits of the film's pivotal scenes. Countless users shared videos of Superman saving innocent lives, giving a pivotal speech defending his humanity or simply being funny or relatable. A viral slogan based on the film's themes emerged: "kindness is the new punk rock" became words to live by.

Given this phenomenon, it would be uncontroversial to say that many view Superman as a hero, not only in the sense that he is a fictional hero who helps people in his stories, but also as a paragon who inspires people in the real world to be better.

We see examples of fictional heroes all across our society, from decades of superhero films to iconic video game characters. They are such an American concept that they represent our culture on the international stage. For example, after the 2020 assassination of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, cleric Shahab Moradi claimed that his nation would have difficulty striking back because the only American heroes of the same magnitude were fictional characters.

International relations aside, this raises an important question: is there a problem with most American heroes being fictional? To interrogate this, we must first define what makes a fictional character a "hero" that people look up to as they would a hero in real life. In my opinion, a fictional hero must have an inspirational moral crusade or a seemingly superhuman temperament. This is why so many revered heroes come from the superhero genre.

By definition, superheroes inspire us by fighting for justice, such as the X-Men, who fight villains reminiscent of real-life bigotry and inequality. Many superheroes are defined by their moral values despite all opposition. Batman is a popular example, with many of his stories following his efforts to rescue and rehabilitate his enemies, even when they try to take the lives of others. Batman is unlike us -- a billionaire superhero tech genius -- yet we relate to him because he has experienced loss that has shaped him and because he works hard to overcome his lack of superpowers.

Fictional heroes often inhabit larger-than-life stories, which are especially made compelling when we see their humanity through trial and failure. This can be seen in two of my favorite stories, 2017's "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and 2021's Halo Infinite. The former follows pop culture icon Luke Skywalker as he reckons with his failure as a teacher, which led to the destruction of his new Jedi Order. The latter follows another icon, the Master Chief, reckoning with his failure to protect his friends and the galaxy. Both narratives feature the heroes coming to grips with their failure and learning from it to protect those they still can.

Showing a hero's failure can be controversial, but I believe we must look up to them as people. If superheroes, space wizards or technologically enhanced soldiers cannot escape failure, then neither can we. Every person on Earth has failed at some point in their life -- it is the catalyst for our growth as human beings. It may initially seem like a hero would be more inspirational if they were an infallible exemplar of morality, but this robs them of their humanity. Those heroes would create a standard that we could never achieve, and would thus lose their ability to inspire us.

In other words, fictional heroes are inspiring because they move past the high pedestal their abilities put them on to relate to our humanity and everyday struggles. These do not need to be literal superpowers -- they can be conventional attributes like empathy or compassion.

This is best illustrated by Atticus Finch in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." His famous defense of Tom Robinson in the novel represented both an inspirational moral crusade against racial inequality and the temperament to represent and impart those values under the threat of violence. It's no surprise that countless real-life lawyers have taken up his fight. Even if having a fictional hero may seem corny at times, I will not discount them if they lead real people to enact real change.

Despite this, there is one crucial shortcoming found in fictional heroes. In the above examples, the heroes failed as a part of a satisfying narrative. Their failure would be followed by a character arc where they would learn from their mistakes and return stronger. However, real life doesn't always work out this nicely.

Nevertheless, I believe that real, organic failures by our heroes, ones without satisfying narrative arcs, are just as valuable, if not more, to learn from.

As a lifelong political progressive, I have always looked up to Bernie Sanders. At the same time, I was disappointed when he decided to endorse Joe Biden for reelection in 2023, when he was unpopular among Democrats. To me, this mistake was a failure to stand up for a then-unpopular opinion that could have prevented Donald Trump's reelection.

This example is far different from the failures in the stories above. In fiction, the protagonist is the main agent of the plot and is often solely responsible for catastrophic failures. When our real-life heroes fail, it's more complicated. They are one of many actors in their field, and their failure may come from a relatively minor mistake. However, they are just as impactful because our sense of their uncompromising values is broken.

Real-life heroes have more human failures in the sense that they move on from them in a more personal and independent way, instead of coming back triumphantly to save the day. In other words, heroes in stories remind us that we all fail, but real-life ones paint a more realistic picture of how people fail, allowing us to learn from their mistakes.

But if real-life heroes are more human, why do we want fictional ones? Real-life heroes may give a more nuanced lesson on failure, but they are harder to come by and more likely to disappoint us. In a complex moral world, it is easy to see why many choose to idolize Batman instead of leaders and politicians. The real importance of a hero is that they inspire us to take action and improve ourselves instead of just following empty platitudes like "hope" or "goodness." If a hero inspires someone to fight injustice, do good for those around them and never give up, then I see no relevance to whether that hero is real or not.

Kevin O'Connell is a sophomore majoring in political science.