Superhero Archetypes Quotes

There isn't just one kind of person that can play a superhero.

When 'Watchmen' was published in 1986, the vast majority of comics readers deemed it a watershed in comics history. The 12-part serial comic book was widely acclaimed as a genius subversion of the superhero genre, and it did much to popularize comics to adults.

We've all read, I'm sure, a Superman book where we didn't really feel like we knew the character. Where the writer, often with the best of intentions, has tried put a personal stamp on the character, whether it be to try and make him more current, or cool, or have a broader appeal, etc.

The thing about 'Watchmen' that people should know is that when it came out there was absolutely nothing like it. Up until then, comics were about the same thing: a guy in tights fighting another guy in tights and saving the girl - that was it.

My paintings capture the humor, zaniness, and depth of the Batman villains as well as the Freudian motivations of Batman as an all-too-human, venerable, and funny vigilante superhero.

I'm not sure that 'Iron Man' is a superhero movie. I think towards the end of the movie, Iron Man pretends to be a superhero - he's entertained by that notion. I think 'X-Men' is a sci-fi movie.

I don't really think that very much is interesting about the superhero as an archetype.

I never imagined myself playing a superhero because I don't see myself the way superheroes have been portrayed or shown to me my entire life.

I think most superhero stories have already been done a million times.

I have never met a superhero, but why are we so obsessed with superheroes?

As anyone who reads Marvel comics will tell you, it's actually more important that you understand the people that are inside the mask, as opposed to the mask and the cowl or anything else like that.

The appeal of the Golden Age heroes for me is their simplicity, even their naivety - they represent the fundamental building blocks of the whole superhero genre, whether it's a 'super' man able to lift cars, or a vigilante who terrorises criminals at night like Batman.

People look at Marvel movies as epic in scope, but if you look back at the comics, you realise that Marvel heroes were often a reaction to the square-jawed DC characters like Superman, who were flawless and beyond reproach.

It has occurred to me that the superhero really only originates in America. That seems to be the only country that has produced this phenomenon.

The problem for me is that 'Watchmen,' one of the great comics of all time, is a look at superheroes that has gone beyond the concept of or necessity for superheroes.

People want to see something that isn't necessarily somebody walking around in a superhero costume.

Lots of things that go on in mainstream superhero comics are just stupid. They just show up on the page, and no one makes any mention of it.

Times have changed. And as the audience changes, so do the superheroes.

To me, superhero movies are like Greek myth.

I don't necessarily find superheroes in general, for me, that appealing. I'd much prefer to play, if I was to be cast in a superhero film, I'd prefer to play the villain because there's a reason, there's a motive behind their madness.

You have to always try to think about them like real people first, and not just heroes. They have to be real characters. As people do more and more superhero stuff, the characters are what distinguish it, just like in cop shows.

Sometimes those big bloated superhero movies take themselves too seriously compared to the material they were based on. Am I going to listen to psychoanalysis from someone with a mask?

Within the macho-melodrama tropes of the superhero genre, it's fair to say 'Watchmen' stands out for its rich entertainment, its darkness, and its lurid pleasures. Its vividly drawn panels, moody colors and lush imagery make its popularity well-deserved, if disproportionate.

I'd argue that the term 'superhero' is much too broadly used.

There's always a need for new superheroes. As society changes, the types of superheroes will probably change as well.