My favorite superhero is Superboy. No, not the biological son of Superman, but the genetic clone of Superman and Lex Luthor with an attitude and an irreverent streak.
Since I first discovered Superboy, also known as both Kon-El and Conner Kent, I have fallen in love with him. Maybe fourteen-year-old me was just feeling major gender envy, but eighteen-year-old me adores how authentically human and unapologetically fucked he is.
Ever since he made his debut in The Adventures of Superman #500, he’s been arrogant, brash, and a flirt. Luthor created Superboy with the intention of him taking Superman’s place after his tragic death at the hands of Doomsday. It’s only natural that being made to fill in the shoes of such an iconic, well-renowned hero would give a teenager a bit of an ego. Honestly? It would give me one too.
Despite his awful attitude and questionable personality, he is still a super. Or, half super if we’re getting technical. At heart, he’s a good kid. If he wasn’t, he would have been following in the footsteps of his creator, Lex Luthor, rather than joining the world of heroes.
When you compare him to his namesake, Kon is a hot mess. Dedicated, but impulsive. Insanely loyal, but a not so great team member. It seems that he is everything Superman is not.
Yet, Superboy is loved by the comic community. With his cropped leather jacket, his spandex pants and a dangling gold earring, he is an icon within the modern age of comic books. He represents the messy human in all of us.
Now, this takes me right to the point of this piece. We need these impatient, reckless, and hot-shot superheroes in our media.
Humans are not perfect. As if that wasn’t obvious before.
So, why should the characters in our media be flawless if we aren’t? I can’t see myself in heroes that are perceived as perfect, because I am not. I’m annoying, bitchy and forgetful. I will talk your ear off about nonsense, complain about the most trivial of things, and forget your birthday even if you’ve told me it a hundred times.
I feel much more seen when a character gets told off for being disrespectful towards authority, or when they jump right into something and end up messing it up big time. When heroes make these mistakes, yet are still so loved and valued by the people around them and their readers, it makes me feel okay for being imperfect.
However, when the only characters there for me to look up to are the ideal humans, it makes me feel awful about myself. If I can’t be as flawless as Superman, then what is the point? Why would I continue to consume his media if it just continues to rub in my face how much better he is than me?
Obviously, this comparison seems a bit drastic; we may both be journalists, andone of us is clearly lacking a certain set of physical abilities. And no, to answer your question, it is not Superman. Yet, comparing myself to a hero isn’t outrageous, especially when I see parts of myself in them.
Even though I am not a clone, nor a cisgendered man, and especially not a regular spandex wearer, I still see myself in Kon. We can both be a bit impulsive, jealous of those around us, and we both have a fucking awesome haircut. This is what matters. Not that I am exactly like the character, but that there are bits and pieces that I can connect to. Ones that make me feel a bit better about being flawed.
I get it, though, that not everyone wants to consume media that reflects our harsh reality. Of course I too enjoy a good Superman comic, where he shows the world how there is still good in people. Saving cats from trees, stopping the fifth alien evasion in a month and even giving Kon a much needed hug in “Superboy: The Man of Tomorrow #6.”
It would be hypocritical of me to say that I didn’t own any Superman comics, especially since Superman #10 was my first comic and one of my most cherished. My point is not to eliminate the perfect heroes, but to acknowledge the importance of the imperfect heroes.
We need a balance, we need the spectrum of perfect to a hot mess. We need the Clark Kents and the Conner Kents, but also the Jon Kents and Lois Lanes. We even need the Krypto the Superdogs. We need a spectrum of heroes, and we need to give these heroes a place in the mainstream.
I am tired of seeing Superman movies, also Batman movies, and any other character with a main role in the Justice League. Of course, you will still see me watching the movie within the first week or two after it comes out, but that doesn’t eliminate how exhausting it is to see the same characters over and over again.
Maybe I am just a bit selfish. Maybe I just want to see my favorite characters on the big screen. Or maybe I just want people to know who they are.  I can assure you that people would flood the theaters to see a movie focused on the Robins, whether that be the original Robin, Dick Grayson, or his replacement, Jason Todd, and his replacement Tim Drake or Batman’s only biological child, Damian Wayne. Hell, I would do some totally illegal things to see a live action Supersons movie with a, hopefully, not whitewashed Damian Wayne and an openly queer Jon Kent.
These messy, chaotic heroes deserve a place in the limelight, for the sake of everyone and everyone’s self-esteem. It’s okay to not be perfect, it’s okay to be a little rude and it is definitely okay to make mistakes.
And it is okay for our (super)heroes to do the same.