Adam Mitchell looks sideways at the news and rustles up some cool recommendations for your film queue...

“An epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities." The tagline for the new US blockbuster series ‘Heroes’, that has just found its way to our TV screens. I don’t like the tagline, because I don’t like the word ordinary. I looked up the definition and there were many, which in itself seems ironic! The first line of the long list defined ‘ordinary’ as: “of no special quality or interest”. I think most people would agree that this is a terrible attribute to assume of a person merely because he can’t fly, teleport, or predict the future.

Personally, I feel that superheroes have it easy. Having a skill that allows you to do something better than 99% of the population drastically improves the likelihood of avoiding many of life’s common strife’s. David Beckham is a better football player than virtually anybody and, as such, he doesn’t get evicted from his flat for failing to pay the rent.

I would love to have any sort of special power to fall back on. If I was fired I would like to think that having a special power that made me invincible would improve my chances of future employment. I imagine the interview would go something like this:

“So, your CV shows no military background, what makes you think that you are cut out for the SAS?”
“Well I do love that Andy McNab fella and I think being a ‘Special Agent’ will make me a great hit with the ladies and err . . . I’m also invincible.”
“What”
“Yea, I literally can’t be killed. If you don’t believe me, watch” Proceed to stab yourself through the heart with a letter opener.
“Oh my god! When can you start?”

I’m pretty sure that there is a niche employment sector for virtually any superpower, but for the rest of us, we have to maximize our, slightly above average ability, in a few areas and cling on to whatever boring jobs and cruel bosses will accept us. This in itself is a superpower; the ability to trudge on through life’s bog while celebrity lifestyle is shoved in our faces, makes us far from ordinary. Although perhaps it would be far fetched and, indeed, egotistical, to assume we are as incredible as the archetypal superhero’s in the following films.

1. Batman Begins
2. Superman: The Movie
3. X2: X-Men United
4. Spiderman 2
5. Blade

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