Why are the most popular heroes so messed up?

[Ghostfreak]

There's a saying: there are no bad characters, only uncreative writers.

IMO the "bad" in there means not good or faulty, not dysfunctional.

Yes. I didn't meant dysfunctional there. I meant that many writers consider Barry Allen-healthy types "bad" as characters, but I think they are just uncreative.

And yeah, I'm talking healthy, not flawless. Lately, the fact that Barry is too normal is treated as a flaw, Buddy backer is less productive than his wife, Ralph was over shadowed by his brother so he became a funny guy and so on.

Well sorry if you meant that way, but based on your first post, I see to it that you meant that way if you ask me. IMO

[Ghostfreak]

I mean, Batman, Spider-man, Spawn, Wolverine, Hulk, Daredevil, etc. All of them are dysfunctional beings.

Iron-man and Hal Jordan have serious womanizing and alcoholism issues. Even Superman had trust issues from the start. Lately, he also developed a passive attitude due to the fact that for him, the world is made out of paper (Morrison attempted to fix that in his All star series).

Balanced heroes are scarce. The most notorious examples are the Flashes. However, for me, the ground breaking character in that sense is obviously the Elongated man. He's easy going and has a great has a sense of humor, he was the first to marry and to lady that is just as healthy and with whom he developed a drama free relationship. He's also one of the few characters to become a hero out of love, passion and vocation (instead of guilt, traumas or accidents). He created his powers and did it with the best of intentions. And what did DC decided to do with him, establish a set of traumas and kill him of.

Creating a Believable Hero
Tips for Making a Likeable and Realistic Protagonist

Emotional Baggage

Many writers give their hero an addiction to deal with, such as a alcoholism or drug abuse. If this is used, the hero should make some effort toward resolving the problem throughout the book. Another way of making a hero human is by having him be suffering from a divorce or loss of a loved one.

The ratio of emotional baggage has to fit the story you are telling. In a high-adventure story it is sometimes better to have small challenges for the hero rather than a series of very serious life events.

The way I see it.

[Bruno Diaz]

Well sorry if you meant that way, but based on your first post, I see to it that you meant that way if you ask me. IMO

Nope, bad in that contexts means with no potential for entertainment, not "evil". It's a somewhat popular saying. I was actually talking about the characters I like that some [normally uncreative] writers consider bad.

Emotional Baggage is a valid resource among many, not a rule. Likewise, making all heroes healthy would be stupid. Using an "all heroes should have baggage" formula for every fucking story (like they did in the early 90s) would be retarded. Even in the 80s, while there was Watchmen, Year One and DKR the other side of the coin had Animal Man, JLI, and the Man of Steel.

[Ghostfreak]

You think that way, I think this way. Let's just agree with that.

[Bruno Diaz]

You think that way, I think this way. Let's just agree with that.

My point is not to reject the "Deadpools" (I love Batman, Lobo, Guy Gardner, Wolverine, Daredevil, TMNT...) but to increase the "Animal men" (...just as much as I love Elongated man, Wonder Woman, the Tick, Swamp Thing, Wally West, the Spirit) , which as the many examples I mentioned, can be just as successful or critically acclaimed. I'm not rejecting emotional baggage either, just taking it as an alternative that doesn't have to be an extreme. To me, characters like Friends, Superman (contemporary), Donald Duck, Peter Beckman, Vito Corleone, Jerry Seinfeld have the normal amount of it, charismatic Mahatma-Obama-Dalai-Theresa-Lincoln types like Mickey Mouse, Elongated Man, Cliff Huxtable, Mighty Max, King Solomon, Winston Zeddmore or Sponge Bob can be just as succesful as King David-Winston Churchill-Bill Clinton flawed ones like James Bond, Batman, Ironman, Spider-man. The extreme can go as far to make Charles Foster Kane a hit.

There's also one key aspect to consider: The healthy extreme appeal and sell better to younger audiences.

[Ghostfreak]

Okay.

[Bruno Diaz]

Okay.

Hahahaha, I only wanted a window for psychological diversity and some characters I also like... but the guy saying okay always end up with the upper hand, hahaha.

[Helices]

There's a saying: there are no bad characters, only uncreative writers.

Good point.

[Zero Degrees]

There's a saying: there are no bad characters, only uncreative writers.

Good point.

I never thought of it that way.

[Ben1000000]

There's a saying: there are no bad characters, only uncreative writers.

Good point.

I never thought of it that way.

same thing as "there aren't stupid questions, just stupid people"