And that's the exact reason why Heather always felt "wrong" to me as a super-hero. I still think she worked, mind you -- she drew a fan base, and that's what any commercial literature is about. I'm just stating my opinion on it, based on my "rule of thumb" philosophy in regards to these characters: while they should reflect the "common man", there also needs to be a fantastical element as a key part of their nature to make them a super-hero.Originally Posted by kozzi24
I had the same problem with War Machine: a guy weilding power beyond his understanding. It lessens the element of the fantastical and drags the genre down to the mundane; as you point out, lots of people don't know how to use the technology around them to it's fullest extent. The idea with super-heroes is that they are more capable than we are. When that capability comes from an artificial source, the character is lessened. Even Green Lantern, the very icon of item-dependant heroes, had unique requirements in bearing his power: fearlessness and an indominatable will.
Part of it, too, is that I'm sick to death of seeing this trend of empmowering women by making them more violent. There's this reoccuring theme that the only method of empowerment and validation is through smashing someone else's head in. I think that is perhaps the most misguided, half-witted, slack-jawed approach to rationalization that I've ever had the misfortune of encountering.
A woman is not empowered by acting like the stereotypical (and insulting) testosterone-driven, knuckle-dragging male. By acting that way she's merely dragged down to that level. It would have been more difficult to write, but (utterly imo, of course) Heather would have been a landmark character had she served as the emotional core and stalwart leader of Alpha -- without going into battle.
This is not to say that female characters should be depicted as physically helpless. If anything, I think Snowbird could use a little beefing up -- she's been underplayed given her demi-goddess nature. Merely that blowing things up need not be, and should not be, the only expression of courage or capacity to lead. Nor should it be the only path left open to female characters for establishing a place of respect in the Marvel U.
My apologies for the long-winded response. It's long been a pet peeve of mine.