I need a hero

 
Buy Heroes Season One from Amazon.co.uk or from Amazon.com
Buy Heroes Season Two from Amazon.co.uk or from Amazon.com

Thanks to a huge advertising drive in the build-up to its launch, I suspect few of us were unaware of the advent of the new US action series Heroes. The heavy marketing paid off as, on Wednesday 25 July 2007, 4.3 million viewers tuned in, giving BBC2 its biggest peak-time ratings win over BBC1 in more than a decade. The show also stole viewers from Channel 4's Big Brother, now in its eighth season. Heroes has been a huge success in the US and so far it seems likely that it will attract a large following on this side of the Atlantic. Sue Deeks, BBC Television's Head of Series, Programme Acquisition, describes the series as 'intriguing, intelligent and irresistible drama.' Billed as the biggest thing since the X-Files, the first series runs to a marathon 23 episodes and the BBC has already ordered the second series unseen for £400,000 an episode.

The series draws on the surge in superhero nostalgia. It seems odd to me that the rest of the world should be catching up with the world of comic superheroes that I grew up with. The continuous parade onto the silver screen has included Spiderman, X-Men, Daredevil, Hulk, and the Fantastic Four, to name but a few. For the uninitiated I should perhaps demonstrate my true geek credentials and give some key features of the superhero. According to the formula, each superhero has been accidentally endowed with an ability that is unique to them. Donning a tightly fitting costume and adopting a suitably macho name, they begin to lead a  double life, ordinary on the surface, but saving the world the rest of the time. Each superhuman ability entails a responsibility to serve the greater good of mankind, fighting evil in all its forms, typically a similarly endowed 'supervillian'. This responsibility is a moral code for superheroes: they are obliged to use their powers in the service of the ordinary members of society.

Heroes challenges this superhero orthodoxy. Gone are the costumes and the capes of the comic books. Instead we are presented with a grittier, intellectually grabbing and mysterious drama reminiscent of Lost or 24. In each episode we follow the stories of a group of ordinary people as they discover that they possess surprising superpowers. The lead character, Mohinder Suresh (Sendhil Ramamurthy), is an academic, researching into human evolution. Following in his late father's footsteps, he is seeking to identify human beings that have moved to the next stage of evolution, marked by incredible new abilities. Suresh moves to New York to pick up the trail and finds himself caught in a web of intrigue, pursued by an unknown force also bent on finding the 'Heroes'. The plotlines of the main characters interweave during the course of each episode as slowly each one discovers their superhuman abilities. Claire (Hayden Panettiere), a high school cheerleader, discovers through a series of gory experiments that she is immune to pain and that her body regenerates any injury within seconds. A troubled, drug-addicted artist named Isaac (Santiago Cabrera) is plagued with visions which he commits to canvas, only to find that they are exact representations of future events. A geeky Japanese office worker named Hiro (Masi Oka) discovers that he can freeze time at will and teleport through space.

In the first instance, each character discovers their incredible power. As they experiment with their capabilities they ride a rollercoaster of terror and wonder, excitement and apprehension, initial denial and eventual acceptance. The process of discovery affects each character differently. Hiro is overjoyed at his amazing ability and can't wait to save the world. Claire acts heroically to save a man caught in a fire, but then tries to return to her teenage world by denying all involvement. Isaac believes himself to be cursed and decides to go 'cold turkey' and to pray that the visions depart. A fascinating dynamic occurs between two brothers. Peter (Milo Ventimiglia), a nurse, dreams of serving a higher purpose, of being special and being made for a specific task in life. Meanwhile, his brother Nathan (Adrian Pasdar), a hard-nosed politician, is engrossed in ruthless electioneering. When Peter discovers that Nathan can fly, he is shocked to find his brother in deep denial. For Nathan, as for Isaac, the powers are a curse, a distraction from the affairs of ordinary life rather than the means to save the world.

Many of the Heroes seem caught in unhappy circumstances, reflecting frustrations in all walks of life. Increasingly they sense that the world about them treats them not as people but as stereotypes. Peter is stereotyped by his brother as a hopeless dreamer; Isaac is stereotyped as a drug addict, not a person; Claire is caught between being 'daddy's little girl' and a teenage rebel. For each character, breaking free of the expectations around them is both thrilling and terrifying. The shattering of the stereotype opens up new ways of being, the possibility for them to make a unique contribution to the world. However, alongside this potential for significance and freedom from stereotyping is the real possibility of alienation and rejection by those that simply don't understand their lack of conformity. It seems that many of the characters move from disillusionment with their 'ordinary lives' to a desperate attachment to them. Their heroism is reluctant and accidental at first, yet as the plotlines develop, the possibility of maintaining ordinary lives disappears and the characters find themselves plunged into a number of mysterious events. As their lives seem to disintegrate around them, they discover what they are truly made of and that sets the course for what happens next.

Peter has a premonition that he is called to serve a higher purpose. He served as a nurse 'trying to save one person at a time', but now senses something greater is calling him. He is called to save everyone. Hiro is quick to embrace what he calls 'destiny'. In a conversation with his friend Ando (James Kyson Lee), he explains the 'rules' of being a superhero – the old familiar comic book rules once again. Superpowers are not to be used for selfish gain; they are to be used to help others, to save the world. In other words there is a responsibility that comes with the gift. Nevertheless, in the next episode Ando and Hiro hit Las Vegas and use superpowers to get rich quick. Likewise, Claire uses her power to revenge herself on another student who abused her. Despite these developments, there is an irresistible moral judgment that these actions break the rules. They are simply wrong.

The theme of discovering powers connects to the story of every person's life while growing up. Finding out what they are good at and using that potential to shatter the expectations around them is what young people do. Likewise, the risk of rejection and alienation that run with that process of self discovery, the temptation to 'dumb down' and conform to the crowd are ever present. As we discover what is special and unique about us, we face choices about how far we conform and how much we follow our own path. At times, having come to a point of realisation that we don't truly fit others’ expectations of us, we can all long for the security of conformity rather than taking a stand against those expectations and being the person we truly are. Like the Heroes, we all come to a point of self knowledge concerning our uniqueness. We come to a decision about how to employ our 'power'. Will we use it for the greater good or for personal gain? In this sense the superhero code can be read as a moral injunction to us all. It forbids us to keep our unique contribution to the world for ourselves; it is there to be shared.

I find that an arresting idea because it raises some huge questions about morality and purpose in life. People may not possess the ability to fly, but we can recognise high fliers. People may not be able to read other's thoughts, but we all know a good listener when we find one. People may not be able to foretell the future, but we can tell a wise man from a fool. If the possession of superpowers entails a responsibility for their use for everyone, then does that apply to our 'powers' too? Is there a moral call on our talents, skills and abilities? Is there a moral deficiency in using our powers for selfish gain? Why do we demand greater standards from those we regard as heroes than we do of ourselves? If we put the truly great human beings such as Mother Teresa or the Dalai Lama into a different category from ourselves, aren't we missing the point that every human being has a unique contribution to make to the world? For Christians, this contribution was in the mind of God when he brought us into existence: 'For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.' (Ephesians 2:10, NLT).

To my mind, superheroism remains an oddity. Consider Claire's rescue of the man from the fire, for example. As she seems immune to pain and instantly recovers from burns, to what extent is she a genuine heroine? Does there not have to be the risk of injury or death for an act to be heroic? The possession of superhuman abilities diminishes these risks, does it not? In reality, heroism, be it on the battlefield or in an emergency is spontaneous, even accidental. No powers are involved, only natural human resources of courage, selflessness and sacrifice. True heroes are often unsung, they have 'secret identities' only because their actions speak louder than their words. When it comes down to it there are no people wearing badges labelled 'Hero' who can do all the saving of other people; there is only a choice – one that we all face. We all discover our powers in life and face the dilemma of what we are to do with them. No one is a hero simply by possession of powers; we need to do something because, as we've seen, only selfless, risky actions are truly heroic. Come to think of it, all of the people I respect the most have made that choice. They are the real heroes.

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