What are we doing to Superheroes?

Last night, my family saw the latest superhero movie, "Captain America: Civil War." It was an epic movie, complex, high action, well done... and I didn't like it. It will make more than a billion dollars, has been critically acclaimed, and is being called the best Marvel movie to date. It deserves all of those accolades, but I still didn't like it. However, my feelings about the movie have nothing to do with the quality of the movie. Its more than that.

I have always been a superhero fan. As a kid, I used to tuck a towel into my shirt so I could have a cape as I "flew" around my house. No worries, I have since learned... "No capes!" But superheroes have always been the ultimate good guys and girls. As kids, they gave us hope, reminded us that good always wins, and gave us someone and something to strive for. No, we're not going to fly around the world, but they make us want to "save" the world. They give us hope that there can be more than the messed up world we deal with every day. They represented the best in all of us.

Not any more. Nope, we're grownups now and we've begun to drag our heroes back down to our level. Now we "want" more gritty heroes and movies (I do believe there is a place for this, i.e. Darvedevil). We want to see the superheroes wrestling with the same stuff that we all do: secrets, lies, strained relationships, and mommy issues. Its no longer good enough to see our heroes vanquish the bad guys. Now, we see them fighting one another: Batman vs. Superman, Captain America vs. Ironman; beating one another to a pulp. Yep, just like the rest of us. If we can't get along with one another, why should Superheroes? My inner child is crying.

I know I am in the minority here and maybe I'm just too old fashioned and naive. Maybe we do need to see our complex garbage played out over and over on the big screen with nothing ever getting resolved. But I hope not.

I still love the "Avengers" movie, when all of the superheroes came together. The scene where they all circle up together ready to fight the bad guys... that got my inner child cheering. If only we could come together like that.

I guess it was inevitable. If we couldn't rise to the level of our superheroes, we had to drag them back down to our level. Congratulations. Mission accomplished. I hope everyone feels better.

I don't.