Superheroes

Clark Kent. Bruce Wayne. Peter Parker. Steve Rogers. Tony Stark. Bruce Banner.

All of these are people who lived among the citizens of their city once, with the people walking past them having no idea what-so-ever regarding who they really are. How they really spend their free time.

""Mr. Wayne, what are your hobbies?"

"I train in the cold with the leader of a group of shady people, a man who came to my prison cell in the middle of nowhere and told me to find him, on the top of a mountain with a blue flower in my hand. I like building stuff; like new armor and making a command center out of a cave -I call it the "bat cave". I also enjoy reading books.""

Superman. Batman. Spiderman. Captain America. Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk.

What if superheroes were real? What if Captain America could sweep in one day, after a terrorist attack, and save the trapped children? What if Iron Man could dart across the sky one night, on his way to a football game?

I'm pretty sure that every kid, at some age, wished that they could meet Superman or Batman when they saw a shooting star. But consider this: if these extraordinarily talented people were really out there, would the world really  be a better place? OK, maybe it could have been helpful for a group like The Avengers to be rounded up a few times through history, but imagine the power the real evil people, not Red Skull, not Loki, not Rhas-al Ghul; the people who kill children, who crash planes, who bomb hospitals in order to enforce a belief, got hold of what made our superheroes special? Got hold of the technology used by Iron Man or Batman, or the serum they injected Steve Rogers with.  We would be better off without having to deal with serums which turned people into Super Soldiers and armors which made one almost invulnerable when worn getting into the wrong hands.

Without any doubt, it would be SUPER COOL to know that Bruce Wayne, a.k.a Batman, a.k.a. philanthropist, a.k.a. master of the martial arts, lived two blocks over.

But what drives these people? Before the government and the state police decide to stop being stupid and cooperate with them, they are on the WANTED list, as "masked vigilantes". They, too, have their own reasons to fight for - and to kill for. For most, it is the death of their parents. But for some, the word "masked vigilante" doesn't exactly fit since they don't choose the superhero life, it chooses them; as they might, just might, without having any control over it, turn into a huge, green and super strong creature when the check doesn't come in time.

Yes, I sometimes do wish that Captain America could come racing in, with his vibranium (a very,very rare element) shield and stop people from killing each other. But, as Bruce Wayne once said, we need "a hero with a face", not a mask. A hero who can do everything they can do, but doesn't hide behind a mask or chase their parents' killer.

But, who knows? Maybe, if you go to Florence some day and look around the café, you just may see the "silent guardian", the "watchful protector". Maybe, the shooting star you wished upon for superheroes to become real, was Iron Man.