If you ask me, there is something very fun about superheroes. It’s this ability to read or watch stories about characters who can do things that we can never do, but we’d like to imagine we can do. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to live in that world, a world where superpowers were real. Would you want to be one of them, risking your life to save others? Would you be the villain, doing your own thing, maybe even harming others? Or would you just be one of those normal people like you are now, living your life, superpowers not really a thing that affected you for the most part?
In this dialogue prompt from The Fake Redhead we see two characters who live in this kind of world. One of them is very aware of superpowers and what they can do while the other is not really paying much attention to them. Considering their relationship, the second one is going to need to pay a little more attention from now on.
I’ve never been a grad student and I probably never will be. It just doesn’t line up with my goals. However, my brother was one for years and I’ve definitely seen how it can pull away free time.
I love that the grad student here has no idea that the superhero is one until just now. I wonder what lead to them finding out. Based off what is said, I’m guessing the superhero mentioned something related to it, assuming that the grad student knew what they were talking about and was met with a blank look followed by this exchange.
Another thing I find interesting is the fact that the superhero’s identity appears to be known. Now, it’s possible that they just mean, “you know me well enough that you should recognize my face when you see it on the news even in disguise,” but I don’t think so. I think people know who this superhero is, maybe even there is no disguise and I think that kind of world is a fun one to play with. What about you? Do you like the idea of a superhuman society where the identities of the superheroes are well known?
