I only wish that quality storytelling on this show didn’t have to come at the expense of Barry’s progress as a character. He came so far in his acceptance. He grew up. Now, it feels like that’s all been shattered just so they could ‘do Flashpoint.’
How The Flash Season Two Finale Tarnished Barry Allen’s Heroism (x)
I’m not wearing hot pants next time.
Latoya Pennington writes that “the reason for low sales of diverse comics …[is] based on multiple factors including accessibility, affordability, and a lack of general knowledge that such diversity is even out there.”
Kara/Supergirl is hope and goodness personified, driven to save people by little more than the stubborn belief that they’re worth saving. According to the always image-conscious Cat, this means that Supergirl must be perfect and, by extension, can’t be human, but Kara’s humanity, so to speak, is ultimately what makes her a hero. Where her big-screen counterparts are defined and limited by their powers, Kara is defined—and freed—by her restraint. As exemplified by her encounter with a would-be robber in the episode “Human for a Day,” she doesn’t need to resort to violence or even to use her super-strength, freeze breath, or any of her other exceptional abilities to save the day. She proves herself not by winning battles and defeating enemies, but by helping people.
Take your pick, depending on your level of nerd-rage.
Up until now, The Flash has done a really good job this season not pushing a love interest on Iris… Her storylines have had some bumps, but she’s still gotten to do some sleuthing, she’s established a friendship with Linda Park, she’s developed a supportive sibling relationship with Wally, and she’s been a part of Team Flash at STAR Labs. But what kind of message is this episode sending its audience, particularly the young boys and girls who watch the show, about women in the workplace?
Objectively, this is one of the ugliest movies I’ve ever seen, and I left feeling like I’d had just been yelled at by someone I don’t know on a bus.
‘With great power comes great responsibility’ has become overused to the point of parody (and represents only one of many permutations of the original phrase, which was uttered long before Stan Lee put pen to paper), but it provides a guideline to endowing superhero characters with innate goodness while the lesser of us succumb to fear, anger, hate, and (ahem) the dark side.
In fact, it’s all reminiscent of Professor X’s insistence in X-Men: Days of Future Past that the mutants must show us regular humans “a better path.” He ends the conversation with his younger self by appealing to “the most human part of us: hope.” It may sound cheesy, but that’s what makes it so important. We must embrace the cheese to realize the moral messages at play here.
Get hype for a new Supergirl episode with our latest HOUSE OF EL recap video!