by Sapphire
Writing about dating got me thinking about what, ultimately, is the big underlying question. (Mind you, I still have more to say on the topic of dating, but today I’m feeling a bit more serious). Is it too dangerous for us superheroes to have families? Should we even be letting ourselves fall in love or develop close friendships? Or is that selfish and careless?
It’s something we all have to face at some point in our lives. As superheroes, we do attract danger. My whole nexus of chaos theory aside, we’re targets. Supervillains are constantly trying to take us down for a multitude of reasons. For example, Talisman is after Witchcraft. That one is a very personal vendetta that goes back to when those two were kids, being raised in competition with each other. Witchcraft feels a very personal need to protect the world from her sister’s mischief, and her sister feels a very personal need to destroy Witchcraft!
That means that anyone Witchcraft cares about is a target. You’d better believe Talisman would go after someone just because it might upset Witchcraft. I think a large part of why Witchcraft let herself fall in love with Defender is because she knows he can take care of himself if her sister ever comes calling.
But what about folks who fall in love with non-superheroes? Mayte’s husband isn’t a superhero. He works for PRIMUS, sure, but he isn’t even a field operative. He has the training, but he doesn’t use it on a daily basis the way she does. I asked her once if she was ever afraid that one of her enemies would go after him.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she told me, “of course I am. Of course it’s a risk. But we knew that going in. And we decided the risk was worth it.”
“Would you let it stop you,” I asked, “if someone were threatening his life?”
“No. I couldn’t. He would never forgive me if I let that stop me from doing my job. He told me, he would rather sacrifice himself than let one of my enemies control me. And, chica, he meant it.”
“What about children?” I asked her. “Do you two ever want kids?”
That’s when she got a haunted look in her eyes. “I’d like kids. But I can’t see how we could have them right now. Not while I’m still a superhero. Maybe someday, when I retire. But, can I ever retire while I know people still need me to protect them? I don’t know.”
It’s a tough situation. I know some folks who won’t take that risk, because they don’t feel it’s fair to ask a non-superhero to endanger themselves. I know Kinetik feels that way. I asked him, “What if you were dating a superhero, would that be different?”
“No,” he said. “We’re on the front lines of the battle against evil, Sapphire. All of us. That means we’re all at risk. It’s too hard. It’s an added weakness. I wouldn’t want a threat to me to stop another superhero from doing her job. And what if something happened to me? I wouldn’t want to leave someone behind to grieve. That wouldn’t be kind.”
I know that some people have managed it. Radiotron and Spell Key certainly have a happy marriage and family. But, if I recall correctly, they didn’t get married and have kids until they both retired from the business. I don’t know their reasoning behind retiring. But I’m certain it was a tough decision. Even now, they’re still more likely to be targets than non-superhero types. But clearly, for them, it’s worth the risk.
It was Ironclad, though, who had the most interesting thing to say when I asked him what he thought.
“We have to, Sapphire. We have to care about other people, and develop friendships, and have families. If we don’t, we will forget what we’re fighting to defend. A hero without a heart is no true hero, because he has nothing to lose.”
