I came to a realization today while watching some good ol' 60s Spiderman. I don't just enjoy the show (as well as the live-action 60s Batman TV show) because of the high level of camp value; there's another level to my enjoyment. Both Spiderman and Batman are true super-heroes.

Your modern super-heroes have lots of cool powers and abilities and certainly qualify as super-heroes too but not in the same way that Spiderman and Batman (whenever I say Spiderman and Batman, know that I refer to the 60s incarnations, not the more modern ones) do. These two heroes are paragons of virtue, with a such a high ethical code that no real person could ever possibly live up to them.

Spiderman gives up a huge portion of his life fighting crime. He gets no thanks for this, and in fact is often thought of as a criminal. His boss is always ranting about what a criminal Spiderman is even when Spiderman has just saved the city from some evil villian or other. You'd think Spiderman would harbor some resentment to people who were ungrateful of the great personal risks he went through for the good of others, but no, he's perfectly happy having people convinced he's not really a super-hero. In fact, he often laughs when his boss starts going off on a rant about the evils of Spiderman.

The only real moral flaw Spiderman possesses is his penchant for bringing about the destruction of sentient non-humanoid life (a civilization of vines for example is destroyed when Spiderman takes the radium gems they had been feeding on back to the present to destroy a much larger and unintelligent version of one of the vine people). I do have a problem with the way Spiderman seems to have no moral qualms with their deaths (though he still refrains from killing them directly), but I guess prison isn't really an option for them.

Batman doesn't have to sacrifice quite as much to be a super-hero (he has millions and millions of dollars and is loved by the people) but he's even more virtuous than Spiderman. Even when the criminals try all manner of nefarious plots to bring about either his death he never does anything beyond foiling their plans and putting them in prison. If someone suggests doing something that would violate the rights of the even the worst master criminal, he is shocked. The idea of doing anything immoral is appalling to Batman.

Not only does he practice a strict moral policy of helping the innocent and bringing criminals to trial (though he still believes them innocent till proven guilty), he also tries to imbue virtue on others. For example, when Batman and Robin are rushing after some criminals, Robin doesn't bother to fasten his safety bat belt as they "are only going a couple blocks". Batman then tells Robin that that doesn't matter and that it is the duty of any good citizen to follow the law. He's constantly pushing to make the world a better place.

The virtues I've described also make these shows great for kids to watch. When you are a kid, you don't get the humor of these shows and instead see Batman and Spiderman thwarting evil and setting a great example of virtues one should live by.

While many may not like Batman or Spiderman because they are so virtuous as to make them unrealistic, that's precisely why I admire them. If everyone strove to reach the moral bar set by Spiderman and Batman, we'd all benefit.

So in honour of the Caped Crusaders and Spiderman, Thursday's Banned Word of the Day is: Crime

To the Bat Poles!