Superman Hero's Journey

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For thousands of years, every culture has created its own legends and myths. Since man could think they have been displaying their stories. From cave wall paintings to the Greek epics, humans have been dying to tell others grand tales. A scholar named Joseph Campbell has been going through many myths and he has found a common structure. In his novel, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell explains that every myth has the same basic design and he has named this the hero’s journey. As cultures change and develop, so do their myths. Back in the day, heros used to wave swords around but now they wear spandex and undies. Superman is a classic American superhero that has been depicted in comics, shows, and movies. In a recent movie titled Batman …show more content…
As a backup plan to kill Superman, Lex Luthor creates a terrible monster, called Doomsday, that can stand up to the extreme powers of Superman. Thus begins the dragon battle. Another aspect of the hero’s journey is called the dragon battle, in this the hero must battle “against something completely alien and unknown, a superior force which he has no experience with” (Napier, 2013). This aspect of the hero’s journey is very clear in the story, Doomsday is something that the world has never seen before, it was created especially to kill Superman. In efforts to try to kill Doomsday, Superman attempts to fly the monster to space and have a missile hit it. During this struggle, Doomsday is sent crashing back to Earth but Superman is left in space slowly dying. In Christopher Vogler’s (2003) article, he explains that this part of the road of trials is called ritual death, “during which he faces his greatest fear, confronts this most difficult challenge, and experiences “death”... Only through “death” can the Hero be reborn, experiencing a resurrection that grants greater powers or insight to see the Journey to the end”. For a few painful moments, the audience believes Superman to be dead but then the sun shines on him and he gains enough strength to fly back to Earth (the sun is what gives him his abilities). Now resurrected from death, Superman goes back to fight Doomsday with more determination. To defeat Doomsday, Superman uses the kryptonite spear that Batman had made earlier. In this last moment of heroic triumph, Superman uses the spear and flies right at Doomsday. In the end, Superman sacrifices himself by stabbing the spear through himself and Doomsday, consequently killing them
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