Do Superheroes Hide Behind Masks? For centuries, society and literature have revered and idolized extraordinary individuals called "heroes." The word hero brings to mind several images: strength, bravery, and determination. Heroes have been part of human cultures for thousands of years. Gilgamesh can be seen as the original superhero, followed by many others including Hercules, Spiderman and Superman, Batman and Catwoman. Heroes in "The Iliad" by Homer such as Agamemnon, Achilles, and Hector, all exhibit …showed first 75 words of 1466 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1466 total…transformed only during the wearing of the mask" (The Mask, Jim Carey). When the mask comes off, it's back to "ordinary" reality. A mask connects its wearer to standard powers residing within the collective unconscious. The mask is a third party between the ego and original, the ordinary and the supernatural, the revered and the comic. It connects the present to the past, the individual to the entire collective of race, culture, country, and humanity.