We Are All Bobby Drake (Iceman) from X-Men (Mild Movie Spoilers)

When I was 12, more than anything in the world I wanted to be accepted to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (or Hogwarts... but that never happened either). Unfortunately, my acceptance letter got lost in the mail and so I never attended. But just because mutants, Professor X or fancy training schools don't exist doesn't mean that we can't relate to the characters from X-men. In the second X-men movie, we learn that Bobby Drake (Iceman) hasn't told his parents that he's a mutant. When Bobby does tell them, his mother says, "Have you tried... not to be a mutant?" Bobby's mother doesn't understand that not only are Bobby's powers part of his nature, but they make him gifted.

Most mutants have trouble accepting themselves for being different. For example, when Rogue first discovers that she is gifted, she runs away from home. However, Bobby's situation is different in that society is not accepting him even though he accepts himself. In way, don't we all have that one thing where we're completely okay with it but our parents, friends or just people in general aren't? It doesn't have to be a big thing, but most of us have something like that. If you do then learn from Bobby Drake and own it. Make it your "gift" and use it to benefit not only yourself but the people around you too. So maybe you won't become the next member of the X-men or get accepted to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but you'll make the world a better place. In the end, isn't that what super heroes do?

Spider-Man Always Gets the Short End of the Stick

Lately I've been reading a lot of Spider-Man comics and I've noticed that he oftentimes gets the short end of the stick. For example, in The Web of Spider-Man (great series, I really recommend it) issue #13, Spider-Man is accused of trying to hit a pedestrian while he was actually saving him from getting hit by the truck. However, no one believes that he was saving that stranger because Spider-Man was wearing his black costume (picture below for reference)

I do not own this material. The original picture can be found here.

Obviously no hero wears a costume that color. I mean Venom wears a costume pretty similar to that. Why does Spider-Man have to wear his black costume? Because his red one was destroyed in a fire. So now Spider-Man has turned from a superhero into murderer all because of his costume color. So then Spider-Man goes bonkers because who wouldn't in that situation? He spends countless hours risking his life for these people, not asking for any credit, yet the people are judging him on the color of his costume. If you want to know how the comic ends then you'll just have to read it. Moving on, something similar happens in The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 2, issue #47 where one of his enemies tells a reporter that she used to be Spider-Man's "lover" and that he was "kinky." While this is obviously untrue, the media blows this story out of control and suddenly Spider-Man has completely lost the faith of the public. There's one scene where Spider-Man hitches a ride on/in a cab and leaves without paying because he is about to die and while the driver screams that Spider-Man didn't pay the fare, a pedestrian replies:
"Fits though, y'know? I was watching TV and they were saying he's kinda weird..."
Yes, Spider-Man is weird enough to save your life countless times. In my opinion, in many different Spider-Man stories the public has no faith in him and when they so then it is very fragile. So next time you see your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, give him some love :)