Dissertation Research - The Superhero and The Super Ego

When it comes to Sigmund Freud's work on the unconscious human mind, he constructed a average state of the human brain into 3 parts, the id, the ego and finally the superego. Starting with the id, this part of the brain comes directly from our unconscious and is developed from the start when we are born. This section of the brain drives our desires either they be mentally or physically (often sexual).

Next comes the ego, our sense of reality and fiction. The id creates the ego and develops it from our experiences and the fulfilment of our desires.  The ego is one of the main parts of the brain that more often tries to take control and get us back into the world if our id goes out of control.

Now here is what I am going to be focusing on in this journal entry, the superego. The part of our brain that comes right in the middle of the ego and id. The part of our brain that brings forth all of our experiences and lessons for our upbringings and determine what we think is right and wrong, good and evil.

Firstly what makes a superhero stand out? Is it their costumes or their powers? Or could it be their sense of their superegos? Using their power to fight for what they think is right and in their sense for all that is good. The representation of superheroes in comics as well as media have used this formula time and time again, the superheroes are always portrayed as the good guys and with that set in place the reader or viewer can establish who they must root for and what they want to be or become.

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Media manipulation can be a strong thing towards an audience especially if done in the right way. If a superhero is an influence on someone because of what they do like saving and helping people then logic dictates that the audience member would want to do the same. 

But when it come to the psychology of our super heroes in terms of their fictional characters, we can split the universes up like Freud's 3 part brain structure.

When it comes to using the comic superheroes universes Marvel and DC we can contrast yet a another difference between these two. For the superheroes represented into the Marvel universe, we have the team up of the Avengers. Ironman, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, The Vision, Black Panther, Antman, Falcon and Spiderman and many others. When it came to the time in Civil War when they had to pick between the government controlling when they can use their powers and having no restrictions, did they talk it over with rational thinking with their egos in check? Nope instead they went all out with each other and fought for each of their opinions and what mattered the most. 

It is my opinion and somewhat understand that I believe that the Marvel universe represents the id part of the brain. When you look at Hulk and Thor and understand a reason of why they where kept out of the Civil War, it is because of their ids. Hulk is a rampaging monster, with good intentions but yet his ego is hard to get control of and his id is constantly being taken control and messed about all over the place. With Thor the concept is somewhat the same, his id takes control whenever he does battle with anyone he comes across as an enemy. He doesn't use rational thinking the same as the Avengers, his pride blinds his ego from seeing what his strength can really do. Not just to his foes but other people if he is not careful.

As for DC, the ego representation is quite high compared to lots of their superheroes. Batman uses his ego to take control in order not to not loose control and badly injure or even kill his foes like the Joker. Superman's ego allows his to not unleash his full power as it would destroy all life on Earth and maintains his id in control.

DC Superheroes are all about maintain control over their egos and not loosing their full power unless they have to. The flash has to control how much speed he uses otherwise he could just the light barrier and go through time to a point where he could potentially destroy the fabric of space and time. 

Despite their differences, the superhero universes as a result end with the Superego, the part of the mind which determines right and wrong.  After the Hulk or Wolverine go on their rampage, their ego take control again and realise what they had done was wrong and try to maintain their egos once more. DC Superheroes often have that rare occasion where their foes force them to unleash their ids and use their full power to show the pool the world what they can be capable of so they could be seen as monsters. They all stand for what is right and using Sigmund Freud's iceberg 3 part brain structure we can see what make the id, the ego and the superego of the superhero universes.