The Tao of Mammalian Superheroes

The movie Kill Bill has created Superman into the epitome of the Superhero.

“Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent. He's weak... he's unsure of himself... he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.”
-“Kill Bill”

This is the fundamental flaw, though; Superman gives humanity nothing to aspire to. Batman is human, Spiderman is human, and they both rise from the glasses, from the business suit, from the very ashes of the unsure, weak human spirit to become something greater than the criminals they punish. Batman and Spiderman are our true heroes. They are what we can aspire to be in spirit.

Superman is an alien. There is no possible way for a human being to aspire to become an alien. It’s a disconnect in the whole philosophy. The very fact that the movie Kill Bill compares humans to a superior alien race gives us almost no hope to be greater than the Clark Kent disguise that Superman slips on. It is a defeatist philosophy; “bring in an alien because there’s no way a human could do that”.
Superman reduces himself to a weaker image, whereas Batman and Spiderman elevate themselves into something the human race can aspire to. Long live the human hero.