Superman has become synonymous with hope. As Lois Lane tells Clark in Action Comics #1082, “It’s your brand.” Not only has the emblazoned “S” on the chest of the Man of Steel become the Kryptonian emblem for the House of El, but Zack Snyder made it the Kryptonian symbol for the word hope in the 2013 film Man of Steel. However, what is hope? It’s a word we use daily to give credence to the capacity for our optimism, but can it be quantified? And, if so, can an individual gain or lose their hope? As a survivor of multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) these are questions I have lately been attempting to answer on my road to recovery and creatively explored by writer John Ridley and illustrator Imaki Miranda in Action Comics #1082-1084 “Force Majeure: Part One-Three” (2025).
           

In these three comics, newly reformed criminal Major Disaster is believed to have fallen off the wagon of living a life on the straight and narrow and attempts to rob a bank to cover accumulated gambling debt. Unfortunately, the quick smash and grab goes wrong and an “innocent” bystander, Max Boykin, is killed. Rather than attempt to escape, Natural Disaster immediately surrenders to Superman. (It’s important to note that this is not what really happened. To find out the truth, you’ll just have to read the comics.)
            Later, in prison, Clark Kent, reporter for the Daily Planet, asks Disaster why he did it. Why did he go back to a life of crime when so many heroes, like Superman, believed in him and the belief that he could be reformed. Disaster tells Clark, “Middle of one of our death matches Superman holds out his hand, tells me all I’ve gotta do is take it and hope for a better tomorrow. Maybe for real people. Best I can do is spare the public a trial. I’m a screw up, Kent…That’s all I’m ever going to be. So, go write that for the Daily Planet. That’s the truth.”

As human beings, we may not by capable of placing a definition to hope, but we see and understand when an individual has, or is beginning to lose theirs. This lack of understanding of how to move forward is what Clark sees in Disaster’s face, hears in the words he does and does not say, and in the way he carries himself. Clark sees this in not only Major Disaster but another supervillain who turned back to a life of crime following reformation. When Clark asks Atomic Skull why he did it, Skull asks Clark if he had plans for the next day. Something he was looking forward to accomplishing. When Clark answers yes, Skull tells the reporter that because he has a tomorrow to anticipate he wouldn’t understand why he returned to a life of crime. Here, it is evident in Atomic Skull’s words and the way in which he behaves, he has lost Hope.

However, the question is, what is Hope? In Action Comics #1083, Ridley describes Hope as existing in an individual’s telomeres. These are end caps of an individual’s DNA. These are not fictional. They exist in your body in each cell of your DNA, and in the same way the plastic tips on the end of shoe laces prevent the strings from becoming frilled and unraveling, telomeres keep the double stranded helix of DNA from coming undone. However, in the DC comic, telomeres are being harvested from willing individuals and used as a way to extend an individual’s life for those willing to pay the hefty price tag. Although the more telomeres an individual possesses, the longer they live, the loss of telomeres creates a sense of despair and dread in the donor resulting in a loss of Hope. While in reality, telomeres are impacted by an individual’s adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), the true science of Hope is a little different.
Dr. Nadine Burke explains in The Deepest Well how ACEs have the ability to shorten and damage an individual’s telomeres, causing the premature aging of cells, uncontrolled cellular growth in the form of cancer and / or tumors, and the inactivation of some cells altogether. While there is some truth in the fact that the longer an individual’s telomeres the longer and healthier an individual’s cells, Action Comics still exists in the realm of science fiction with the belief that telomeres can be transplanted from one individual to another as a way to lengthen an individual’s life, but it’s not beyond the realm of possibility. Also, while it is true that the damage to an individual’s telomeres can result in the aging and eventually the complete shutdown of some cells, the shortening and damage to telomeres does not result in the loss of Hope. The science and psychology of Hope is quite a bit different.
In The Psychology of Hope, C.R. Snyder explains how there are three primary parts needed to instill and sustain Hope, Willpower, Waypower, and goal setting.
Willpower: is an individual’s motivation to achieve their goals.
Waypower: is the strategy and methods utilized by the individual to overcome obstacles to achieve their goals.
Goals: are scaffolded steps put in place by an individual to reach their desires.
All three work together to provide an individual with Hope, an improved outlook of the future and the path they have set for themselves. Each must more in tandem with the other. Too much or too little of one throws off the equation leading to a loss of Hope.
            Hope is not only a feeling of optimism, or a belief that something better exists just over the horizon, it’s also about having the will to move forward and a path. Without both, goals cannot be maintained and hope cannot be sustained. Willpower and Waypower must be present and work with one another in equilibrium to foster hope. Too much of either leads to an imbalanced equation.

Lost Imagination = Loss of Hope
            Years ago, I came up with the name Lost Imaginations for my small business as an author. At the time, I wasn’t quite sure why I chose this name. It just seemed right. As if I had lost the imagination I once had as a child and I wanted to try and find it again. To restore it while also helping others regain their childhood thoughts as well.
            After researching and learning about the psychology of hope, authors Casey Gwinn and Chan Hellman help to put words to my thoughts behind the name Lost Imaginations. They write, “Trauma is about the loss of imagination. Hopelessness is about the loss of imagination.” This is because developing and sustaining hope is about Willpower, Waypower, and setting goals. Individuals who have suffered ACEs may have the will to improve their life and set the goals to do so, but lack the ability needed to imagine alternate paths to their goals. If a survivor is using all of their energy coping from their traumatic experiences there is less energy available to imagine alternate pathways toward their goals. If a survivor has a limited view of the world and their place in it because they have had no models to emulate, how will they have the ability to imagine a new and better way of living? The book Rising Hope explains it beautifully when it states,
 
When someone is not able to learn anything from a painful, helpless experience, they begin to experience damage from trauma. You cannot live in the past and the future. If you get stuck in the pain of the past, you hope will be very low. If there is no ability to imagine alternate futures for yourself or someone you care for, trauma starts to do damage to the mind and the body. If you are able to choose to live in the future, imagining that different future, you have a pathway to hope. Imagination – picturing future memories – is a crucial step toward hope.
 
            Superman embodies hope, not because he can run faster than a speeding bullet or leap a tall building in a single bound. It’s because he is the Waypower for so many others (in this and alternate realities) to reach their goals and become the best versions of themselves. He is a model for others who may not have the imagination needed to envision a better future. He helps others find their lost imagination.

            Okay, hear me out. I am not proposing that we escape into the fictional reality of Metropolis in which good always triumphs over evil, defeating the bad guy at the last moment with a smile and a witty catchphrase. I do not believe we should close our eyes, pull the covers over our heads, hide under the bed, and desperately pray that all the bad monsters go away. In fact, I believe just the opposite. Instead, I suggest we take the advice of DC Comic’s current slogan and go “All In” in our acknowledgement that things are as far from okay as they have ever been and double down in our convictions that might is not always right. That there has to be a better way.
            With the approaching release of James Gunn’s, Superman, scheduled to hit theatres July 11th, DC Comics has deemed this the “Summer of Superman.” Is this corny as hell? Absolutely! But, maybe we need a little corny right now. Maybe in a world of immigration enforcement that echoes of Nazis from days of future past, the bombing and mutilation of civilians and children under the guise of war taking place in numerous countries across the globe, and the erosion of laws, beliefs, and ideals we once believed to be sacred revealing themselves to be nothing more than scribbles on weather worn parchment, we need campy. We need wholesome. We need honesty. We need Superman. Not because we need a fictional character to remind us that we as individuals can be better than we are, but because we need a fictional character to inspire us into believing that we as a people can be better than we are. Not from a place of fear and hatred, but hope and humanity. Although the Man of Steel is fictional and exists in the form of ink on a page so do the words of the Constitution, making the impact of either of their beliefs any less real
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            Superman is one person. Although this fictional character can run faster than a speeding bullet and leap tall buildings in a single bound he is incapable of saving the people of Earth from themselves with his fists. Even in the comics, he cannot be in all places at once, and when he has been capable of this impossibility, he becomes a villain. (If you don’t believe me read Red Son or Kingdom Come.) Instead, Superman’s greatest ability is being capable of inspiring hope in others to allow them the strength needed to achieve their full potential. The best example of this can be found in Actions Comics #1036-1046 (2021-22).
In these comics, Superman liberates an entire planet from the authoritarian regime of the villain, Mongul. He does not accomplish this feet using his superhuman strength, speed, and ability to fly because his powers have been stripped away. Instead, rather than abide by the rules established by Mongul to compete and kill in the form of a gladiator in the Roman Colosseum, he refuses to fight. He resists and stands on his principles of integrity, honor, truth, and justice to inspire resistance and nurture hope in its people. He does this through the telling of stories, authentic friendship, a willingness to learn a culture vastly different than his own, and standing by his promises. He builds relationships and gains the trust of the people he wishes to liberate, listening to their needs and fighting alongside them to achieve their ends and not his own. Overtime, he transforms a war mongering society that lives in fear of its tyrannical authoritarian ruler into one that believes in its self, its people, and the culture that Mongul attempts to erase to free themselves rather than wait for a savior to do it for them.
Superman did not liberate the people of War World with his might. Instead, he did it through truth, friendship, understanding, and integrity. He gave each of them the courage needed to fight for themselves and know there had to be a better way. He allowed them the privilege of knowing they were not alone in the universe in their search for safety and intimacy. There was someone else willing to make the sacrifice of creating a better world alongside them rather than for them.

In my opinion, this is why the world needs Superman, or rather, the ideals of Superman. Now, more than ever we need to know that there is someone else, whether fictional or not, who stands by their convictions to fight for what they believe is right when the world tells them they are wrong, and that they are crazy. We need inspiration to continue the difficult work of going all in in our hope that might is not always right. That something in the world is broken and we will continue to fight on this 4th of July and all the days afterward for truth, justice, and the American way.