Follow Your Dreams: How to Create Your Own Superhero

Everyone dreams of creating their own superhero and what powers to have . Read on to learn how you can make those dreams true and create your own superhero.

If you want to make bold social commentary, you need an avatar. In the dark days before the birth of the Internet, most avatars took the form of super or mythic heroes.

Designing your own character gives power and shape to hard to express ideas. When you create your own superhero the supporting cast does a lot to shape and impact your central character.

Many creators follow a pattern, using existing archetypes within literary theory to borrow power from those traditions. 

Creating a hero is more about limiting options than selecting them. this guide will walk you through some of the basic parameters to making your dream come to life. 

The 4 Ps to Create Your Own Superhero

to create a superhero you need to figure out what trits to emphasize and which to leave out. Many heroes started as a 'what if' or a striking image and continued from there.

Think of your creation along the following three parameters and you will have a functional character in minutes.

Powers

When you make your own superhero you start with a focus on the 'super'. The power a hero wields defines the kind of adversity they face. 

Power also provides direction to design elements such as costume and setting.

Consider what the hero can do and what they can't do with their power. What limits or excess exist? 

Think of the ways the power can be abused or how it can go wrong. This gives you a hook into the character's psyche and elements that challenge your hero.

Purpose

With a power in hand, the next step is defining a purpose that drives the character. Why does your character care to change the world and to what extent?

Many times the origin of the hero lends weight to the purpose. 

Even a single word can be an effective guiding purpose. Don't get complacent, purpose is a starting place. A good character will be well-rounded and feature human elements to compel an audience of... well, humans.

Peril

To create a superhero you often need to also consider a super problem for them to solve. Sometimes this is a cause. Crime (Batman), racism (X-men), or self-acceptance (Deadpool) represent social perils.

Specific adversaries, usually in the form of villains, define and shape heroes. The conflict over power between Superman and Lex Luthor. Or how best to fight intolerance between Professor X and Magneto. 

Peril should challenge the hero without leading to constant despair. On the other hand, a peril that offers no challenge becomes boring quickly.

Practical Matters

The last concern limiting the scope of your hero is the practical matters. When comic heroes were first developed this was limited by 4 color printing. 

Later the stories faced restrictions from the advent of the Comics Code Authority (CCA).

Internally, the skill of an artist or writer may limit what a character can do.

A character that can grow or shrink incredibly (The Ray or Ant-Man) restrict how to express concepts of scale to the audience.

Lastly, consider the audience. Find a balance between depth and entertainment that lets you tell the story you feel a passion for.

Our Story

The best way to create your own superhero is to create what you love and find an audience for that. There is a special magic when you see your ideas exist in the real world through objects and stories.