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The Comic Book Universe

Disabled Characters Are Quite Mainstream In This Form of Media

Jul 19, 2008

Disabled characters are rarely seen in prominent roles in TV shows and movies. When you enter the comic book universe, however, these characters are highly visible.

Only a handful of results come up when you do an Internet search for television shows and movies that feature a character with a disability in a starring role. Movies such as The Brooke Ellison Story and Suddenly both present, in a very unusual move in today’s made-for-TV movies, fairly accurate portrayals of life with a disability that manage to be uplifting and entertaining without crossing the line into becoming sappy or portraying the main character as an object of pity.

Sad as it is to say, there are two ways that a character with a disability is most often portrayed in today’s media. On one end of the spectrum is total acceptance of the disability immediately after it’s acquired. On the other end is total rejection and denial of the disability, never accepting it and always living in a state of self-loathing and depression. Even the network news, much as they would deny it, portray disabled veterans returning from Iraq this way.

There is one media outlet, however, where characters with disabilities have starring roles, appearing frequently and the ‘superhero syndrome’ is not necessarily a bad thing. This outlet is the world of comic books, or graphic novels, as they are sometimes known.

The first comic book was printed in the United States in 1842. Characters with disabilities did not begin to appear, however, until the Silver Age (approximately late 1950’s/early 1960’s to the early 1970’s). The first of these characters to appear, in April 1964, was Matt Murdock, a.k.a Daredevil, a young boy from Hell’s Kitchen who was blinded by a radioactive substance while, ironically, saving a blind man from being hit by the truck that carried it.

Since the genesis of Daredevil, comic book characters with disabilities have begun to appear more frequently. Unlike in the visual mediums of TV and movies, where the character with a disability is noticeable and their storyline is usually very far removed from the main storyline, most comic book readers don’t even notice at first that the character has a disability for just the opposite reason: the disability is not as noticeable at first and their storyline is usually very integral to the plot. Using the knowledge he acquired at Columbia Law School and his extraordinarily heightened other senses, Daredevil fights to bring justice to those who have been forgotten by the system.

Some other comic book characters with disabilities that have appeared through the years include:

Oracle. Oracle is the new identity of Barbara Gordon, who had her spine severed when The Joker shot her. Oracle uses her superior intellect and computer skills to assist her mentor Batman and his protégés in any way she can.

Professor Charles Xavier. Confined to a wheelchair after breaking his back during a battle in Asia, Professor X founded a school to train young mutants. The powerful telepath, who can control human minds, became the leader of the X-Men.

Dr. Curt Connors. An above-the-elbow amputee from a battlefield explosion, Dr. Connors became a biology teacher at Empire State University (Peter Parker’s alma mater). Through his advanced knowledge of biology and intense study of how reptiles regrow missing tails, Dr. Connors invented a serum that did regenerate his arm but eventually turned him into a lizard.

Spider-Man. During his final, horrific battle with The Green Goblin, Spider-Man injured his leg so badly that it needed to be amputated above the knee. Although he received a prosthetic, he took the amputation as a sign that it was time to retire. Peter is regularly seen in the Spider-Girl comics, training and helping his daughter.

With role models like these, children today growing up with a disability really can believe it’s possible to do anything.

The copyright of the article The Comic Book Universe in Disabilities is owned by Megan Drummond. Permission to republish The Comic Book Universe in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.