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I've only recently become a fan of Superman, though. Heck, the only Superman book I ever read was the death of Superman. And Spiderman > Superman.
Maybe people today are more self-absorbed and wimpy than ever before.. failing to measure up to Superman, realizing their shortcomings, giving up? I'm a christian and my hero is Jesus Christ obviously.. He's God, perfect, walked as a man for 33 years and didn't sin, walked on water, changed the world, sacrificed his life to save every person on the planet... there's NO WAY I can measure up but does that make a christian like me give up in trying? Hardly.
Heroes like Superman, and to a greater extent Spiderman, have so much more in the way of shortcomings. Maybe we can't punch through buildings or pick up buses but there are so many other ways we could be Superman-like.
To sum up: people = weiners. OR the study is BS.
And because the study only used a fictional volunteer opportunity as an endpoint then I tend to favor the latter theory. Maybe after the questionaire these people who loved superman would rather not be tied up with some weak volunteer program and be bossed around by 17 year old Key Clubbers but would rather walk the streets preventing crime and all that.