This piece includes spoilers for the first four episodes of TO BE HERO X . In the world of TO BE HERO X , being adored grants you immeasurable power. If your fans think you are strong, then you are strong. If they believe you can fly, then you can fly. That’s the magic of “trust value,” a quality that increases the more fans you have. Any person can rule the world just by going viral. Or, they can rule the world just by taking the place of somebody else who went viral. That’s what happened to Lin Ling, an ordinary guy working in superhero promotion. After witnessing an up-and-coming hero, Nice, leap from the roof of a building to his death, Nice’s handlers scoop him up. They dye Lin Ling’s hair, swear him to secrecy, and demand that he take Nice’s place on the world stage. In return, he receives everything that Nice once had: secure housing, a girlfriend, and the love of the people. TO BE HERO X begins as a double power fantasy. The first layer is the high concept, that power is synonymous with adoration. You don’t have to put in the work to become strong; all you need to do is convince others that you are, and strength comes by itself. It’s an unbeatable feedback loop where the love of others is a constant reminder of your own power. The second layer is the substitution. Lin Ling doesn’t need to achieve popularity on his own. Instead, by being in the right place at the right time, he’s able to take Nice’s powers for himself. It’s not so different from the reincarnation fantasies that are popular today. In our world of inequality, the idea of inheriting somebody else’s privilege through magic is more understandable to some than building it yourself. For another series, perhaps that would be enough. But TO BE HERO X is only just getting started. It turns out that being Nice comes with disadvantages, many of which his fans aren’t aware of. His girlfriend, Moon, resented him. His former best friend, Wreck, was deemed by the public to be his arch-nemesis. Nice's struggles become Lin Ling's struggles when he inherits his mantle. RELATED: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is the Perfect Gateway to the Franchise No matter how powerful they might be, every superhero has a weak spot. The more trust they accumulate, the more exaggerated these vulnerabilities become. That’s why the hero Enlightener is dangerous. When he becomes the villain God Eye, he gains the power to pinpoint anybody’s weakness and exploit it. One round of public shaming is all it takes to obliterate a superhero’s trust value. So Lin Ling gives up his role as Nice to save Moon. His hair changes color and he loses the muscles that he’s built through training. His fans no longer recognize him. In short, he transforms from a perfect hero to a zero riddled with vulnerabilities. Nothing but fodder for God Eye. So why is it that those vulnerabilities fill God Eye not with joy, but with fear? Nice isn’t necessarily wrong to want to be invulnerable. People love invulnerable superheroes. Superman always does the right thing and is admired for that. Batman always finds a way, and so he is feared. But it’s not always that simple. Stories about superheroes are also stories about us. And nobody’s perfect. Sooner or later, the invulnerability fantasy loses its appeal. That’s why Marvel made such a splash when it published The Fantastic Four in 1961. Its superheroes argued with each other. One of them, the Thing, looked like a big golem, and he wasn’t happy about that. These were heroes whose problems you could identify with rather than just living vicariously through. It was The Amazing Spider-Man , though, that became perhaps the definitive Marvel comic. Peter Parker’s new spider superpowers just make his life harder. His uncle dies. His aunt is sick and needs medicine. His nemeses kill his girlfriend and even buries him alive at one point. Every week, you’re left asking, “How is Peter going to get out of this one?” In the 33rd issue of The Amazing Spider-Man , “The Final Chapter,” Peter is crushed under rubble. He is hurt. He is tired. But if he does not make it to a nearby lab to obtain a special serum, his Aunt May will die. So he lifts the rubble, despite everything. “I did it!” he cries. “I’m free!” This moment is not like Superman leaping tall buildings in a single bound. It is not like Batman catching an enemy via a carefully conceived plan. There was no guarantee that Spider-Man would survive this issue. You feel every moment of agony that comes with Peter Parker lifting the rubble. He is so weak at this moment. That’s what makes him strong: that he doesn’t give up, even when everything is hopeless. RELATED: Could You Be a Top Hero in TO BE HERO X? When Superman races against his own death in the miniseries All Star Superman ; when Batman recovers from his broken back in Nightfall , when Miles Morales’ dad says, “Get up, Spider-Man,” in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse , these scenes would not exist without Spider-Man lifting the rubble. The artists of each understand in their bones that it’s no problem for superheroes to be weak instead of strong. That just makes it even better when they stand back up. Which brings us to the scene in TO BE HERO X where Lin Ling takes on God Eye, not as Nice but as himself. At first, God Eye laughs in his face; what could an ordinary person do against a supervillain like him? But then Lin Ling smashes his equipment. He keeps standing up no matter what God Eye does to knock him down. Lin Ling is so vulnerable when compared to Nice, but those vulnerabilities are his strength, not a weakness. The only thing that people love more than invulnerable superheroes is an underdog story. Lin Ling crushes God Eye. He finds Moon. He accomplishes something that his peers thought was impossible: succeeding as a hero not by pretending to be somebody he’s not, but on his own terms. He is loved, rather than reviled, for being an ordinary person. Because it hits that much harder when somebody lifts the rubble despite everything. But is that enough? Can a self-made person escape the trap that is TO BE HERO X ’s superhero industry? Or is playing the game all it takes to be caught? There’s so many episodes left to go and even more rubble waiting in the wings. “The Final Chapter” was always a lie. It’s not over yet.
