Hercules, Spider Man, firemen, parents, and grandparents, are all different forms of heroes. Many believe that in order for us to live heroes must be an active part of society. People need someone to look up to, someone who challenges them to be better than they originally believed they could be. They need a role model, a savior, a friend. This is evident all throughout history; the importance of having heroes amplified as time goes on. The world needs heroes for many reasons and that is shown throughout history in Greek Mythology, Superheroes, and Modern Heroes.

The Greek Gods have been around for centuries and are recognizably one of the oldest forms of heroes. Greek Mythology became well known around the year 700 BC and was known mostly from Theogony by the poet Hesiod. Within Theogony Hesiod writes,

“Earth held the Sky up above itself. Or rather "herself," because Earth, called "Gaia," was female, and the Sky, called "Uranus" (Earth's child), was male. Gaia and Uranus had a bunch of kids. First, they had a bunch of monsters; then, perhaps having worked out the kinks in the system, they produced some gods known as Titans.”

After the Titans came the Olympians and they are the gods that we know more commonly now. The Olympians defeated evil many times and saved the earth on multiple occasions despite the family chaos that continuously carried on. Though the gods displayed much dysfunction they are still one of the oldest forms of heroes known to man. Olympians are even worshiped and revered today as people continue to spread the tales of what they did and what they overcame.

Not only were the tales of what the Greek gods did spreading, so were the stories of their children. Percy Jackson and The Olympians written by Rick Riordan tells a fictional story of the journey that Percy, Poseidon's son, goes through with his other demigod friends. It talks about the God’s as well and the young demigod’s struggle to save the world from evil. These demigods bring the Greeks closer to our level, instead of a full on God that we will never get to become like, we get young adults who are only part god that do incredible and extraordinary things. The gods are becoming less mystical untouchable beings and becoming more tangible. Yet still during the time of the Greeks the gods were revered and worshiped.

People today still aspire to have power like the gods and more so like the gods children. They wish they could control water like the son of Poseidon or cast lightning like the son of Zeus. People see these demigods and gods thinking that if they can do extraordinary things, so can they. The encouragement to go beyond the limits of personal capabilities and to be more than just the ordinary began with the Greeks and their gods and continued to evolve into today's time bringing with it a whole new form of hero, superheroes.

Superheroes come from many different platforms- the most well known being DC Comics and Marvel. DC created characters such as Wonder Woman. In Laura Moore’s book The Report on the History of Wonder Woman and a Call to Action she says, “For over 70 years, Wonder Woman has stood as an icon of female empowerment, the embodiment of feminine strength, and ultimately, a fiercely determined superhero who fights side by side with Superman and Batman, superhero icons in their own right.” Wonder Woman touched and touches the lives of so many, especially women. She is powerful, strong, and rescues people from evil. She has made an appearance in movies and television on multiple occasions as well as a mascot for hospital visits. She is a symbol of hope for many and she remains such throughout history. Though Wonder Woman is an incredible hero she is only one of many.

A person may have a terrible home life but when they read about their super hero the home life seems to not be so bad. It is an escape from the hard times and a safe haven in the worse times. In the interview titled “Superheroes Rise in Tough Times” Jerry Robinson says , "Hitler banned American comics, at least Superman and superheroes. He said they were Jewish. Little did he know that the creators were actually Jewish. ... Hitler banned American comics, except one: Mickey Mouse, which was his favorite." Hitler banned comics because of the power that they held. Superheroes can persuade a people to rise up against an enemy and even make them aware that they have an enemy in the first place. People see superheroes and think to themselves, “I can be a hero too.”

The Collective Project did a video with Robert Downey Jr. in which he pretended to be his character Tony Stark while giving a young man a bionic arm. When the video begins you see “Tony” preparing a room for the boy to have a meeting with him in. When the boy comes in he is shocked to see the one and only Iron Man giving him a bionic arm. During the interview Robert says, “I believe that he,” the maker of the young boy's bionic arm, “made your arm better than mine.” This statement made the boy smile and brought a light into his eyes. Knowing that Iron Man himself was working on making a new arm for him gave him a sense of importance and joy that Robert himself did not know that he could bring. If the world truly didn’t need heroes, there wouldn’t be so many everyday heroes to aspire to.

Firemen are a form everyday heroes that are well known and common. A website by the name of Fireman Up has these words on there homepage, “Fireman Up is not just another Slogan, it's an Attitude. An Attitude that begins with us and thrives on reaching down for that little bit of extra we have and pushing through. In the Fire Service, just that little extra could mean the difference between life and death.” They save people all the time and they are considered heroes. Not only do they fight a flame everyday, they go into the burning buildings and save as many lives as they can as the flames form around them. It is not possible to live without our firemen or policemen for that matter. These are everyday heroes that are needed for there to be order and stability in our world.

Most heroes are fighting for freedom. Freedom to live freely and experience life to the fullest. Soldiers are our everyday heroes whom bring this Freedom, just as the superheroes bring freedom to their cities. Many people have family members who are or were soldiers and they know all too well what it took for freedom to come. Without heroes there is no freedom. Without the sacrifice of lives loss there would be no freedom. As Charlie Dent once said, “Freedom does not come without a price. We may sometimes take for granted the many liberties we enjoy in America, but they have all been earned through the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many of the members of our armed forces.” Sometimes it is easy to forget what has been done for the sake of freedom especially when living in such a safe place such as America; if the television is turned on the news channel it is easy to see that America is blessed with safety. Heroes bring us that safety.

Many talk about the heroes in the comics but there is a third topic to look at when it comes to our need for heroes, people. People have other people in their lives that they consider to be heroes on an everyday basis. Robert Downey Jr. says, “I think that we all do heroic things, but hero is not a noun, it's a verb.” Those words are a simple truth, it takes action to be a hero and heroes appear in many different forms. A person's mother can be there hero, a father, a best friend. Hero is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as, “a man of distinguished valor or enterprise in danger, or fortitude in suffering; a prominent or central personage in any remarkable action or event; hence, a great or illustrious person. Each man is a hero and oracle to somebody.” Whether or not they realize it everyone is a hero to someone. It isn’t possible to have a world without heroes because everyone is a hero in their own special way.

Greek Mythology, Superheroes, and Modern Heroes all show why the world needs heroes. Without them there would be no inspiration to fight against what we believe to be wrong. People would give up their freedoms and begin to walk in a dismal way saying, “things will never get better.” The creative genius which inspires people to be more than they thought they could be would disappear. No hope would come to defeat evil. The multi-million dollar industry that is superheroes would cease to exist. All freedoms would be lost, buildings would burn to the ground, societies would crumble, and there would be no one to turn to for a look at a better life. Heroes are needed just as air is needed in order to breathe. There are books that talk about worlds in which heroes don’t exist and yet somehow out of those books come heroes. If there is not a hero in sight, become the hero. Everyone can be a part of the outpouring of the most important thing heroes bring, hope.