I Need A Hero

Everyone loves a vigilante. Batman, Zorro, Robin Hood. They live in our minds and imaginations as men who fight back against the big, bad governments. So what does it mean to be a vigilante? A folk hero.

I’m imagining a book series that follows a man who is obsessed with trying to become a folk hero - or he does so by accident then gets obsessed with the fame and tries to keep recreating it. Everyone loves to have the spotlight shined on them, even those who say they don’t. We like attention when we seek it. This would be a man who rose up against the government and it got filmed. Think Luigi M. and what’s happening with him. The public discourse takes off. This would be fantastical because the story would capture hearts and minds and imaginations. People would make memes and comics and books and movies about him. He’d go to jail and then break out.

He would ultimately form a cult, a group of people following him and willing to do whatever he asked of them. They would be known as an organization that could be found on watchlists even though he claims they are simply living in community and are peaceful.

Ultimately, he will give it all up. Hand over everything. He will come back when the very government he fought against asks him to help take down someone just like him - maybe his own follower?

This is more a musing on what does it mean to become a vigilante & folk hero. How do you capture hearts and minds and live in the public imaginations for time to come.