Okay, first let's be totally honest, I checked the 'altruistic nature'. Because I can't quite picture a self-centered person as a hero. But, who knows? I'll add 'courage' too.
Carole, I hadn't thought about his
needing to know himself first
Not exaclty first. You constantly learn about yourself. He (let's say 'he') also discovers about himself in the process. keyphrase here was 'accept who you are'. Knowing what you can do and/or achieve and what you can't. Know where your limits stands in order not to endanger yourself, thus the people you're trying to help.
Does that then mean the heroic act must be a conscious one?
Tough question. The answer might sound confuse and a bit farfetched, too.
I don't think the hero realise his act is an heroïc one when he does it. He just feels like doing it because he can't stay passive in front of certain events. He doesn't know if his action will make a difference. But he feels it might. And if not, at least he tried to make things better...but better from which POV? What appears to be better on the instant could prove a patch-up in the long time.
It's other people that will define his acts as 'heroïc'. I guess you're always a (super) hero from someone else's POV. Which, come to think of it, is really subjective.
I think it's the kind of event and the way he's gonna react to the events he's confronted to that make a (super)hero. I mean, a is hero already above common mortals. So to qualify for the 'superhero' tells quite something about his character.
On the more trivial side, what makes a hero super? A radioactive spider bite, his wealth that he uses for altruistic purpose, a spandex suit. And I'm only half kidding about the spandex suit. Take those UK dads who, in june, dressed themselves as Batman and Spiderman and respectively climbed on Buckingham Palace and...I think it was the Parliament to demonstrate against the current state of Family Law in
Britain .
Oh, I have a question: if heroes are semi-gods, does that mean that a superhero he's an even closer-to-god kind of person?
Carole