I like nearly everything about (super)heroes, especially when they're written well. As in: there's a message to be read when we watch their stories unfold, a message of morality, perseverance, suffering, kindness... humanity.
Good guys, bad guys and anti-somethings (anti-villains, anti-heroes), I like all ends of the spectrum which doesn't mean I always agree with them. I used to go with the flow of edgy, "the world is unfair", "the weak are eaten by the strong" incelly trashbags who always seem to spout the same nonsense: joker is right, superman is boring, and, perhaps worst of all, batman works alone.
Now that I've grown some more and cut myself of cancerous thoughts I've realized that a majority of folk seem to like/dislike supercharacters based off superficial things, especially because their only sources are freaking Hollywood movies. Not to look down on those fans, I was one of them and enjoyed myself quite a lot in that fandom sphere, but (racist, elitist, homophobic, islamophobic, sexist) Hollywood should NEVER be your only source when it comes to things you're ready to debate about at length and with heart. Unfortunately, that is what happens.
Comics have their fair share of problems (see the terms I listed above before 'Hollywood') but there's a LOT of not-so-hidden gems! Too bad they're less accessible than manga because they keep changing authors, artists, and character origins/backstories/personalities/etc (the leader board at Comics central should each get a good bitchslap just for making us fans go through all that research).
Now on to some of my faves and why:
- Spiderman. Poor, average kid gets to be awesome, what do you want more? He's adorable, funny, and drinks his respect everyone juice. Total boyfriend material.
- Superman: the movies did him so much wrong (thanks edgy macho morons parading around as movie directors) but comics. Oh man the comics. My fave story recently was the one where Superman takes over Atlas's burden of holding up the sky. While Superman is busy, the other heroes pick up the slack. The message here is that friends will be here to share your burden and you should dare to believe that people won't leave you behind. "Those charged with the weight of the world would never wish it on another, though it's good to know that others will help when you need it." A masterpiece! (See DC? See what happens when you hire GOOD writers? Who understand the essence of characters?)
- Jason Todd/the Red Hood. Oh boy, oooh boy. Our first anti-hero. I could go on and on about him but I'll just say one thing: his whole story is linked by bad darkedgy writers BUT if you take only the good parts of canon and glue them together with your own critical thinking you get a heartwrenching story of tenacity, healing, growing and suffering through the actions of others and through your own making.
- Captain Marvel: I'm talking about the movie here, because it's my second fave marvel movie after Ragnarok, because it's the one movie about a soldier that's managed to avoid being (american) military propaganda, because it taught me two valuable things: 1) I shouldn't have to prove myself to anyone to earn basic respect, and 2) if a man/someone asks me to smile when I don't want/need to, I should break their hand
Conclusion: it's all about the message for me, the hidden meaning, the subtext, the essence. Leave the flashy bullshit for kids.