DC and Marvel have spent generations telling stories about gods, monsters, vigilantes, aliens, mutants, scientists, soldiers, and ordinary people suddenly forced to live with extraordinary abilities. Their characters frequently overlap in obvious ways. Both universes contain billionaires, cosmic entities, speedsters,…
Being wrong should, in theory, be simple. A belief conflicts with reality, new evidence appears, and we replace the mistaken belief with a better one. Yet human beings rarely experience correction so mechanically. Tell someone that they misunderstood a fact,…
You hear a song recorded decades before you were born and experience an almost inexplicable homesickness. An old photograph of a 1950s diner, a Victorian street, a 1970s living room, or a childhood scene from the 1990s can create the…
It seems irrational that someone we dislike can still get under our skin. We may consider a person rude, shallow, dishonest, arrogant, or simply incompatible with us, yet their criticism can replay in our minds for hours. A dismissive comment…
Superman is so closely associated with heroism that calling him a hero can seem almost redundant. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s character debuted in Action Comics #1 in 1938 and became one of the figures that established the modern superhero…
Love is one of the most familiar experiences in human life and one of the hardest to define. People use the same word to describe desire for a romantic partner, devotion to a child, loyalty to a friend, attachment to…
The feeling that everyone else is ahead of you can appear at almost any age. You may look around and see friends buying homes, advancing in their careers, getting married, having children, traveling, building businesses, publishing work, or simply seeming…
There are periods when life seems to be happening somewhere just beyond reach. Weeks disappear into work, errands, routines, screens, and responsibilities, while other people appear to be traveling, falling in love, building careers, starting families, creating things, or experiencing…
Being average should not be frightening. Statistically, most people will fall somewhere near the middle on most abilities, achievements, incomes, appearances, and measures of success. No one can occupy the top tier of every hierarchy, and even highly accomplished people…
Rest should be one of the simplest human activities. When you are tired, you stop working. When your attention begins to fade, you take a break. When the day’s responsibilities are finished, you allow yourself to relax. Yet many people…
Most people understand that they will eventually die, but for many, an equally unsettling thought is what happens afterward: the world continues, relationships change, memories fade, and eventually even a once-familiar name may disappear from conversation. Photographs can lose their…
There are periods of life when the days seem to lose their edges. You wake up, follow roughly the same sequence of tasks, interact with many of the same people, handle familiar responsibilities, consume familiar entertainment, go to sleep, and…