Here come the X-Men! Have you ever checked how they behave, beyond their gloomy style? Beyond their muscles and super powers? So what’s the inner difference between our favorite superheroes and a few street nerds? Actually, there’s a tiny difference only. Most real-life IQ superstars don’t show off regularly in front of the camera! In fact they mostly hate it. Only in their utmost utopian thoughts, extraterrestral dreams, would they knock on Hollywood’s doors. But they are far too shy, too intellectually busy, and far too emotional for that. Stuck on the ground, despite their high potential (HP).

Some actual nerds must have been writing the stories of X-Men, Superman of Spiderman. There must be some personal projection, considering the main character’s attitude and mindset. Think about X-Men’s Professor X, an expert in telepathy. A perfect example of HP’s hyperaesthesia, or hyper sensitivity! Generally speaking, we’ve been missing the « intro » version of superheroes, back into their childhood. Otherwise we would have seen gifted children, sometimes bored at school, sometimes missing real friends, often disconnected to their home’s daily life. As children and later on, as teenagers, our young heroes from Marvel & Co have been left aside of the society they lived in.

Their brain just don’t fit standards. If we look closely, we’ll find out that their « difference » is both a matter of IQ level (a quantitative matter) and a matter of quality (or type) of intelligence. Smart heroes of the screen do both benefit and suffer from some kind of excessive empathy. They deeply feel the pain of the world, and understand before anyone else the threats that are coming around. What a challenging situation! What a suffering! And behind, so much misunderstanding with their friends and their families!

For all these reasons, HPs, nerds and superheroes often share this trait of misjudgement from their close environment: people tend to consider them as « mad » or « sick ». And they just cannot get understood. As they land down on the street, like an albatros they just look so unhandy, so weak and miserable! HPs or gifted ones are needed like any other people, it’s just a matter of diversity and tolerance.

Their destiny is to act, not to talk. It’s their fate to show the way, like real world leaders and true heroes. Not to play with any kind of buzz. Sorry for the star system. Despite their shyness, their mission is to act and to help others in need. With or without high tech gadgets, God save superheroes!

Laurent