So there’s the old cliché of prince charming sweeping the girl off her feet, but quite frankly, I agree with Frou Frou: It’s gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet.

Princes are great and all with their shining armor and noble steeds, their perfect hair, perfect smiles, perfect manners, perfect charm, perfect blahblahblah….but that’s just it, they’re perfect, and honestly, who wants perfect?

Ok, that seems like a really dumb question, who wouldn’t want perfect? But with perfect, they’re no flaws, no little quirks, and no way to appreciate his other qualities.  I guess it’s the same with war: If there were no war, how could we appreciate peace?  Likewise, perfection needs balance; it needs a counterpart.  There is such thing too much of a good thing, because then it gets to the point of it being too good that we get bored.  Too perfect is predictable, it’s unexciting, and it’s impossible.  Although in an ideal world, the perfect guy would be spontaneous, funny, very UNboring, and all that jazz, but we don’t exactly live in an ideal world.

Plus, perfect doesn’t exactly exist, at least not initially.  Prince charming and his lady-love usually fall in love like *that* and he’s already perfect.  But in real life, it’s when you get to know him, when you love him, that he becomes “perfect.”  So I’m contradicting myself: Perfect does exist, but it is not defined by prince charming standards.  Perfect exists in the imperfect person, and it is their combined imperfections that snowball into the pinnacle of imperfections to create the perfect prince/hero/whatever you want to call him.

And look what happens in all those fairytales: The story ends happily-ever-after.  But what happens when they finish riding off into the sunset or get off their white horse drawn carriage? Sure, it’s pretty much up to us to decide, or a sequel portraying an extra story of the newly-become princess pops up, but there isn’t much screen time for her prince in these sequels (except Aladdin, but he’s a different story in so many ways he could almost be a superhero minus powers).  But there never is an actual “ending” because, once again, the princes are perfect.  No one wants to watch perfect, indeed, how would one even portray “perfect?” They’re not relatable or realistic. Even Edward, the dazzling heartthrob vampire *girly squeal here* isn’t perfect (although he’s pretty darn close) and even admits, what if he’s the bad guy? Of course we all know Edward’s the hero, and that brings to superheroes.

We’ve all seen Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and all the other fill-in-the-blank-mans, and the story is all about them, not the heroine (unless she’s Elektra, Wonderwoman, or other; in any case, same story).  What allows them to steal the screen time and time again is the fact that they’re relatable, they’re more “realistic,” they seem more human than prince charming….essentially, they’re flawed and they have problems.  It’s their trials, battles, challenges, and loves stories that we love watching, and let’s face it, if Superman weren’t flawed, a little green alien rock wouldn’t be his ultimate weakness and Peter Parker would be married to MJ by now.  Superheroes struggle with their own identity and lives, just like we do; things don’t just fall into place on a silver platter and more than just a coffin glass and seven dwarves stand between them and their love.  Superheroes, even with all their powers and supernatural abilities, have imperfections too, and it keeps us guessing as to what they are going to do next. 

And look at their love lives.  Do any of the heroes have a stable love life? Again, it’s because of their flaws, but at least we see their love life play out.  There’s more to the story than just riding off into the sunset.  Even if they don’t get their happily-ever-after, their love keeps going despite the fights and challenges.  It’s an ever-present force that’s always present and of focus in the sequels.  Sure, Peter never married MJ, but they’re still together even through her almost engagement to the astronaut or his just being an empty seat.  Batman lost his love earlier on in life, but he never forgot her and, if memory serves, he never loved another like he loved her. 

Now let’s compare.  Prince Charmings are sweet, kind, devoted, charming, dashingly handsome, can slay dragons, and all those other qualities… and let’s not forget that gift for spur-of-the-moment serenading. Superheroes can have the looks, slay the metaphorical modern-day dragon, be sweet, kind, devoted, whatever, and still look good in spandex.  Prince Charmings will give in to our every whim, never make us angry, never give us problems, never have the fight-and-make-up incidents….but then they’ll never give us a chance to reflect and realize that we actually can’t stay mad at them for long, that when we fight and make up it sometimes brings us closer together, that even though we love each other, it’s ok to not like each other every now and then.  As for the whole giving into every whim thing, I’ll admit, that sounds pretty cool, but I want a partner and an equal, not a puppy fawning after me (although some fawning is ok).

I want a challenge and someone who will challenge me back, someone who’ll keep me guessing, someone I can laugh at my flaws with and be utterly immature with, because he does the same, someone who won't treat me like some fragile little thing.  I’ll admit, I also want comfort, kindness, sentimentality, and some stability, and of course love; I’m a girl after all.  But in the end, I want someone whose imperfections make me appreciate them and who can appreciate me for my flaws in reverse.

Again, I’m not saying perfect doesn’t exist.  I’m a hopeless romantic, of course I believe there’s the perfect someone out there for everyone.  I just believe that perfect exists only after all the   imperfections, all the fights, all the tears, all the hugs and laughs and kisses.    

This is by no means meant to discourage princes from staying the sweet way they are or for heroes to get cocky.  This is just be me rambling; every girl wants something different in a guy (yes, I’m difficult and confusing, but what do you expect, I’m a girl).  As for me, Prince Charming’s nice and I do love his fiery steed, but ultimately, I’m holding out for a hero.