***
Super Mann: Jimmy Olsen
***
“We kicked butt!” Jimmy exalts. At his friends’ looks, he adds, “I mean, Superman did.”
Why are they all being so depressing about this? Nazis tried to take over Metropolis and they beat them! Jimmy had even gotten to punch one, something he’d longed to do since history class in the fourth grade, and could now cross off his bucket list.
Okay, sure, it was kind of annoying that apparently so many people still bought into the Nazi beliefs, and the Nazi he’d punched out was a guy he’d been friendly with, if not exactly friends with. But come on, they won! It was good versus evil and good kicked evil’s butt!
Jimmy looks between his real friends--Perry and Lois and CK--searching for some hint of the jubilance pounding in his heart and sizzling in his bloodstream.
Nothing. Just disappointment and worry and fear. Jimmy gets it, he thinks, but he wishes they could see this the way he does. They stood up to the Nazis. Even before Superman arrived, people in Metropolis stood up to the Nazis with guns. They fought back. The President hadn’t conceded. And they won!
So, yes, he supposes they can look at this as evil coming back, rearing its ugly head over and over again. But for once, Jimmy thinks they’re wrong. Or at least not completely right.
Because evil may have come back, but people chose to do the right thing. People stood up for what was right. And Superman was there to make sure the victory stuck.
No, Jimmy thinks. This is a good day. This is a day they all got to be heroes.
***
