superheros are good guys...right?

i'd like to think that i haven't been overly protective of B but the concept of guns has not yet entered our house.  he usually watches shows like Mighty Machines and Sesame Street and his encounters with other kids is mostly parent-involved playdates (with the exception of Sunday School and kids at the park).

somehow, B got interested in knights.  it must have been an episode of Curious George or something but he asked to be a knight this past halloween.  while i tried to talk him into being a lion, i couldn't pass up the cute knight costume that i found at superstore.  he was convinced that he was a bad knight and i tried to tell him that knights were good guys.  we've taken a couple knight related books out of the library since and, as it turns out, knights are a complicated story.  "why are they burning down the walls of this castle, mommy?"  so now the story that i'm sticking with is that some knights are good and some are bad.  but we know that they all use swords.

we recently had dinner at mcdonalds (a new and incredible discovery that the play place is the perfect destination after a very long day) and in ben's happy meal was a scary looking Transformer.  this Transformer shoots some blue thing out of his arm.  "is this a superhero?" asks B.  hmm...i have no idea.  what makes a superhero?  it's really a deep and thought-provoking question that i choose not to worry about at the moment.  ;)  "how does he fight the bad guys?  does he have a sword?"  well, transformers are complicated.

as we walk through the toy aisle at Winners or Walmart (we always make a detour to check out the toys), B gawks at the superhero packaging and scary looking dudes behind the thin plastic window.  "are these good guys, mommy?"  "umm...yep." the one that he's mostly drawn to is The Incredible Hulk.  "why isn't he wearing any clothes?"  "is that his underwear?"  "why is he green?"  "is this a good guy?"  "why does he look so mad?"  "where is his sword?" and while i do my best to answer these questions, ("well, he is usually wearing clothes and then he gets angry at the bad guys so he turns green and muscley and all his clothes rip off...?") the Hulk is complicated.

are you picking up on a theme here?  why are all these guys so hard to understand?  i think it's possibly because i'm trying to describe them to a three year old.  and i know nothing about superheros.  so while i'd like to keep him watching Mighty Machines for the rest of his life, he might be an odd 18 year old.  i guess i should start figuring out my stance on all things violent before i actually need to send B to a time out for pretending to rip all his clothes off in anger, hit avery with a sword, and then burn down the walls of a castle.