I was writing a story about a superhero today, because of an odd dream that I had, and suddenly it angled into an existential piece. The original dream was simply about someone who could stop time (standard stuff) and used it for trying to shoulder the burdens of the entire world. Time-stopping is a bit of a mechanism in the story, because how does the character feel when time is stopped? And as I fleshed out the scientific mumbo-jumbo behind an irrational superpower, I discovered how lonely superpowers can be.
A lot of superheroes can't function as such in normal society as an average person. Without an alter ego, Superman's celebrity and heroic status wouldn't allow him a normal job like a reporter - how could superman waltz up to a story and expect not to suddenly be the focus of attention - instead of asking questions, he'd be pestered with questions, requests, and awe that would make impossible a casual identity. And does Superman want to be identified as Superman? Or Clark Kent?
There are a few superheroes that sidestep the identity crisis, simply by making no distinction between superhero and personal life (Ironman being the classic example), but many choose a separation of person and vigilante. Of course, there are many reasons for having a secret identity, such as protecting those you love and preventing villains from finding you, but it also seems like an easy way of maintaining a normal connection with society.
In the story I was writing, the character (Elian) realizes through a traumatic experience that he can stop time. He is given the power by some sort of djinni, and told that the instant he shares his secret with anyone, he will lose his power. He can still smell, touch, hear, see, or taste, but there is no wind, smells do not travel far, he can only hear his footsteps and his own motions, if he touches someone, they don't feel it at stop-time speeds, they just feel a normal touch after he resumes time. At first, the superpower has a novelty effect: he can read books without taking up any time, or do tedious tasks without wasting time - it tires him to stop time for too long (possibly - just thought maybe there would be a downside - this is all theory crafting); then he starts wondering about the advantages of the superpower: he could be a superhero, a vigilante. At first, he considers doing so, but struggles finding any banks to stop robberies at (the future), any gunfights to put an end to. He doesn't have a police scanner, and doesn't want to sit around watching the news for events to solve - slowly realizes he gets bored with wasted time very easily.
He realizes he can sit and paint a skyline before the sunsets, even if it takes him hours; he can painstakingly describe a scene on paper while is sits there stagnant before him; he can deliberate for hours on the correct thing to say in any situation, and evaluate possible scenarios without having to make rash decisions.
But he realizes that his power isolates him. Not in quite the same fashion as some of the other superheroes, but he can't share his secret with anyone for fear of losing his power, and he can't share the time he spends with time stopped either. He hears people say, "I wish this moment could last forever" or, "this is so beautiful, I could sit here and look at this forever" and these thoughts depress him, because he can, but whenever he does, everyone else is stuck. He cannot share these moments with anyone, and they acquire a sort of stagnancy.
In the original dream, there were actually two characters. They found a djinni under a bridge, and in exchange for something, the djinni offered them each a superpower of their choosing, (though he reserved the power of veto regarding their choices) and if either of them revealed their superpower, they would lose it (except to each other). The one chose to stop time, the other chose the superpower of being able to shoulder the burden of any other being at any time (feelings like pain, stress, etc).
Both struggled with not being able to tell, and both managed their difficulty in different ways - though they could tell each other, they drifted apart and came together through their lives as friends because of their differences.
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