The metaphor is the story, not the character.

I'm not building each one character around one metaphor, so much as trying to build a heroic archetype that can be used to express the kind of metaphors that I find in each story.

I tend to think that the best face of humanity is that we learn. We explore, we study, we think.

The Hulk is rage personified, just, "I don't like something. Break it." And that's a great concept for a seven- or eight-year-old.

The characters are, by their nature, archetypes that can serve different metaphors.

"Superhero" is a term that's been borrowed in order to say "big and larger than life and loud and active and dumb." And I don't think that's a useful definition. That's more a dismissal.

If there's ever a character who can only serve one metaphor, I'll probably tell one story with that character and be done with it.