IndieKid's Journal: Social connected-ness means heroes always win

New Scientist are reporting on some analysis performed by Physicist Pablo Gleiser of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Gleiser "studied the social web within the fictional universe of Marvel comics, comprising 6486 characters in 12,942 issues. Taking two characters to be linked if they appeared in the same issue, he found a superficially realistic social network. A small fraction of characters - notably the superheroes themselves - had far more links than most others, acting as key social hubs. "The Marvel universe looks almost like a real social network," says Gleiser". New Scientist goes on (in a light-hearted manner) to postulate that the superheroes always win due to their better social connected-ness.

Personally, I can't help but think that it's inevitable for the heroes to be at the centre of any networks created based on stories about the heroes!