Inspired by This wonderful buzzfeed article I had my guy friend pose for me in six comic panels/covers that I selected, and he did his very best to emulate them.

He tried one of Aquaman's poses, note the nipples and crotch bulge on Aquaman

He then tried one of Flash's poses, which was the closest he could do

Note: No complaints so far, but he was emberassed about his body, not being muscular like Aquaman, and sticking his butt out like the Flash.

And then we did Nightwing's

At this point, I pulled out a hard one. For this one, he had to balance himself against a box, and he couldn't get his body to rest on his arms, or his back.

But Nightwing is a trained acrobat, I hear you say!

Yes, and Black Widow is a trained ninja. Moving on.

Next, we did a panel from the Titans, Beast Boy.

At this point, I asked if any of these poses fulfilled his masculine fantasies about his body, or if he felt powerful or legitimized. He said they just made him feel out of shape.

Next, Superman.

He asked me why anybody in their right mind would throw a punch like that. I said the patriarchy. He said the patriarchy made his back hurt.

Lastly, Hercules.

Final Thoughts:

He said that, since he didn't read comic books, he had no idea this was even a thing. I reminded him of the Magic Mike cover of the Justice League. Then I reminded him people think this is all male reassurance.

He asked why people would think female objectification would make girl's self-esteem go down, and boy's go up with male objectification. Then he said he needed to lay down.