The passage you're talking about is specifically about the fact that Hiro feels a sense of relief from the fact that he will never be more badass than Raven. Th

The passage you're talking about is specifically about the fact that Hiro feels a sense of relief from the fact that he will never be more badass than Raven. That's a very particular angle on the situation, and you can read it at least partially ironically, because in fact it doesn't stop Hiro from trying to be, well, a hero, and if anything causes him to be more badass in the future. But the book is full of male characters who die because they are trying to be or think that they are badasses. Raven is held up as an an ironic sort of idol; he demonstrates how badass you actually have to be in order not to die, and it's a comically excessive amount. And yet he's the only one who seems not to be motivated by that desire at all; he's just trying to get something done. I don't think it takes a particularly close reading to see this theme; you just need to be willing to entertain the possibility that it's not just adolescent fantasy.