Marvel, and to a lesser extent DC, have taken the film (and slowly the television industry) by storm. What do superhero movies do for us, and why do we like them so much? Flashback to the early 2000s and we see the germination of the modern superhero film; flashback further and the way in which the superhero film was culturally received varied wildly from how it is today.
Are superhero movies, now, a mock resurgence of patriotism in the face of an ever dwindling sense of privacy? Perhaps we create these larger than life characters in order to find some of ourselves in them; we look to Captain America and Iron Man and see the individual as supreme. The ever powerful individual has the means of affecting global change himself and needs to truly fear no one. Are Americans totally ensnared by this fantastical creation — and most importantly, if they are, is this a good thing? Is it okay for this to go unspoken and unrealized or is our affair with the superhero a rationalization of deeper fears we'd rather not confront?
