Introduction
For over a decade now, superhero movies have dominated the box office.
But they have been a thing since the 1920s with the Zorro movies, and then enjoyed a resurgence in the ‘70s and ‘80s with the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, the Indiana Jones movies, and Star Wars Episode 6-8.
Then in the ‘90s there were several misses, such as Captain America (1990), the Michael Keaton Batman Movies, the spate of Videogame movies like Street Fighter (1994), Mortal Kombat (1995) and its sequels and Spawn (1997).
In the 2000s came the Tobey Maguire Spiderman trilogy and the Bryan Singer X-Men trilogy and more video game movies like Blood Rayne (2005) and House of the Dead (2008). As the decade closed, we got our first Marvel movies: The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Captain America (2008).
Soon DC joined the party and Disney got in the mix with its purchase of Lucas Films and Fox’s entertainment business, and they and Marvel have been battling to see who can produce the most profitable movies.
But why have superhero movies proven so popular?
I argue there a three main reasons for this: the decrease of job stability and wealth accumulation because of globalization and the wealthy disparity between the 1% and the 99%, the distrust and destruction of civil institutions and politicians, and the victim narrative and the need for an authoritarian father figure.
I’ll discuss each in turn.
The 1% and Power Fantasies
Per this CNBC article from 2021, the top 1% have 16 times the wealth of the bottom 50%, but how did this happen and what does it have to do with superhero movies?
First, the answer to America’s wealth disparity is simple: neoliberalism and globalization.
Beginning in the ‘80s with Regan and his trickle-down economics, the powers that be enacted policies that drastically lowered the tax rates of the wealthiest 1% while raising those of working-class folks and keep their wages flat. All while productivity skyrocketed.
They also took measures to bust unions, and businesses that could, eliminated their workforce via automation or outsourced those jobs to countries where they could pay their workers slave wages.
The result being, a family could no longer survive on the minimum wage and both parents now had to work, often multiple jobs, with little job security.
If this weren’t bad enough, corporations legally bribed politicians on both sides to write laws in their favor, shifting the power from the people to them as they sought to destroy every public institution they couldn’t privatize or run for profit (see the US Post Office and higher education).
Broke, overworked, tired, and unable to get a higher education because of the staggering cost of college, is it any wonder people want to watch something where they can fantasize about being omnipotent or close to it?
Power Fantasies
Enter superhero movies, premade for such a thing as they are ultimately power fantasies.
What’s a power fantasy? you might ask.
In simplest terms, a power fantasy is any media that features larger than live characters who can do things like take on an army by themselves or punch out a god. They aren’t meant to be taken seriously and are quote: “something you can watch and turn your brains off.”
But the problem with turning your brain off is you’re not aware of what’s happening around you, and the 1% takes advantage of this.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist by any means, but have you ever stopped to ask why the media is pushing these movies so hard, beyond they’re safe money makers?
As George Carlin said, “That’s why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.”
The truth is, those in power don’t want us to be woke; they want us dumbed down, so we don’t realize how they’ve robbed us blind and turned us into wage slaves. They want us in a constant state of fear or anger, so we don’t see the sleight of hand they’re doing to usher in fascism and a police state.
They don’t want us to think so we don’t question why the powers that be aren’t held to the same laws as us. But most of all, they want us asleep, so we don’t see they’ve ridged the game against us and we revolt.
If we’re asleep, waiting for a Superman to save us, then we won’t see the Lex Luthers stabbing us in the back.
Superhero Movies and The Victim Narrative
What’s the one constant of superhero movies? Regardless of which movie you watch, they all feature said superheroes saving people who are powerless to save themselves.
But have you ever stopped to ask why?
It’s because these movies train us to be victims, teach us we can’t do anything ourselves and need a strongman to save us.
Think I’m off base?
Look at the mystique surrounding Hitler during his rise to power. The Nazi diehards believed Hitler was their savior, chosen by God to save the white Aryan race.
Now compare what those on the extreme right believe re: Trump. They believe he’s their god-king-emperor come to rescue them from the evils of CRT and those filthy LGBTQ folks trying to grooming their children.
In both cases, you had a population that felt disenfranchised and turned to an authoritarian to save them, much like the people in superhero movies turn to those in capes.
Enter the victim narrative, which says we aren’t responsible for what happens to us: God, the state, or insert your favorite politician/celebrity will save us.
While we’d like to think of ourselves are highly capable under pressure, the truth is everyone is a hero until the bullets fly. This is why the victim narrative is so insidious; it allows people to abdicate responsibility for their actions and life to others and thus robs them of their power and creates the conditions for the rise of fascism.
Why bother doing the hard work of effecting change, when you can sit on your ass every day and bitch about things online? Why bother running for office when you can wait for someone to do it? After all, you’re powerless.
So, when a politician in the mold of Trump, Le Pen, or Erdogan comes along, promising to fix everything if only you give the power to do so, people line up to vote for them. They readily relinquish their freedoms hoping to be saved from the evils of the world. What’s a little police state if it means you can feel safe, working your dead-end jobs until you’re fired or die? Whichever comes first.
Often people give politicians superhuman, almost godly qualities, much like the characters from superhero movies. How often have you heard some variation of, “Don’t worry. X will save us!”, as though they’re some modern messiah?
The truth is people are quick to ascribe to others the spark of divinity within them, which brings me to my next point.
Superheroes, Politics, and Religion
For those unaware, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman in 1933 in a self-published magazine that failed to sell in their Ohio town before he took off in later years. Both being Jewish, their creation Superman has many messianic qualities. From his super strength, speed, intelligence, and near invulnerability to his Kryptonian name Kal-El, Superman has all these divine qualities to him. Even the name Superman evokes one beyond that of a mere mortal.
And some heroes like Thor, and Wonder Woman are literal gods. Even fully human heroes like Batman have monikers that evoke the supernatural: The Dark Knight, The Bat, The World’s Greatest Detective. And this link between superheroes and religion has been acknowledge by comic book creators as in 2015’s Justice League: Gods and Monsters, a direct-to-DVD animated film set in an alternate universe where the Justice League is an authoritarian group that enforces justice by any means necessary for the good of the people.
People are in awed and fear them in much the same way they do the Abrahamic God.
And like God, superheroes traditionally come in two types: those that do everything except kill people, like Batman, and those that do kill like Wolverine and Deadpool.
Of the latter, they’ll still considered the good guys because they kill bad people, like the God of the Bible. The reason I bring this up is because of how entrenched Christianity is in Western Civilization, thus how primed western audiences are to messianic imagery and rhetoric surrounding those in powers and those attempting to gain power.
When people like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Obama invoke God in their speeches, what they’re telling their followers is, “I’m the chosen one you’ve been waiting for. Pick me! I’ll save you from X.”
Again and again, we see politicians projecting themselves as being modern superheroes here to liberate people from the ills-de-jour. And they often win, because like the superheroes and the God of the Bible they’re imitating, they play to a binary view of morality: we’re good, they’re evil. We’re right, they’re wrong. We’re smart, they’re dumb, etc. And because they are from the ingroup, anything they do wrong, people often handwave it away because they’re doing it for the greater good.
Where have we heard that before?
When God does something we’d disagree with, were it anyone else, the old reply is, “He works in mysterious ways.” And when superheroes do something morally questionable, rarely are they called out for it or suffer the consequences because they saved the day.
Blind faith in anything, be it God or a politician, does no one any good, and reenforces a victim mentality. It also teaches us to be reactive instead of proactive. Holding out someone will save us instead of saving ourselves.
We become bystanders, afraid to act because we’ve given up our power to others. And ultimately, it teaches us to be irresponsible for ourselves because God/politician/hero is in control and will fix everything.
But you must be a true believer.
Fanboyism and Jihadism
Another thing the Abrahamic religions have in common with comic book fans is their militantism. As God is the same today tomorrow and yesterday, all attempts to change superheroes have resulted in some fan responding with vitriol, including death threats to the writers who dare change their beloved comics (see Comicsgate and the controversy over Iceman coming out as gay, making Thor and Iron man female, and Captain America Black).
Ultimately, it’s this tribalism in both groups that lends itself well to the rise of fascism and authoritarians.
But how do superhero movies do this?
Plot? What Plot?
All superhero movies are effectively the same; they’re either origin stories or about them facing an enemy, being overpowered, only to regroup and win in the end. But more than that, they focus on brawn over brains, driving home the message might makes right.
Seldom do they focus on the consequences of wrecking half a city to beat the villain of the day. And when they do, it’s only for the first act or so, then it’s right back to fighting the villain de-jour.
And when they do focus on the psychological and physical trauma these characters go through, it’s often part of their origin story, a la Spiderman. Hell, Batman raison d’etre is because of his failure to address the childhood trauma of witnessing his parents being murdered. Like a good third or more of superheroes could use therapy on the regular.
Moreover, they are generic, bland, and safe, rarely getting higher than a pg-13 rating. Even highbrow movies like The Dark Knight and its sequel still had plenty of explosions and fight scenes to keep the masses entertained.
And it’s this genericness that allows people to turn their brains off and put themselves in the cape of their favorite hero, completely unaware of all the messages and lessons these movies are priming them for.
Conclusion
I’m not saying superheroes movies are inherently bad, but that they contain some bad messages and lessons that we need to be aware of. The truth is, they are just one prong in the elite’s arsenal, who want us dumb, angry, and asleep so we don’t realize they’re screwing us all.
But we can change that if we wake the fuck up.
We don’t need any deity or superhero to save us. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, and it times we acted like it.
Inside us all is the ember of a hero, a phoenix waiting to rise from the ashes of our fears. If only we are brave enough to pick ourselves up and fight the good fight.
Thank you for reading. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and be sure to share this post with your friends if it resonated with you. Also, sign up to my newsletter for this and other writings.
