The Purpose and Significance of Superheroes in American Culture
By: Dan Waibel
Tags: Movies, Superheroes, Comics, Marvel, Culture

Photo by Lena Rose on Unsplash The Purpose and Significance of Superheroes in American Culture Personal Anecdote: Superheroes. The most influential American pop culture icon in my life. The role of superheroes and comics had always been a subtle force in my life, and by subtle, I mean Batman underwear, Spider-Man pajamas, an Incredible Hulk comforter, and a crimson cape like Superman’s. In fact, I had that same Incredible Hulk blanket up until this year, my sophomore year of college, but that’s nearly beside the point. Superheroes weren’t a necessity or driving force in my life, instead, they were a small piece of my childhood, that, unknown to my younger knowledge, would later become a huge part of my identity. It wasn’t until the very first times I saw Iron Man (2008) and The Dark Knight (2008, Heath Ledger will never not be the best Joker), that superheroes became a driving force in my life. I remember the first time I saw Iron Man (2008) and the credits began to role, when the first MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, post-credit scene rolled, and the next decade of my life would be invested in comics and superheroes. If you don’t already know, every MCU movie has one more post-credit scenes that hint at or start another movie. In this case, when I saw Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, on screen talking to Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, about the Avengers Initiative, when I was suddenly overcome with excitement and I began a very long descent into comic books. A few years later, my dad brought home 3 stacks of comic books, each standing around 1 foot tall, for me and my 2 brothers. They seemingly could not care any less about what they were just given. However, I quickly grabbed my stack, ran to my room and laid them across my twin size bed, nearly covering the entire surface except for a sliver of room on my pillows where I had to sit. Immediately, I began organizing them by Marvel, DC, or other, and then grouped them by their series, and ordered them chronologically. Over the next few weeks I practically drooled over these stories. I remember most of these comics were just the odds and ends that the person who gave them to my dad had. They were comics like Thor, Rocket Raccoon, Silver Surfer, and a few Fantastic Four, but none were Iron Man, Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman. Realizing I didn’t have any comics of these more iconic Heroes and Heroines, I decided to take to the internet where I found endless wiki pages, blogs, and forums where people talked about comics, and I would just sit there a read as much as I could. Bringing us to today, 2018, a time when Superheroes, or more specifically their movies have become mainstream and hold incredible cultural significance in America. In fact an article on The Ringer, labels the current teenagers and young adults as “ the Superhero Movie Generation”, saying: “Movies are escape — where better than on the wings of a savior? But these movies — episodic excursions larded with humor and that tingling feeling of interconnectivity — crucially prize one thing above all else: return business. And return they do. Young moviegoers who keep showing up to find out what happens next are a defibrillator to a medium on life support. Once upon a time, one could credibly say, Those movies, they’re all the same. But though their provenance — the imagination of teenage boys — has not changed, the final product is morphing every year.” The Ringer says it perfectly, our generation, has a more than just an affinity for superhero films, and films in general, but no film genre takes our generation by storm like superheroes. The MCU being the pivotal provider, and practical creator, of the Superhero Movie Generation.

The Heroic History: Throughout nearly all of human history, man has created myth to explain the natural world and the natural order; creating icons to explain why things happen and why man shouldn’t do certain things. Someone of these myths are of these so called “demigods” or half gods, the child of man and god. One of the most famous myths of this “demigod”, is Heracles, or often called Hercules. Heracles possessed godly strength and was considered a “Greek hero”. Another example of the Greek hero concept is the hero Achilles, namesake of the “Achilles Tendon”. He was a man who was dipped in the River Styx, making him invulnerable across his entire body, except behind his ankle. Upon further research, I found that most ancient heroes, in fact a significant majority, are mainly hyper-masculine men who possess great power. On the other hand, women in myth are typically hyper-feminine and overtly sexual, emitting a strong sexual prowess, but in few myths, especially that of the Greek Goddess Artemis, nearly every mythological portrayal of her is modest and nonsexual, as she is basically a goddess of virginity and girlhood. Disney’s Hercules (1997) A sort of, what I call, a “Demigod Dilemma” occurred in ancient cultures, where men had dominated and controlled the stories that were created and told, creating the “Damsel in Distress” character that limits nearly every female character, leaving characters similar to Medea (Greek), who get back at the someone by committing heinous crimes. In the mythic case of Medea, she murdered her children to get get revenge on her ex-man, Jason. Taking Megara, pictured in the GIF, she, throughout, the movie, had acted on her own accord, independently of Hercules, her Greek knight in shining armor equivalent, until the end of the movie. Spoiler alert, in turns out Meg was working against Hercules, even though falling in love with him, and at the end of movie, needs her hero. In terms of a so-called “modern mythos”, the best examples of what carries the ideas of Greek heroes into today, are the Superheroes we see in movies, TV shows, and comic books. Our modern heroes have evolved beyond gods and man, and are now including aliens, mortal men (as in mankind), radiation mishaps, humans with genetic mutations, and some heroes are a spin on ancient gods and goddesses. The heroes we adore today are often taken directly out of ancient myth or at least inspired heavily from ancient myth. Outside of myth, superheros have been known to be drawn and scripted from people around them. In interviews with creators of Superman, specifically Jerry Spiegal, a jewish man, had said: “What led me into creating Superman in the early thirties? … Hearing and reading of the oppression and slaughter of helpless, oppressed Jews in Nazi Germany … seeing movies depicting the horrors of privation suffered by the downtrodden … I had the great urge to help… help the downtrodden masses, somehow. How could I help them when I could barely help myself? Superman was the answer.” The creation of Superman was to save the jewish persecution after the genocide in Europe, and Spiegal has also said his neighborhoods have also seen antisemantic movements. Spiegel has also said that Kal-El, Superman’s birth name, means “voice of God”. Superheroes have been created by people across history has a way to almost “save themselves” or form some level of hope, especially in modern comic book heroism

So What are Superheroes? Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Most people, when they word associate with ‘Superheroes’, they will probably think of the same things, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and that’s about it. However, there are significant number of heroes that are nothing like the big three, mentioned above. Most prominently in media and film, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” from their name-sake MCU film series, Guardians of the Galaxy, nearly go against every physical aspect of what makes a hero. This group is made up of a guy, who as child was abducted by aliens, an alien assassin, a raccoon that wields dangerous weapons, a brutish alien that takes things a little to literally, and a tree with a sailor’s tongue. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, by Source, Fair use, link None of them wear capes, have any sort of power (except for Groot, but he’s also a tree so I think that just comes with the game), or have the typical superhero monologue about why they are fueled by justice, helping innocents, or want to stop crime. In fact, the Guardians are completely in it for their own benefit, they work similar to mercenaries, where they are hired heroes, and when comes to doing something major, they seem to be in the fight for they’re own cause of revenge usually. However, as the series continues to move forward, they ultimately are doing their hero work of guarding the galaxy, for the right reasons. I would label this rag-tag group of plants, animals, and people as heroes, even though they’re mission is, at times, unclear. On the other hand, American Comic Book culture adopted a new type of protagonist, who sometimes took on the appearance of a hero, but their actions were more questionable and are defined as being morally ambiguous, often acting completely on their own accord. The Cambridge Dictionary defines an antihero as, “the central character in a play,book, or film who does not have traditionally heroic qualities, such as courage, and is admired instead for what society generally considers to be a weakness of their character”. However, The Antihero has existed outside of comics without argument most commonly in whats called Anti-western Movies, a sub-genre of western films about cowboys. In terms of comic books, however, one of the most famous Anti Heroes is Deadpool. Deadpool wears the questionable tights, has his mutant powers, and has his very typical superhero monologues. In the movie adaption of the comics, the first movie leading Deadpool, 2016’s Deadpool, Wade Wilson (Deadpool), is a mercenary for hire who will “take out” any target for a price, without discriminating if they were a good or bad individual. Once he is diagnosed with cancer, he is offered a trial at suspicious place to be completely cured of cancer, however, he is left with extremely fast healing and looking like, as one character says in the movie, “You look like an avocado had sex with an older, more disgusting avocado” (Full Script). Photo by 20th Century Fox Film Corp Deadpool, oddly as it is, is an antihero by the people for the people, in my opinion. The cinematic entrance of Deadpool in 2016 gross slightly over $363 million domestically and $783 million worldwide and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) mentioned earlier, grossed $330 million domestic and $873 million worldwide. The production budgets of each movie, respectively, were $50 million and $250 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The attractiveness of and affinity towards antiheroes, such as Deadpool, in American culture, according to Psychology Today, is due to the idea that, “Antiheroes liberate us. They reject societal constraints and expectations imposed upon us. Antiheroes give our grievances a voice. They make us feel like something right is being done, even if it is legally wrong. Antiheroes do things we’re afraid to do. They are who they are and they do as they want — without apology.” The antihero is relief of our own lives, and in the highly stressful environment of american society, for youth and adults, there’s no questions as to why Deadpool (2016) was extremely successful. School, college, and work pins down most of America, so when we watch an antihero on screen, we not only feel relieved and “liberated” we also see a portion of ourselves in the vulnerability and humility of these characters. Aside from what a superhero does and looks like, many superheroes have become household names and become iconic parts of American culture, looking at Superman for instance, most people will recognize the “S” on his chest and the star and stripes of Wonder Woman’s belt are almost equally known. However, not every superhero maintains the same cultural popularity or cultural visibility and significance as a superhero. Take, for instance, characters like Eggy from Kingsman: The Secret Service(2014), Judge Dredd from Dredd (2012), or Babydoll from Sucker Punch (2011). These 3 characters lack, for the most part, super powers, and nearly any cultural significance. All three, however, are, in my opinion, superheroes. Looking at Eggy, he is you’re average fella living in a shit situation. He ends up becoming the mentee of England’s best spy, and saves the world on 2 separate occasions in the series. In Dredd, Judge Dredd not only stops a dangerous drug ring, but also takes out corrupt judges in the city, making the city safer. In Sucker Punch, Babydoll is basically imprisoned in the loony bin for defending her sister from their abusive step-father, and ends up helping a girl escape all while suffering fantasitcal delusions. These characters, all on different scales, are successfully saving lives of people and fighting for a good cause in different ways, but none are critically labeled superheroes. This brings me to what I believe makes a superhero, especially a hero on screen, as that is more effective for this superhero movie generation. A superhero, in my opinion, exists only in a fictional world, has a cause, just or unjust, but it will be a good cause, has something to offer everyone, but specifically you, meaning they are essentially your hero, they do not need to possess any sort of power, they do not need to be brutish or extremely powerful, they don’t need any sort of costume or get-up that makes them look like a superhero, and they do not need to be well known character or household name.

The Growth of American Comic Book Culture Photo Source Superhero culture of America has different effects for people of nearly every walk of life. As America has become more progressive in terms of acceptance, equality, and treatment of minorities, the image of superheroes. The beginning of popularized comic heroes was filled with less fantastical imagery and more of a patriotic image. Looking at comics from the late 30s and 40s, the storylines we were reading often showed our heroes kicking Hitler’s ass, beating up nazis, and even sometimes freeing nazi camps. Most commonly, comics would feature superheroes sporting red, white, and blue and talking about “freeing millions” or doing “it” for those who couldn’t. The most iconic of these storylines was, of course, Captain America, is, believe it or not, described as “From the dark days of world war to the explosive challenges of today, Super-Soldier Captain America stands ready as a shining sentinel of liberty to shield the oppressed and fight for freedom everywhere.” The Creation of Captain America was to promote the american way and inspire people to contribute to the war. Even after the ending of WW2, the villainous Red Skull, was still engaged in the Captain America comics as a link to the red scare, a time when the American agenda was to fight communism . In an article on CBR, a leading Comic Book news source, called “Punch A Nazi: 15 Times Superheroes Fought Fascism”, write Pete Imbesi recalls 15 times a superhero punched a nazi. His highlights include The Human Torch setting Hitler on fire, Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles punching robot Hitler, Wonder Woman and her mother kicking and punching nazis, and even showing The Joker claiming his patriotism as an “American criminal” with Red Skulls reply, “How unfortunate! Such misplaced patriotism”, even one of the most infamous comic book criminals has felt patriotic enough to fight nazis. Image Source As the decades go by, comic book popularity fluxes, however, in the 50s Comics Code Authority began to regulate comic book content after the public feared there was too much gore and began linking comic books to juvenile delinquency. The CCA’s restrictions made the popularity of comics drop until the rise of underground comic books. Underground comics were published, printed, and sold illegally and through paraphernalia “head shops”. As the illegal industry began to rise and become successful, so did the mainstream, more popular comics. In the 70s comics began to get storylines that were more risky with superheroes take higher risks. For example, in the Spider-Man comics, Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s girlfriend, was killed, which was a notable event in comics. Alongside the risk taking of superheroes, comic creators and writers began taking more risk by introducing more and more black and female superheroes that began main-staging their stories. Towards the end of the 80s, comic books became a more legitimate field and was considered an art, and more gruesome and bloody stories were being brought back. Comics began to fluctuate more frequently, every 5 or so years. After the turn of the century, comic books basically stopped abiding by the CCA without consequences. After the turn of the century, it became regular to make and remake superhero movies, however, in the landmark release of The Avengers (2012), with a domestic gross income of $623 million and worldwide of $1.518 billion according to Box Office Mojo, an increase in superhero movie production occurred. Over the last decade Marvel has produced and released nearly 20 interrelated films and more to come in 2019. The MCU movies have become the highest grossing film series to date at over $17 billion. Marvel Studios’ release of Avengers: Infinity War practically broke the box office, reeling in $2.047 billion, and the sequel’s, set to come out April 26, 2019, trailer (below), which came out December 7th, already has had 67.5 million views on the official Marvel Studios youtube channel, which excludes the views seen on social media, online news outlets, online magazines, and possibly TV. Marvel Studio’s Avengers End Game Trailer

So How do Fictional Superheroes Affect the Real World? Obviously Superheroes have a grasp on saving their own fictional worlds, but in the real world, the effect of the same heroes does not expand the same way. Instead, a superhero portrayal, especially on screen, has an ambiguous effect on American society. It would be difficult to prove, or show quantitatively, how fictional superheroes effect real life, but there are some coincidences that seem to follow superhero movies. In an article published on Brewings, author Nicol Turner Lee said, “Black Panther” has unequivocally become one of many recent inflection points for the African American community, especially following the success of extraordinary black voter turnout in tough southern elections”. Lee had also said she believed that President Barack Obama, after the wide release of Black Panther(2018), became a hero for black Americans, specifically in the south, comparing him to the fictional hero Black Panther. Image Source Obviously, this is not a direct effect on the black community, but it cannot be limited to sheer coincidence. Looking at this, Black Panther, can be said to have been an inspiration for black american, and not just T’challa, the face behind the mask, but the whole cast and movie. Black Panther more than predominantly featured black Americans and Africans, which gave a lot on screen visibility for POC in America which inspired audiences across the country. The cast even went to premieres around the world adorned in traditional African garb, which also lead to many black Americans attempting to follow their roots and get in touch with their ancestry. After racial visibility, one of the more significant portrayals of a group, would be gender. Superheroes have long been considered to be problematic with the portrayal of women in their comics and movies, mainly concerning the way they are dressed. However, one over looked aspect of female heroes I personally find interesting is the the significance of female heroes actions and personalities in TV, movies, and comics. In a scholarly journal article, Sex Differences in the Creation of Fictional Heroes With Particular Emphasis on Female Heroes and Superheroes in Popular Culture: Insights From Evolutionary Psychology, Victoria Ingalls says this about female heroes created by women: “As with almost all heroes, their heroes use curiosity, cleverness, and determination, but they accomplish their task without skills (or weapons) that give them an initial advantage to those around them, and in the end, most of the female-generated heroes simply try to escape, solve a problem, reveal the truth, or sacrifice themselves without a physical fight.” She also says throughout her research, she has found that female superheroes, created by women, possess higher intelligent and less brute force than their male counterparts. Unlike the male superheroes, who are often more violent, muscular, and possess power that contain volatile force, she found female heroines have powers that aren’t as violent, and if they are violent they do not use them like male heroes, she also found that the female heroes often think their way out of a debacle or battle. This type of visibility for women, not only feeds into female stereotypes, but also feeds into male stereotypes. Creating female heroines as such, this raises the questions of “Well, can women possess and use the great powers and strength the male heroes can? Can a female superhero fight like a man could?” Although it does raise questions like so, this archetype of female hero also portrays women to be more intelligent and thought-oriented. At the same time, this same archetype does in fact portray a female to be able to kick-ass. For example, the video above is a compilation of clips from the American TV show Charmed, which shows one of the 3 sisters, whose character is trained in hand-to-hand and some melee weapon combat, completely kicking ass. This video shows how female hero often uses her intelligence and fighting skills in combination to fight and take down an opponent. In another academic study, Influence of Stereotyping and Prejudices on Perceptions of Superheroes, Emily A. Sanchez, surveys a group of people about superheroes in relation to their race and gender side by side. Sanchez describes her results as so: “The results of the current study suggest there is preexisting superhero schema, as such, heroes who are atypical (alien skin tone) may be set aside as exceptions and evaluated less favorably. Despite similarities to humans (e.g., race and gender), superheroes may create a distinct outgroup. Additionally, superheroes may still be thesubject of gender stereotypes, despite their “super” qualities. Finally, it was observed that perceptions of superheroes may be impacted by the perceivers desire to be more like superheroes (i.e. wishful identification).” Sanchez and Ingalls found that the effect of superheroes on people is subconscious based and often has to do with their desires to be heroic and humility. They both also found that successful heroes are those that audience members, individually, can find something about the hero that they relate to, whether it’s a personality trait, desire, wish, cause, or maybe a love life.