Sick of Superheroes

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash

With the advent of the new superhero movie this month, I thought I’d reprise some of my views.

I’ve had enough of them, the Superheroes. There’s a never-ending stream of boys in spandex, or metal – cape optional – with the odd girl thrown in for sex appeal; although let’s face it, it’s mostly boys: Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, Captain America, Ant Man, The Hulk, Thor, Blade, Ghost Rider, Dr Strange,Black Panther and Nick Fury. Shall I go on? I’m no expert. I have no idea how many superheroes there are and I’m not about to do a Google search to find out. Actually, I’ve just done a Google search, and the results are staggering. The list goes on for pages. Fan clubs, games, Lego, costumes, films, TV, and merchandise.

Marvel has defined the superhero in contemporary culture. Marvel’s own modern incarnation was in 1960’s comics in the USA, although the brand had other manifestations prior to that. The comics transferred to TV in 1966 and the brand was bought by Disney in 2009, and as you’d expect, a continuous excretion of films, games and attendant merchandising, raking up billions, has followed.

These superheroes do not live in a vacuum. There are the requisite villains, of course, super-villains who always get defeated and yet always rise up in some new incarnation bigger, meaner, stronger. That’s one of the things about superheroes - they need villains to be able to ‘do their thing’. And we all know what that is: the fights and explosions. Except what used to be ‘Bing!’ ‘Bang!’ And ‘Kapow!’ has turned into increasingly realistic special effects which are less and less comic style. With the violence bigged-up on screen, there is often massive destruction in its wake and these ‘good guys’ often kill as many civilians as they save. In an ideal world with power comes responsibility, but seemingly not if you wear a costume and a have a super-ego to match your super-powers. Oh no, then you get carte blanche to cause as much death and destruction as Mr Villain. Superheroes, supposedly a fighting-for-good patriotic bunch, seem to be enjoying a punch up for the hell of it as much as for anything more noble. Though unintended, it’s a neat metaphor for a country that wades in all over the world picking fights with villains of their own definition, often for less than moral causes. Superheroes create super-villains and war mongering creates wars and rebels. OK, so I don’t need to see another superhero film. I can let my husband get on with it and pass. The fact is, I will still be bombarded with this stuff: in trailers, in the media, on line, in kid’s games, in merchandising. You can’t avoid it. It’s in the ether and the psyche. And it’s depressing.

We all know life isn’t as simple as good guy/bad guy, but these stereotypes stick. Look at the female superheroes. Surely we have more in our armoury than sex appeal? And let’s face it, girls don’t get out of bed in the morning with point perfect makeup and no bed hair. We do not all have figures like Scarlett Johansson. But as long as guys are the making movies… Best not get me started on those topics though, I can feel another rant coming on!

Look, what about the ordinary people? My superheroes are all real people who have fought against the odds, the Mandela’s and the Malala’s of this world, the Paralympians, the ordinary people who are less than perfect but are standing up for what they believe in against hostility or persecution. And what about the ordinary people who have superpowers? The peacemakers and leaders, those with quiet perseverance? I’m with Bowie – ‘we can be heroes’ if we believe our ordinary lives matter, and other ordinary lives matter: black lives, LGBT lives, disabled lives, immigrant lives.

I bet you haven’t heard of Jessica Jones. She’s an original Marvel character, a private-eye who prefers to use her brain to her brawn. She’s a superhero in a much looser sense: foul-mouthed, hard drinking, and not a stitch of spandex in sight. Now she is someone I could get to like, but as yet she has made no appearance on the big screen.

If escapists fantasy is your bag, I have no issue with that. In the present climate especially, a bit of healthy escapism is probably necessary, as long as we remember that we need REAL heroes of the hour to deal with the very real threats: climate catastrophe and all that entails, poverty and now facism. As I’ve said before, no one is coming to save us. Whilst politicians refuse to step up to the plate and continue to put profit before people and planet, we need, more than ever, everyday heroes working for change.

Yes, I am sick of superheroes. Sick of the fighting and destruction and posturing. There’s only so much escapism this girl can take. We need a new breed of superhero, modelled in our own image, so that real courage, stickability, and standing up for truth are the superpowers we encourage and admire. For me, if I don’t see another celluloid superhero in my lifetime, it will still be too soon.