Superheroes have proliferated and multiplied in the twenty-first century, coming to prominence in comics, film, television and video game industries the same way that their popular narratives had begun to flourish in the comic book industry some eighty years before. Yet, while all of these stories and characters are tethered to these early years of the genre, through iterative retellings and cultural readjustments, superheroes have consistently found renewed life in modern and contemporary re-imaginings. As they have continuously taken different forms and mantles, superheroes have also maintained their ability to reflect our socio-historical and sociopolitical contexts, telling us much about the world we live in, and our desires and anxieties ate given moments in time. It is not surprising to see that superheroes have also continued to generate a wealth of scholarly interest, with the focusing ranging from re-addressing the process of adapting comic book narratives to other forms (Burke 2015; McEnery et al. 2016; Brown 2016; Grant and Henderson 2019; Piatti-Farnell 2021) to considerations of gender and race (Gray and Kaklamanidou 2011; Nama 2011; Kent 2021), and even re-examinations of the ‘superhero ‘look’, with a focus on costumes (Brownie and Graydon 2015).
The articles in this issue pay particular attention to how superheroes have continued to respond to social, cultural and political issues in our evolving twenty-first-century context, while encompassing a variety of narrative formats within the broader popular culture landscape. Indeed, the articles broadly respond to Robert A. Neymeyer’s claim that, ‘in the aftermath of 9/11’ (2020), superheroes have continued to provide ‘a reflective lens for society to process tragedy, inspire hope, and tackle serious sociopolitical issues’ (Neymeyer 2020: xiii). While the authors have taken differing approaches to the ‘superheroes’ label and how it is represented, each have brought to the fore important critical insights as to the part that these highly recognizable icons play in reflecting our evolving identities in our contemporary moment, while also bearing in mind essential historical echoes in the process.
In the first article of the issue…
The full 2,000 word version of this chapter is published in The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture (Volume 12. Issue 1): Special Issue on “Superheroes”, co-edited with Lorna Piatti-Farnell, published by Intellect, 2023.
Carl Wilson 