EDITOR – The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies

This Companion explores the evolution, representation, and meaning of superheroes within the broader popular media and culture landscape, as connected to both contemporary and historical frameworks. The volume proposes itself as a comprehensive resource in the interdisciplinary field of “Superhero Studies”, acknowledging it as its own area of scholarly and cultural interest. Superhero Studies brings together perspectives from a number of intersecting disciplines such as comics studies, film studies, television studies, fandom studies, game studies, and beyond. In answer to the evolutionary portrayals of superheroes in our cultures, histories, and narratives, The Routledge Companion of Superhero Studies addresses the development, transformation, and meaning of these iconic figures, by taking a transnational, multimedia, and interdisciplinary approach to assessing their importance in our evolving representational contexts.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Approaching Superhero Studies as a Field Lorna Piatti-Farnell and Carl Wilson 

PART I Creating and Selling the Superhero 1. Creators and the Creative Processes Behind Comics Forrest Helvie 2. The Flash and the Ages of Superheroes: Racing Through History John Darowski 3. The Creation of Superheroes and Supervillains Through Alchemy, Science Accidents, and Violent Scientific Delights Lilia Walsh and Anna-Sophie Jürgens 4. Experimentation and Containment: The Metafictional Superhero Orion Ussner Kidder 5. What The Kids Want: Superheroes and Shared Universes Sean Casey 6. Out of the Multiversal Closet: Alternate Realities, Reboots, and Transmedia Coming Outs Charles Joseph 7. Punch-Ups on Parade: Celebrating and Marketing Queerness in Marvel and DC’s Pride Month Anthologies Anna F. Peppard 8. Super Powers and Secret Wars: The Cultural Value of Superhero Action Figures Jason Bainbridge 9. From Zero to the Hero’s Journey: The Masters of the Universe Franchise across Audiovisual Transmedia Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns, Eduardo Veteri and Jorge Traversa 10. How Externally Licensed Intellectual Property Dictated Changes in Marvel UK’s Publishing Output of the 1970s-1990s Rob McLaughlin 

PART II Adapting the Superhero 11. Batman and the Body on Screen John Quinn 12. The Umbrella Academy: Re-imagining the Subversive Superhero Family, from Panel Scenes to Netflix Screens Ashleigh Prosser and Lorna Piatti-Farnell 13. Princesses vs Power: The Animated Depictions of Original and Rebooted She-Ra Valerie Estelle Frankel 14. The Divided Fourth Phase of Marvel Licensed Video Games (2013-) Carl Wilson 15. Financial Kryptonite: The Foiled Attempts to Bring Superheroes to the Stage Jarrod DePrado 16. Life and Death in Gotham City: Batman: The Audio Adventures’ Aural History of the Superhero Genre Dru Jeffries 17. Rehearing the Superhero in the 21st century: Superman, Wonder Woman, and Music Janet K. Halfyard 18. Cosplay Capers: The Twinned Genealogies, Cultural Imaginaries, and Affects of Superhero Cosplay Paul Mountfort 19. Renegotiating Canonicity: Fanboy, Parody, and Mark Garvey’s Union Jack (2019) Cathrine Avery 20. Winter Soldiers: National Identity and Responsibility in Captain America Fanfiction Sarah Regier 

PART III National Superheroes and Translations 21. Flying British Superheroes of World War II and Beyond: The Historical Turn in Britain’s Aviation War in Popular Culture Lisa J. Hackett, Jo Coghlan, Huw Nolan, and Chris Comerford 22. Canadian Superheroes and the Struggle for National Representation Anthony Enns 23. Modern Czech Superheroes: Miracle and the Spring Man as the Defenders of the Nation Michaela Weiss 24. Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane. No, it’s Super-French! Chris Reyns-Chikuma 25. Rat-Man: An Italian Superhero Parody Marco Favaro 26. Superhero Toys, Nostalgia, and the Assassination of Abe Shinzo Sophia Staite 27. The Tokusatsu Heroes and Magical Girls of Senki Zesshō Symphogear Leo Chu 28. Chinese Translations of American Superhero Films and Television Series Dingkun Wang 

PART IV Superhero Identities 29. With Great Power, Comes an Armored Corset: Clothing as Empowerment for Female Superheroes Yael Rachel Novich 30. What it Means to be Free: Disability, Neurodivergence, and the Super ‘Freak’ Gwyneth Peaty 31. The Legal Aspects of the Ownership of a Superhero Identity Liam Sunner 32. Companions, Apprentices, Enemies: The Many Roles of the Sidekick Philippe Rioux 33. Morality and Familial Relationships in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Angelique Nairn 34. When the Gods Walk Among Us: Superheroes as Dangerous Divinities Matthew Brake 35. Not Like the Others: Catwoman as Transgressive Hero Cathleen Allyn Conway 36. Supervillains are the Real Heroes Mark Hibbett 37. The Cult of Marvel’s Loki(s), and their (Queer) Redemption Karl Johnson 38. The Power in Seeing Yourself in Another: X-Men, Audiences, and Queer Rights through X-Men ’97 Patrick      Munnelly, Tania Cook and Kaela Joseph 

PART V Evolving Superhero Debates and Concerns 39. Swamp Thing: EcoGothic Monster or Environmental Champion? Teresa Fitzpatrick 40. Animal Man: The Countercultural Superhero of the Anthropocene Chris Hall 41. Wakanda and Technology in the Anthropocene: Black Panther’s Lesson on What a Sustainable Coexistence Looks Like Siobhain Lash 42. Green Lantern, Structural Racism, and N.K. Jemisin’s Far Sector Chris Roman 43. The Shield or the Skull: The Civil-Military Gap, the Militarized Superhero, and Veteran Stereotypes in American Myth and Memory Christina Knopf 44. Trauma in Superhero Films: The Case of Tim Burton’s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) Sean Travers 45. The Phoenix and Dark Phoenix Sagas: Moral Ambiguity, Disagreement, and the Superhero Mission Justin F. Martin  46. The Unbelievable Gwenpool and the Limits of Empathy Devon Keyes 47. Legacy, Memory, and Fatherhood in All-Star Superman (2005) Owen Farrington