The Phenomenon of Superhero Movies – Why are They Here – What They Mean for Us?

Ever since Iron Man in 2008, the world has been on a craze of superhero movies. Everybody loved the MCU, or Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had plenty of movies and which will have plenty more in the years to come. The superhero phenomenon is here, or rather, it has been here for a while, but it gained popularity in the form of movies and TV shows recently. What does that mean for our society? Will they be here to stay or will they be leaving us for a couple of decades?

The Cult of Self – The Transcendent Being

People love seeing people do more. Superheroes do a lot more than a regular person would. They transcend almost everything, from regular laws to even the laws of the universe, to become something exceptional, something more. Some movies challenge that idea, by making the hero’s powers mean nothing, or the heroes themselves question their own powers, but most of them play by the book when it comes to the cult of self.

Gone are the ideas that people can be brought together to end a fight, ordinary folk who use their own skills and ideas to overcome ideas. Instead, we have people who are beyond ordinary, who want to solve everything themselves, sometimes getting burned in the process, sometimes succeeding completely.

This cult of self is really popular in today’s world, where people are seeking their own happiness, changing partners all the time, until they find a successful match with whom they will be happy. The self is a big focus of a lot of people’s lives. This is one of the reasons why superhero movies work.

Works of Art – Computer Generated Art

If you watched any of the higher budget MCU movies like Guardians of the Galaxy or The Avengers, then you will see what a great budget and talented and hard-working artists can create. These movies feature actors, yes, but also plenty of CGI which is, simply put, breathtaking. Avatar has great CGI and so do plenty of other movies, some of which happen to be superhero movies. Even if the plot might be lackluster, the movie can be a masterpiece from a visual standpoint.

Non-Stop Fun – Action On a Larger Scale

While martial artists and stunt performers can do a lot of things, they have their own limits. This is where CGI on steroids comes in, and you get movies like Batman versus Superman where you cannot even tell what is going on, but at least there is action, right?

Sometimes, action is all we need and people spend their time watching movies because of the action, which is why we have the action genre, just think of Van Damme, Stallone and Schwarzenegger, but in superhero format.

A Great Story – Superhero Movies Can be Great Movies

While there are bad superhero movies, which have terrible plots, there are plenty of movies which challenge some of today’s problems, like Logan. Logan is one of the hardest superhero movies to swallow, especially if you are fond of the characters. If you aren’t fond of them, you will still be faced with a very emotional movie, one that brings up many problems which the world is already facing. Even without the superheroes, its plot and execution would make for great movies.

Wonder Woman has interesting plot lines and even Avengers, where Thanos seeks to destroy half the universe’s population due to what he believes is an overpopulation problem, pointing to the flaws of today’s thinking (no, mass genocide is not the solution).

Superhero movies are just like ordinary movies, but with superheroes. Will most likely be here to stay.