A look at the new age of superheroes
A Dark Knight has come over the world of comic book heroes. Those magnificent men and women who dazzled our childhood, and filled our adolescent minds with their hope inspiring tales have found their way into a corner shadow. The world that these great heroes defend has become a place that seems always defeating, hopeless, vile and horribly real. No longer do the defenders who illuminated the glossy pages of Marvel and DC fight with grace and wonder, they play dirty- they go to war.
This is all thanks to a few men, and it all began with the likeliest of heroes. The two men? Christopher Nolan and Zach Snyder. Our hero? Batman.
In 2005, fans witnessed the vigilante of legend be borne again. Christopher Nolan introduced us to a new breed of hero, one who is conflicted, ferocious, and confronted with darkness. We saw a black cumulous roll over the cursed, crooked city of Gotham. We saw corruption, hatred, and wickedness, but more importantly, we saw our broken Batman: a hero bred in dirt, and rising as a prince of darkness.
It seemed as though a hero, for post 9/11 Western society, needed to be someone who fought more than wicked criminals- someone who could lose those closest too him and fight on against foreign terrors. Nolan gave him a suit fitting of a soldier, a Bat-mobile/tank hybrid, and a no-bullhorn attitude that meant rising again and again even after being beat down into the gritty Gotham streets.
As the trilogy unfolded, and the villains became maddeningly psychotic, twisted, and disturbed, our beloved masked guardian was forced to play with moral boundaries never portrayed on screen. Nolan developed a Batman arsenal appropriate for National Defense level warfare.
Zach Snyder took a step further, with his menacing portrayal of a traditional good-guy hero in Man of Steel. With actual military personal setting the background of the film, and our hero-of-good killing General Zod at the close of the film, it’s not hard to recognize the militarization of this blockbuster superhero age. In case this wasn’t enough, short National Guard recruitment films with Man of Steel/ Snyder-backing aired before Man of Steel screenings.
What does the militarization of superheroes mean? Why is it so abundant? And why do we continue wanting more? Perhaps it is a reflection of the violent nature of society. Perhaps with all the violence rampant in the public eye today, people generally don’t believe that punches make a “KAPOW” sound anymore. Or perhaps we want to relive past traumatic events on screen and we long for the climactic conquering of the vilest form of evil.
Whatever the reason may be, we have not seen the last of it. A quick Google search of Snyder’s new rendition of the Bat-mobile in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shows that the militarization of the superhero-era is far from finished with the once colorful worlds they protected.