Do audiences need saving from superheroes?

Summertime inevitably presents itself with the Hollywood blockbuster and this year is no different. However, the blockbuster has increasingly become a franchise film or series, and the most common genre to do this-the superhero films.

Steven Soderbergh recently explained that these films are drawing the life out of other motion pictures and are used as a “tent pole” to hold up other productions. Audience continue to watch and actors continue to play the same role time and time again. Perhaps for the actors, this is not all that surprising considering the downfall of Keaton after leaving the Batman franchise.

So what is the world’s fascination with watching the characters of Marvel comics and DC comics alike grace the screen with their presence? We know the hero will live, will save the world and all will be well. Action packed sequences, stunts and perhaps a romantic story line will be weaved in. So what keeps audiences attending?

Superheroes originated when societies needed them most; notably Captain America appeared in print soon after the Great Depression offering the world a symbol of hope. If today’s films represent society, maybe that’s why audiences keep paying to go to these films and why Hollywood keeps paying for them to be made. Perhaps these franchises capture the mood of fear and uncertainty and the longing for a hero to save the planet from destruction.

The super hero films are here to stay, perhaps they will shift when societies mentally does, perhaps not. But they are here for this summer, and probably the one after, and probably the one after that…